Ricky Ponting: “This might be exactly what Babar needs. Maybe Babar needs to get away for a while and stop trying too hard. Lock the kit bag away for a while”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Iconic Australia captain Ricky Ponting has suggested that Pakistan batsman Babar Azam “lock the kit bag away” and take a short break from playing cricket.
He noted that the 30-year-old is struggling to score runs consistently and may need some time off to rest and recuperate.
Ponting added that India batsman Virat Kohli spoke about the benefits of taking a break and thus advised Azam to do the same thing in order to come back firing on all cylinders.
“You know, when you look at [Babar’s] numbers, it’s been a bit like the stuff that we were talking about with Virat [Kohli] earlier on. Sometimes – and I think Virat was on record saying this – that little bit of a break that he had, he took himself away from the game for a while to freshen up and sort out some things that he needed to sort out,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
“This might be exactly what Babar needs. Maybe Babar needs to get away for a while and stop trying too hard. Lock the kit bag away for a while, and think about something else and then hopefully come back recharged, because we know at his best he’s as good as anyone going around. Hopefully we get to see that in the back half of his career again.”
Azam recently took part in Pakistan’s three-Test series against England, but only played in the first Test, where he made scores of 30 and 5.
After that, he toured Australia with the Pakistan team and scored 80 runs in three ODIs at an average of 80.
Following this, he was involved in the three-match T20I series, but only managed to muster 47 runs at an average of 15.66.
Pakistan are now facing Zimbabwe in a limited overs series, but Azam has been rested for it.
The ODI series is currently level at 1-1 going into the third match on November 28 in Bulawayo.
Once the three-match ODI series is complete, Pakistan and Zimbabwe will play three T20Is, with the first game starting 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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