Nasser Hussain: “There’s a slight technical issue. I see at times with Babar, he gets squared up a lot for a great player outside off-stump… I’d advise him to play beside the ball. He’s good enough to do that”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former England captain Nasser Hussain has pointed out that Pakistan batsman Babar Azam “gets squared up a lot for a great player”.
He noted that this has become a prevalent weakness and the 30-year-old needs to remedy the issue, especially when it comes to deliveries that are swinging away from him.
Azam’s form has taken a significant hit over the last few months as he hasn’t been anywhere near his best.
In the three-Test series against England, he was only selected for the first Test and made scores of 30 and 5.
He then featured in a three-match ODI series against Australia and amassed 80 runs at an average of 80.
As for the T20I series that followed, the Lahore native mustered 47 runs in three games at an average of 15.66.
“There’s a slight technical issue. I see at times with Babar, he gets squared up a lot for a great player outside off-stump… I’d advise him to play beside the ball. He’s good enough to do that. The technical coach should try and work with him and not get him squared up with the ball that moves away,” Hussain told PakPassion.
Pakistan are now taking on Zimbabwe in a white-ball series, but Azam was rested for it.
The ODI series is level at 1-1 heading into the decider on November 28 in Bulawayo.
Once the ODIs are done, Pakistan and Zimbabwe will face each other in three T20Is, with the first match 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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