Basit Ali: “Our people won’t be happy with 37 runs, they want Babar to score 137”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has pointed out the high expectations on Babar Azam, saying people aren’t happy when he scores 37 runs as they want him to make 137 instead.
Azam has been Pakistan’s most consistent run-scorer in all three formats for the past few years and has thus gained a reputation as one of the elite run-scorers in the sport.
Lately, however, his form has been on the decline and it has really hurt the men in green as he is the backbone of their batting line-up.
Considering what the 30-year-old has accomplished in his career thus far, Basit noted that people expect so much from Azam every time he walks out to bat.
“Our people won’t be happy with 37 runs, they want Babar to score 137,” he said on his YouTube channel as quoted by NDTV.
Azam recently played in Pakistan’s three-Test series against England, but was only selected for the first Test, where he made scores of 30 and 5.
After this, he was involved in the white-ball series against Australia and accumulated 80 runs in three ODIs at an average of 80.
He then proceeded to make 47 runs in three T20Is at an average of 15.66.
Pakistan are now taking on Zimbabwe in a three-match ODI series and trail 1-0 after losing the first match by 80 runs via the DLS method.
The second ODI will take place on November 26 in Bulawayo.
After the ODIs, they will play three T20Is, with the first game beginning on December 1 in Bulawayo.
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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