Mushtaq Ahmed: “Babar’s intent has definitely changed in the past year. He has shown aggression in his batting. If a person can improve so much, I think that’s enough”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary Pakistan spinner Mushtaq Ahmed said limited overs captain Babar Azam has shown more aggression when batting as of late.
Mushtaq’s defence of Azam comes at a time when the 29-year-old has been heavily criticised for batting too slow and not being able to boost his strike-rate, which is something that is needed to excel in T20Is.
The 54-year-old added that he has seen a noticeable change in Azam over the past year and thus feels that the criticism being directed at the star batsman is unwarranted as he is making a genuine effort to rectify weaknesses that were previously pointed out.
“Babar’s intent has definitely changed in the past year. He has shown aggression in his batting. If a person can improve so much, I think that’s enough,” he told Cricket Pakistan.
Azam recently captained Pakistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup and made 122 runs in four matches at an average of 40.66 and a strike-rate of 101.66.
The men in green began their campaign with consecutive losses to the United States of America and India before bouncing back to take down Canada and Ireland.
Despite ending the group stage with a 2-2 record, Pakistan were unable 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