Younis Khan: “He (Babar) needs to focus on his fitness and work ethic because opportunities like these don’t come around often”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary Pakistan batsman Younis Khan has advised Babar Azam to pay close attention to his “fitness and work ethic” since he has been struggling to score runs consistently as of late.
Azam, who recently resigned as limited overs captain, hasn’t made a century in international cricket since his 151 against Nepal in August 2023.
Pakistan rely a lot on the 30-year-old since he is considered to be the backbone of the batting line-up. However, he hasn’t been able to step up and deliver, which has put immense pressure on the other batsmen to pick up the slack.
Fully aware of how important Azam’s role is, Younis urged the 29-year-old to focus on areas where he is lacking in order to rediscover his form.
“He (Babar) needs to focus on his fitness and work ethic because opportunities like these don’t come around often,” he was quoted as saying by Sports Tak.
Azam recently 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.
Afterwards, Azam was in action in Pakistan’s three-Test series against England, but was only picked for the first Test in Multan, where he made scores of 30 and 5.
Most recently, the Lahore native featured in Pakistan’s limited overs series against Australia and made 80 runs in three ODIs at an average of 80.
In the three-match T20I series, he finished with 47 runs at an average of 15.66.
Pakistan will now head to Zimbabwe to 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