Salman Butt: “He should focus more on his batting, and it will be more valuable for the Pakistan cricket team. He is a great batter”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan opener Salman Butt knows Babar Azam is a “great batter”, but wants him to focus on getting even better.
Azam has been Pakistan’s most consistent run-scorer for the last few years, but his form has taken a drastic hit for numerous months.
Along with paying more attention to his batting, Salman thinks Azam’s decision to resign as white-ball captain in October 2024 was the right move.
“Babar Azam has resigned from white-ball captaincy, and I think there’s nothing to talk about it. I think he has done the right thing and should have done it earlier. People were undermining him, and it was a right decision from Babar,” he said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
“He should focus more on his batting, and it will be more valuable for the Pakistan cricket team. He is a great batter.”
Azam was recently overlooked for Pakistan’s T20I series against Bangladesh in Lahore, the T20I tour of Bangladesh, and the T20I series against the West Indies.
He returned to play in the three-match ODI series against the West Indies and made 56 runs at an average of 18.66.
Pakistan then faced the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan in a T20I tri-series in Sharjah, which they won.
Next up for the men in green will be the 2025 Asia Cup, which will be played in the UAE from September 9 to 28.
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
[TS_Poll id=”149″]