Kapil Dev: “Don’t look at just current performance. Look at how he has approached the game, how much passion and talent he has”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Iconic India all-rounder Kapil Dev has shielded Pakistan batsman Babar Azam from all the criticism he has endured, saying the 29-year-old has an immense of “passion and talent.”
Azam resigned as captain in all three formats after the men in green were eliminated from the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
He has also been lambasted for his subpar batting, but Dev pointed out that people need to stop judging him on his recent performances and look at how much the Lahore native has achieved in his career thus far.
“When someone gets out for zero, 99 per cent of the people would want him to be dropped. If an ordinary player comes and scores a brilliant hundred, then they call him a superstar. So don’t look at just current performance. Look at how he has approached the game, how much passion and talent he has,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
In the World Cup, Azam amassed 320 runs in nine matches, which included four half-centuries, at an average of 40.
Pakistan triumphed in their first two games against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing four in a row to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Even though they bounced back to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they failed to make it through to the semi-finals.
The men in green concluded their campaign on a sour note as England hammered them by 93 runs.
Azam is now involved in Pakistan’s 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 start 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
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