Basit Ali: “It has been 18 innings since he (Azam) has performed. If some other player was playing, then he would be out of the squad after three games, like Fawad Alam. This is the bitter truth”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali believes senior batsman Fawad Alam would have been dropped after three games if he performed the same way Babar Azam has done as of late.
Azam has not scored any Test centuries since December 2022, which was also the last time he surpassed the 50-run mark in the longest format.
As for limited overs cricket, the 30-year-old’s last hundreds in T20Is and ODIs came in April 2023 and August 2023 respectively.
In Fawad’s case, he made his Test return after more than 10 years in 2020, but only kept hold of his spot in the side for two years before being dropped as he failed to perform consistently.
“It has been 18 innings since he (Azam) has performed. If some other player was playing, then he would be out of the squad after three games, like Fawad Alam. This is the bitter truth,” Basit said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam recently featured in Pakistan’s two-Test series against Bangladesh and made 64 runs at an average of 16.
He then 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 accumulated 230 runs, which included a century and a fifty, at an average of 76.66.
Following this, Azam was in action in Pakistan’s three-match Test series against England, but was only selected for the first Test, where he made scores of 30 and 5.
Next up for Pakistan will be a limited overs tour of Australia, which will consist of three ODIs and three T20Is that will be played from November 4 to 18.
After this, the men in green 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
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