Andy Flower: “He is a guy who sets very high standards, he is very consistent but we all have our fluctuations. You can’t be at the top of your game all the time”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Multan Sultans head coach Andy Flower said Pakistan white-ball captain Babar Azam holds himself to “very high standards”, but pointed out that the 29-year-old can’t score runs all the time as every player goes through rough patches.
Azam had been in bad form over the past few months as he was unable to score runs consistently.
Flower is fully aware of how consistent the Lahore-born batsman can be when he is in top form, but stressed that all top cricketers go through tough periods where things don’t go their way.
“He is a guy who sets very high standards, he is very consistent but we all have our fluctuations. You can’t be at the top of your game all the time,” he told Cricket Pakistan.
Azam recently led Pakistan in a five-match T20I series against New Zealand and finished with 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 struck 132 runs in three T20Is against Ireland, which included two fifties, at an average of 44 and a strike-rate of 148.31.
Next up for Pakistan will be four T20Is against England from May 22 to May 30.
Following this, they will be in action in the T20 World Cup, which will be held in the West Indies and United States of America from June 1 to 29.
Pakistan’s first T20 World Cup game will be against the United States of America in Dallas on June 6.
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