Shannon Young: “If there was a player like Babar [Azam] in Australia, we would have been supporting him instead of criticising him. In Australia, we back them in, and we say they’ve been world-class players, they’re gonna be world-class players again”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Power-hitting coach Shannon Young said if Pakistan white-ball captain Babar Azam played for Australia, he would be supported instead of criticised.
Azam has been heavily lambasted as of late due to his captaincy skills and his slow batting, which many people feel hurts the team in T20Is.
Young noted that players like Azam are world-class and the mentality in Australia would be to back him and remain optimistic that he will get back to his best.
“If there was a player like Babar [Azam] in Australia, we would have been supporting him instead of criticising him. In Australia, we back them in, and we say they’ve been world-class players, they’re gonna be world-class players again,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam recently led Pakistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup and amassed 122 runs in four matches at an average of 40.66 and a strike-rate of 101.66.
The men in green lost to the United States of America and India before fighting back to defeat Canada and Ireland.
Even though they triumphed in those two games, it was not enough to take them through 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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