Nayan Mongia: “His batting has been stumbling for the last few years. He is looking out of form. He is putting too much pressure on himself, that he has to stay there and make a big score for the team”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former India wicketkeeper-batsman Nayan Mongia said Pakistan captain Babar Azam’s “batting has been stumbling for the last few years”.
He noted that the 29-year-old is “looking out of form” and “putting too much pressure on himself”, which could be the reason why his form has been slightly turbulent as of late.
In the 2024 T20 World Cup, Pakistan failed to impress, but Azam once again led from the front, scoring 122 runs in four matches at an average of 40.66 and a strike-rate of 101.66.
Regardless of this, Mongia conceded that the Pakistan skipper needs more support from the other players in the squad.
“His batting has been stumbling for the last few years. He is looking out of form. He is putting too much pressure on himself, that he has to stay there and make a big score for the team. If he takes pressure like this and the team doesn’t support him in batting and fielding, mental pressure definitely comes on every batter,” he told Star Sports as quoted by Geo Super.
“Pressure has been put on him that he is the best batter and has to stay there and score big.”
Pakistan lost their first two T20 World Cup matches against the United States of America and India before bouncing back to take down Canada and Ireland.
Despite triumphing in their last two group stage games, the men in green failed to progress to the Super Eights.
Pakistan Squad for 2024 T20 World Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan (wk), Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
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