Imad Wasim: “I think Babar Azam’s decision is great. He can now [entirely] focus on his batting without the extra pressure of [the] captaincy. There is so much pressure [when captaining]”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan left-arm spinner Imad Wasim has praised Babar Azam for making the right decision to step down as captain in all three formats.
Azam made the tough choice after the men in green were eliminated from the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Imad pointed out that the 29-year-old will now be “without the extra pressure of [the] captaincy” and is free to “focus on his batting.”
“I think Babar Azam’s decision is great. He can now [entirely] focus on his batting without the extra pressure of [the] captaincy. There is so much pressure [when captaining],” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
In the World Cup, Azam amassed 320 runs in nine matches, which included four fifties, at an average of 40.
Pakistan began with consecutive wins over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before stumbling against India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Even though they fought back to take down Bangladesh and New Zealand, it was not enough to earn them a spot in the semi-finals.
The men in green ended their campaign in disappointing fashion as England crushed 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 get underway 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
[TS_Poll id=”100″]