Mohammad Amir: “This is my advice to Babar [Azam] that he should take this thing (leaving captaincy) as a challenge. He has nothing to prove as a player”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan left-arm seamer Mohammad Amir believes Babar Azam “has nothing to prove as a player.”
His comments come after Azam resigned as captain in all three formats following the team’s dismal performance in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Instead of being sad or angry about losing the leadership role, Amir urged the 29-year-old to see it as a new challenge, whereby he starts contributing heavily with the bat once again.
“This is my advice to Babar [Azam] that he should take this thing (leaving captaincy) as a challenge. He has nothing to prove as a player,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam scored 320 runs in nine World Cup matches, which included four half-centuries, at an average of 40.
Pakistan began by beating the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before faltering against India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Even though they bounced back to defeat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they failed to make it to the semi-finals.
To add insult to injury, the men in green lost their last group stage match against England by 93 runs.
Azam is now playing in Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia and has amassed 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 secure a consolation win in the third Test, which starts 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
[TS_Poll id=”100″]