Gautam Gambhir: “Babar has to play freely, he has to play out of the box cricket”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former India opening batsman Gautam Gambhir has advised ex-Pakistan captain Babar Azam to start batting “freely” and playing more “out of the box cricket.”
Gambhir feels that this could help Azam score more runs and lead the men in green to more victories in the future.
During the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, the 29-year-old batting superstar got off to strong starts multiple times, but on each occasion, he failed to convert them into big hundreds.
Azam ended the tournament with 320 runs in nine matches, which included four fifties, at an average of 40.
“Babar has to play freely, he has to play out of the box cricket,” Gambhir told Star Sports as quoted by NDTV.
Azam, who resigned as captain in all three formats after the World Cup, recently featured in Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia and scored 126 runs at an average of 21.
He then made 213 runs, which included three fifties, at an average of 42.60 and a strike-rate of 142 in the five-match T20I series against New Zealand.
Azam’s next assignment will be the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL), where he will captain the Peshawar Zalmi.
PSL 9 will be held from February 17 to March 18 in four cities – Lahore, Multan, Karachi and Rawalpindi.
Peshawar Zalmi Squad for PSL 9: Babar Azam (captain), Rovman Powell, Saim Ayub, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Mohammad Haris, Aamer Jamal, Khurram Shahzad, Haseebullah Khan, Asif Ali, Naveen-ul-Haq, Umair Afridi, Dan Mousley, Mohammad Zeeshan, Lungi Ngidi, Mehran Mumtaz, Noor Ahmad, Salman Irshad, Arif Yaqoob