Ramiz Raja: “Babar looks very down which might be due to [his] resignation from [the] white-ball captaincy and phase of struggling performance”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja believes Babar Azam “looks very down” and suggested it might be due to him stepping down as white-ball captain and struggling to score runs consistently.
Azam resigned as limited overs skipper at the beginning of October and has since been replaced by Mohammad Rizwan.
As for his poor form, he has failed to score runs regularly for a few months, which has become a worrying sign for everyone.
“Babar looks very down which might be due to [his] resignation from [the] white-ball captaincy and phase of struggling performance,” Ramiz was quoted as saying by journalist Arfa Feroz Zake on X, formerly known as Twitter.
In Pakistan’s two-Tests series against Bangladesh, Azam only managed to muster 64 runs at an average of 16.
He looked a lot better in the Champions One-Day Cup, which was a domestic 50-over competition that took place in Faisalabad.
In the four games he played for the Stallions, he struck 230 runs, which included a century and a fifty, at an average of 76.66.
Most recently, the 30-year-old was in action in Pakistan’s three-match Test series against England, but only featured in the first Test, where he made scores of 30 and 5.
Despite Azam missing the second and third Tests, Pakistan went on to win 2-1, giving them their first Test series victory on home soil since 2021.
Next up for Pakistan will be a limited overs tour of Australia, which will see them play three ODIs and three T20Is from November 4 to 18.
Afterwards, they will travel to Zimbabwe for three ODIs and three T20Is from November 24 to December 5.
Pakistan Squad for Australia ODI Series: Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi
Pakistan Squad for Australia T20I Series: Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan, Jahandad Khan, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Omair Bin Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Usman Khan
Pakistan Squad for Zimbabwe ODI Series: Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Irfan Khan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shahnawaz Dahani, Tayyab Tahir
Pakistan Squad for Zimbabwe T20I Series: Ahmed Daniyal, Arafat Minhas, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Jahandad Khan, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Irfan Khan, Omair bin Yousuf, Qasim Akram, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir, Usman Khan