Matthew Hayden: “Whoever was doing the numbers clearly wasn’t looking at them when it came to Babar’s performances as non-captain and captain. He actually had far better numbers as a captain. We’re talking an average of 50 plus more”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary Australia opener Matthew Hayden has pointed out that Babar Azam had a higher batting average when he was Pakistan captain.
He noted that people blindly judged the 29-year-old whenever he was unable to perform, even though he averaged over 50.
As a result, the 52-year-old feels that Azam “was a natural leader” as he wasn’t adversely affected by the extra pressure.
“Whoever was doing the numbers clearly wasn’t looking at them when it came to Babar’s performances as non-captain and captain. He actually had far better numbers as a captain. We’re talking an average of 50 plus more. So he was a natural leader, a good choice,” Hayden told ESPNcricinfo as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam stepped down as captain in all three formats after his side was eliminated from the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, where he scored 320 runs in nine matches, which included four half-centuries, at an average of 40.
Pakistan won their first two games against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing four straight to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Despite bouncing back to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they could not make it to the semi-finals.
The men in green concluded their campaign in dismal fashion as England pummelled them by 93 runs.
Azam is now representing Pakistan in their three-match Test series against Australia and made scores of 21 and 14 in the first Test in Perth, which Pakistan lost by 360 runs.
The second Test will begin on December 26 in Melbourne.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi