Mickey Arthur: “He is a wonderful talent”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Mickey Arthur, the former Pakistan team director, said there is no denying that captain Babar Azam is a “wonderful talent”.
Azam has scored runs consistently for the national team across all three formats and won them many matches as well.
Additionally, he also broke numerous records during his tenure as captain, even though he had a lot of pressure weighing down on his shoulders.
In Arthur’s eyes, this makes the 29-year-old a special cricketer as he is able to succeed despite constantly being scrutinised by everyone.
“He is a wonderful talent,” the former Pakistan head coach was quoted as saying by respected journalist Saj Sadiq on Twitter.
Azam, who stepped down as captain after the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, recently scored 126 runs at an average of 21 in Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia.
He then went on to make 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 is now captaining the Peshawar Zalmi in the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL) and has accumulated 498 runs in nine matches, which includes a century and five fifties, at an average of 62.25 and a strike-rate of 148.65.
The Zalmi have made it to the playoffs and will take on the Multan Sultans in the Qualifier on March 15.
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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