Wasim Akram: “When he is in the middle as a batter, he must focus there and how to get runs”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan pace icon Wasim Akram has urged Babar Azam to focus on scoring runs when he is out at the crease.
Azam’s form with the bat has been subpar lately as he is not posting the big scores expected of him.
In the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, the 29-year-old made plenty of encouraging starts, but never managed to convert them into hundreds.
Azam scored 320 runs in nine matches, which included four fifties, at an average of 40.
Since he is Pakistan’s frontline batsman and no longer has the pressure of the captaincy weighing down on him as he gave up the leadership role after the World Cup, Wasim wants the Lahore native to get his batting back on track.
“When he is in the middle as a batter, he must focus there and how to get runs,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan triumphed in 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 take down Bangladesh and New Zealand, they could not progress to the semi-finals.
The men in green concluded their campaign in dismal fashion as England pummelled them by 93 runs.
Azam is currently in action in Pakistan’s three-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 started 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, Mohammad Nawaz and Shaheen Shah Afridi