Mudassar Nazar: “Babar has still got to make a name for himself”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan cricketer Mudassar Nazar believes Babar Azam still has to make a name for himself even though he has been the country’s frontline batsman for years.
Azam has shattered multiple records throughout his career, but his form has taken a turn for the worse for the past few months.
The 30-year-old is still regarded as one of the top batsmen in the world, but Mudassar pointed out that there is “a hell of a difference” between him and someone like India’s Virat Kohli.
“I mean there is a hell of a difference between the two players. Virat will be remembered as one of the greatest who has graced the game. Babar has still got to make a name for himself,” he was quoted as saying by NDTV.
Azam recently featured in the 2025 Champions Trophy, where he struck 87 runs in two games, which included a top score of 64, at an average of 43.50.
Following this, he was involved in Pakistan’s limited overs tour of New Zealand, where he made 129 runs in three ODIs, which included two fifties, at an average of 43.
However, he wasn’t selected for the five-match T20I series that preceded the ODIs.
Currently, Azam is captaining the Peshawar Zalmi in the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL) and hasn’t enjoyed a strong start to the tournament as he has made scores of 0 and 1 in his first two matches against the Quetta Gladiators and Islamabad United respectively.
PSL 10 began on April 11 and will finish on May 18.
Peshawar Zalmi Squad for PSL 10:
- Platinum: Babar Azam (captain), Saim Ayub, Tom Kohler-Cadmore
- Diamond: Corbin Bosch, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Haris
- Gold: Abdul Samad, Hussain Talat, Nahid Rana
- Silver: Arif Yaqoob, Najibullah Zadran, Max Bryant, Mehran Mumtaz, Sufiyan Muqeem
- Emerging: Ali Raza, Maaz Sadaqat
- Supplementary: Ahmed Daniyal, Alzarri Joseph