Moin Khan: “Azam has his own shortcomings too. He needs to make himself physically and mentally stronger, [and] follow the fitness routines of other sportsmen”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Moin Khan said his son Azam “has his own shortcomings” and needs to specifically work on his fitness.
Azam has represented Pakistan in 14 T20Is, but only managed to muster 88 runs at a dismal average of 8.80 and a strike-rate of 133.33.
While the 26-year-old hasn’t done himself any favours with his poor performances, Moin partially blamed the team management and captain for diminishing his son’s confidence.
“In the 2022 World Cup, Azam was also selected for the team, but Ramiz Raja dropped him. At that time, if the chief selector had made a wrong selection, he should have been removed, but they didn’t have the courage, and as a result, they demoralised a young player. In this World Cup as well, you can see how he was played,” he told Cricket Pakistan.
“I’m not saying that all the blame lies with the team management and the captain; Azam has his own shortcomings too. He needs to make himself physically and mentally stronger, [and] follow the fitness routines of other sportsmen. For the past month or so, I’ve noticed he’s been working hard to improve his fitness with his trainer Shehzar Mohammad, even taking him along to the Caribbean League. I hope Azam has learned a lot from this experience.”
Azam did not feature in Pakistan’s two-Test series against Bangladesh, nor the Champions One-Day Cup, which was a domestic 50-over tournament held in Faisalabad, as he was playing for the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
The Pakistan team are now taking on England in a three-match Test series, which got underway on October 7 in Multan.
Pakistan Squad for 1st Test against England: Shan Masood (captain), Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Salman Ali Agha, Aamer Jamal, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed