Babar Azam: “He’s struggling but I feel he just needs one innings to get going”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan captain Babar Azam has thrown his support behind opening batsman Saim Ayub, insisting the 21-year-old “just needs one innings to get going.”
His comments come after Ayub has failed to have much of an impact in international cricket so far.
In the one Test match he played, the Karachi-born batsman made scores of 0 and 33.
As for his T20I career, Ayub has amassed 284 runs in 20 games at an average of 15.77 and a strike-rate of 130.87.
Azam acknowledged that the big-hitting youngster is “struggling”, but insisted that he will continue to have faith in him.
“He’s struggling but I feel he just needs one innings to get going,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Ayub was recently involved in Pakistan’s five-match T20I series against New Zealand and finished with 57 runs in five games at an average of 14.25 and a strike-rate of 129.54.
He then featured in the three-match T20I series against Ireland and made 65 runs at an average of 21.66 and a strike-rate of 151.16.
Pakistan’s next assignment will see them play four T20Is against England from May 22 to May 30.
After that, will be in action in the 2024 T20 World Cup, which will take place 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