Jason Gillespie: “I’m very confident. Babar will be back scoring a lot of runs for Pakistan in all formats. He’s just too good a player”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan head coach Jason Gillespie is confident that Babar Azam “will be back scoring a lot of runs” in all three formats very soon.
Azam’s form has taken a noticeable dip over the past few months, but Gillespie noted that the 30-year-old is “just too good a player” to be down and out for a lengthy period of time.
He added that Azam is working really hard and expects the Lahore native to have a “huge role” in the Pakistan team going forward.
“I’m very confident. Babar will be back scoring a lot of runs for Pakistan in all formats. He’s just too good a player. He works really, really hard in his game. He’s very precise with his preparation and what he needs to do to get ready. I fully expect him to have a huge role, going forward in the next little while for Pakistan,” Gillespie told Sky Sports Cricket as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam recently played in Pakistan’s two-Test series against Bangladesh, but was unable to have much of an impact as he was restricted to 64 runs at an average of 16.
He then featured in the three-Test series against England, but was only picked for the first Test, where he made scores of 30 and 5.
Right now, he is taking part in Pakistan’s white-ball series against Australia and made 80 runs in the three ODIs that were played at an average of 80.
Azam hasn’t had the same level of success in the ongoing T20I series as he made three runs in both the first and second matches.
Australia are 2-0 up going into the third T20I, which will take place on November 18 in Hobart.
After this, Pakistan will tour Zimbabwe, where they will play 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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