Babar Azam: “If I was asked individually, I wasn’t satisfied with the decision to bat at [the] one down position. However, I did that for Pakistan”
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Pakistan batsman Babar Azam has admitted that he “wasn’t satisfied with the decision” he made to bat at number three in T20Is.
Azam used to open the batting with Mohammad Rizwan, but both batsmen received plenty of criticism for their low strike-rate.
As a result, the 29-year-old was asked to bat at one down in the five-match T20I series against New Zealand in January 2024, with big-hitting batsman Saim Ayub taking over his spot as an opener.
Even though Azam agreed to it, he reiterated that he didn’t like it.
“I wasn’t under any pressure to score runs as an opener [for the Peshawar Zalmi]. I don’t take pressure of anything. It was Pakistan team’s demand at the time. I did that for Pakistan. If I was asked individually, I wasn’t satisfied with the decision to bat at [the] one down position. However, I did that for Pakistan,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam recently captained the Peshawar Zalmi in the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL) and finished as the highest run-scorer in the tournament with 569 runs in 11 games, which included a century and five fifties, at an average of 56.90 and a strike-rate of 142.60.
The Zalmi managed to make it to the playoffs, but were eliminated after losing to the Multan Sultans in the Qualifier and eventual champions Islamabad United in Eliminator 2.
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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