Andy Flower: “No one is superhuman. He is an outstanding cricketer”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Multan Sultans head coach Andy Flower has defended Pakistan batsman Babar Azam, saying he cannot be in good form all the time as he is not “superhuman.”
Azam has been heavily criticised over the past few months due to his inability to score runs consistently, which has become a thorn in the Pakistan team’s side.
Since the men in green tend to rely heavily on the 29-year-old to score big runs, his failure to do that has forced others to step up and pick up the slack.
However, Flower feels all the criticism being directed towards Azam is unfair, noting that the Lahore-born batsman “is an outstanding cricketer” but cannot be Pakistan’s hero all the time.
“No one is superhuman. He is an outstanding cricketer,” he told Cricket Pakistan.
Azam recently played in Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia and made 126 runs at an average of 21.
He then featured in the five-match T20I series against New Zealand and accumulated 213 runs, which included three fifties, at an average of 42.60 and a strike-rate of 142.
Currently, he is captaining the Peshawar Zalmi in the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL), where he has made scores of 68 and 72 in his team’s first two matches against the Quetta Gladiators and Karachi Kings respectively.
Peshawar Zalmi Squad for PSL 9: Babar Azam (captain), Rovman Powell, Saim Ayub, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Asif Ali, Mohammad Haris, Aamer Jamal, Naveen-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Salman Irshad, Arif Yaqoob, Umair Afridi, Dan Mousley, Haseebullah Khan, Mohammad Zeeshan, Mehran Mumtaz, Luke Wood, Sufiyan Muqeem, Waqar Salamkheil, Arshad Iqbal, Gus Atkinson, Shamar Joseph
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