Wahab Riaz: “As a bowler, aggression is the only thing that you have, and whenever I ask about Babar from Amir, he always speaks positively about him and says that Babar Azam is a world class player. He never denied it”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Wahab Riaz has defended Pakistan left-arm seamer Mohammad Amir, saying he always “speaks positively” about limited overs captain Babar Azam.
The former Pakistan selector’s comments come after Amir came under fire for saying that bowling to Azam is no different than bowling against a tailender. The 31-year-old made the remark prior to the 2023 Pakistan Super League (PSL).
Downplaying it as aggression, Wahab noted that whenever he talks to Amir about Azam, the pace bowler has nothing but nice things to say.
“As a bowler, aggression is the only thing that you have, and whenever I ask about Babar from Amir, he always speaks positively about him and says that Babar Azam is a world class player. He never denied it,” Wahab told Cricket Pakistan.
Amir recently featured in the 2024 T20 World Cup and took seven wickets in four games at an average of 10.28 and an economy rate of 4.50.
As for Azam, he was Pakistan’s highest run-scorer with 122 runs in four matches at an average of 40.66 and a strike-rate of 101.66.
The men in green started off with losses to the United States of America and India before fighting back to defeat Canada and Ireland.
Despite ending the group stage with a 2-2 record, Pakistan were unable to book their spot in 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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