Gautam Gambhir: “Babar Azam has been extremely timid”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has taken aim at Pakistan batsman Babar Azam for being too “timid” when batting.
Gambhir wants to see the 29-year-old step up and be more daring as it will enable him to enjoy more success.
Going forward, Azam will have less pressure on his shoulders as he stepped down as Pakistan captain in all three formats.
Since he is now free to focus solely on his batting, Gambhir wants to see the Lahore-born cricketer play with more confidence.
“Babar Azam has been extremely timid,” he told Star Sports as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam’s last assignment as captain was 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 began by beating the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing four in a row to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Despite fighting back to defeat Bangladesh and New Zealand, the men in green failed to advance to the semi-finals.
Pakistan concluded their World Cup campaign on a sour note as England crushed them by 93 runs.
Azam is now playing in Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia and has made 77 runs in the first two Tests at an average of 19.25.
Pakistan are 2-0 down in the series and will look to claim a consolation win in the third Test, which gets underway on January 3 in Sydney.
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
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