Faheem Ashraf: “The way Babar plays his shots, if you demand that from me, that is wrong. Similarly, if you ask Babar to hit 6 sixes in an over, that’s wrong. If you ask Babar to stay out there and win the game, he will do it in his own way”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan all-rounder Faheem Ashraf believes it is wrong for people to expect batsman Babar Azam to hit six sixes in an over.
His comments come at a time when Azam is out of the T20I team, with many attributing it to his low strike-rate.
Faheem noted that while Azam is not an out-and-out power-hitter, he is capable of staying at the crease and winning matches.
“The way Babar plays his shots, if you demand that from me, that is wrong. Similarly, if you ask Babar to hit 6 sixes in an over, that’s wrong. If you ask Babar to stay out there and win the game, he will do it in his own way,” he was quoted as saying by A Sports.
Azam was recently involved in the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL), where he captained the Peshawar Zalmi and scored 288 runs in 10 games, which included three fifties, at an average of 36 and a strike-rate of 128.57.
Despite a solid performance in PSL 10, he was not selected for Pakistan’s T20I series against Bangladesh in Lahore, the T20I tour of Bangladesh, and the three-match T20I series against the West Indies.
He did return for the three ODIs against the West Indies, but only managed to muster 56 runs at an average of 18.66.
Pakistan will now play a T20I tri-series against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan in Sharjah, which will take place from August 29 to September 7.
After this, the men in green will participate in the 2025 Asia Cup, which will be held in the UAE from September 9 to 28.
Azam was not included in Pakistan’s squad for the T20I tri-series and Asia Cup.
Pakistan squad for UAE T20I tri-series and 2025 Asia Cup: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem