Shan Masood: “Babar Azam is a world-class player. His consistent form across formats makes any rough patch a concern, despite his habitual run-scoring”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan Test captain Shan Masood has admitted it is concerning that Babar Azam isn’t scoring runs at the moment.
Azam has been the most consistent run-scorer for the men in green over the last few years, to the point where the team has started depending on him.
In the recent two-Test series against Bangladesh, the 29-year-old wasn’t anywhere near his best as he could only manage 64 runs at an average of 16.
Despite failing to produce any magic with the bat, Masood still thinks Azam is a “world-class player” and is backing him to break out of the rough patch he is currently going through.
“Babar Azam is a world-class player. His consistent form across formats makes any rough patch a concern, despite his habitual run-scoring,” he was quoted as saying by PakPassion on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Pakistan were beaten 2-0 by Bangladesh and their next assignment will be a three-Test series against England from October 7 to 28.
Until then, Azam and Masood are playing for the Stallions in the Champions One-Day Cup, which is a domestic 50-over competition being held in Faisalabad.
Azam has scored 230 runs in four matches, which includes a century and a fifty, at an average of 76.66, while Masood has accumulated 102 runs in four games at an average of 25.50.
Pakistan Squad for 1st Test against England: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Mir Hamza, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi.
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