Ramiz Raja: “Practice hook and pull shots a lot, because then you focus on the ball a lot”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja has advised batsman Babar Azam to practice playing hook and pull shots as it will help him “focus on the ball a lot”.
Azam is currently going through a turbulent period of form as he has not been able to score runs consistently.
Most recently, the 30-year-old played in the 2025 Champions Trophy, where he made 87 runs in two matches, which included a top score of 64, at an average of 43.50.
He was then involved in Pakistan’s limited overs tour of New Zealand, where the men in green lost the T20I series 4-1 and the ODIs 3-0.
After missing the T20Is since he was not included in the squad, Azam featured in the ODI series and accumulated 129 runs in three matches, which included two fifties, at an average of 43.
Having offered the Lahore-born batsman some advice on his batting, Ramiz hopes it will help him break out of the rough patch he finds himself in.
“You lose your frame because you aren’t spending much time on the crease. If you are playing forward, commit fully, if on the back foot, then use the crease. Practice hook and pull shots a lot, because then you focus on the ball a lot,” he said on his YouTube channel as quoted by NDTV.
Azam is now captaining the Peshawar Zalmi in the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL) and has made scores of 0 and 1 in his first two games against the Quetta Gladiators and Islamabad United respectively.
PSL 10 got underway on April 11 and will conclude 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