Iftikhar Ahmed: “Looking forward to seeing you score heavily for Pakistan”

Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani

Pakistan big-hitting batsman Iftikhar Ahmed has backed former captain Babar Azam to “score heavily” going forward.

Azam will now be free to focus solely on his batting as he stepped down as captain in all three formats following the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.

The 29-year-old’s form had been a concern going into the tournament as he was struggling to make big scores.

During the World Cup, he rediscovered some of his consistency as he made 320 runs in nine matches, which included four fifties, at an average of 40.

Despite not having been at his dominant best over the past few months, Iftikhar has full faith that Azam’s “resilience and determination” will pay off in the future.

“It’s been an honour to have represented Pakistan under your captaincy. I’ve been part of many highs and many lows during that period, but your resilience and determination always came on top. Looking forward to seeing you score heavily for Pakistan and that too from the best seat of non-striking end,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Pakistan won their first two games against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing four in a row to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.

Despite bouncing back to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they were unable to book their spot in the semi-finals.

The men in green concluded their campaign on a sour note as England pummelled them by 93 runs.

Azam is currently 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 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

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