David Gower: “Babar Azam is one of the best. But what happens is that at some stage the luck goes against you. It will change”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary England batsman David Gower believes luck is simply going against Babar Azam at the moment, but remains confident that the Pakistan star’s fortunes will change soon.
Azam has been Pakistan’s most consistent run-scorer in all three formats for numerous years, but his form has taken a sharp dip over the last few months.
Despite the tough situation the 30-year-old finds himself in, Gower insisted that it hasn’t changed his opinion of Azam being “one of the best” in the world.
“Babar Azam is one of the best. But what happens is that at some stage the luck goes against you. It will change,” he was quoted as saying by respected journalist Saj Sadiq on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Azam featured in Pakistan’s two-Test series against Bangladesh and mustered 64 runs at an average of 16.
He then played for 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.
Following this, Azam was involved in the three-match Test series England, but was only picked for the first Test, where he made scores of 30 and 5.
Pakistan ended up winning 2-1 to secure their first Test series victory on home soil since 2021.
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.