Younis Khan: “Babar Azam was made captain because he was the best performer. To become an even better player, he needs to stay away from controversies and focus on his game”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary Pakistan batsman Younis Khan has urged Babar Azam to “stay away from controversies and focus on his game” if he wants to “become an even better player”.
Azam recently stepped down as Pakistan’s limited overs captain in order to give all his attention to his batting, which has been slipping over the past few months.
Recently, the 30-year-old featured in the two-Test series against Bangladesh and was unable to have an impact as he was restricted to 64 runs at an average of 16.
Younis is eager to see Azam take his game to the next level but admitted that certain things need to be done before the Lahore native can do it.
“Babar Azam was made captain because he was the best performer. To become an even better player, he needs to stay away from controversies and focus on his game,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
After the Bangladesh Test series, Azam represented the Stallions in the Champions One-Day Cup, which was a domestic 50-over competition that took place in Faisalabad.
In four games, he amassed 230 runs, which included a century and a fifty, at an average of 76.66.
He then featured in the first Test against England and made scores of 30 and 5.
Azam was rested for the second Test, which Pakistan won by 152 runs, and won’t be part of the playing XI for the third Test either, which begins on October 24 in Rawalpindi.
Pakistan Squad for 2nd and 3rd Tests against England: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Kamran Ghulam, Mehran Mumtaz, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Zahid Mahmood.
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