Awais Zia: “Babar isn’t as slow as Misbah”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan opener Awais Zia doesn’t believe batsman Babar Azam is as slow as former captain Misbah-ul-Haq.
Azam has been criticised for batting too slow, especially in T20I cricket, where his strike-rate is constantly being monitored.
Many people have lashed out at the 30-year-old for taking too much time to score runs and putting pressure on other batsmen who bat lower down the order.
However, Zia has come to Azam’s defence, insisting he bats a lot faster than other Pakistan players, such as Misbah.
“Babar isn’t as slow as Misbah,” he told PakPassion.
Azam was recently in action in Pakistan’s ODI tri-series against New Zealand and South Africa, where he mustered 62 runs in three matches at an average of 20.66.
He followed that up with 87 runs in two games in the 2025 Champions Trophy, which included a top score of 64, at an average of 43.50.
Pakistan lost to New Zealand and India in the tournament, which led to them getting knocked out in the group stage.
Their final game against Bangladesh was washed out, meaning they failed to win a single match.
Next up for the men in green will be a white-ball tour of New Zealand, where they will play five T20Is and three ODIs from March 16 to April 5.
Pakistan Squad for T20I Series against New Zealand: Hasan Nawaz, Omair Yousuf, Mohammad Haris, Abdul Samad, Salman Ali Agha (captain), Irfan Khan Niazi, Khushdil Shah, Shadab Khan, Abbas Afridi, Jahandad Khan, Mohammad Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Sufiyan Muqeem, Abrar Ahmed, Usman Khan
Pakistan Squad for ODI Series against New Zealand: Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Salman Ali Agha, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Akif Javed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Irfan Khan Niazi, Naseem Shah, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir