Azhar Ali: “Babar’s performance as a batsman has been good. He has consistently performed throughout his captaincy. If he couldn’t perform well in the World Cup, it is okay”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan cricketer Azhar Ali has defended limited overs captain Babar Azam, saying his performances with the bat have been good.
He added that Azam has regularly led from the front as captain and feels that the criticism directed towards the 29-year-old when he goes through rough patches is unwarranted.
In particular, Azhar highlighted Azam’s failure to meet expectations during the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup. He feels that the Pakistan skipper was unfairly chastised given the fact that other players fell well short of the mark regarding their individual performances.
“Babar’s performance as a batsman has been good. He has consistently performed throughout his captaincy. If he couldn’t perform well in the World Cup, it is okay. There have been some captains who have had similar experiences with poor performances in World Cups,” he told Cricket Pakistan.
Azam recently led the men in green in their five-match T20I series against New Zealand and made 125 runs in five games, which included a top score of 69, at an average of 31.25 and a strike-rate of 138.88.
He then featured in the three-match T20I series against Ireland and scored 132 runs, which included two fifties, at an average of 44 and a strike-rate of 148.31.
Pakistan’s next assignment will see them play four T20Is against England from May 22 to May 30.
Pakistan Squad for Ireland and England T20I Series: Babar Azam (capt), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan
[TS_Poll id=”124″]