Shoaib Malik: “Ups and downs are a part of life, especially when you are a cricketer from the subcontinent. He needs to stay strong during this time. I know he has a personality that embraces challenges; right now, it’s a downtime, but good times will come too”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Veteran Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik said white-ball captain Babar Azam “needs to stay strong” as he battles through a tough time.
Malik pointed out that all cricketers experience “ups and downs”, but noted that the 29-year-old “has a personality that embraces challenges”.
Despite all the criticism that has been directed towards Azam, whether it be for his captaincy skills or inability to score runs consistently, the 42-year-old predicted that “good times” are coming for the star batsman.
“Ups and downs are a part of life, especially when you are a cricketer from the subcontinent. He needs to stay strong during this time. I know he has a personality that embraces challenges; right now, it’s a downtime, but good times will come too,” he told Cricket Pakistan.
Azam recently led Pakistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup and accumulated 122 runs in four matches at an average of 40.66 and a strike-rate of 101.66.
He is now involved in the two-match Test series against Bangladesh and made scores of 0 and 22 in the first match, which Pakistan lost by 10 wickets.
The second Test will get underway on August 30 in Rawalpindi.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi
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