Salman Butt: “Babar Azam scored truckloads of runs in the last two years, he proved his fitness, he ran on the field, and scored runs while batting first as well as second innings”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan batsman Salman Butt has lauded limited overs captain Babar Azam for scoring “truckloads of runs in the last two years”.
Azam has been Pakistan’s most consistent run-scorer in all three formats and has repeatedly won them matches single-handedly.
Salman noted that the 30-year-old’s ability to score big runs proves just how fit he is as he is able to stay at the crease for long periods of time.
“Babar Azam scored truckloads of runs in the last two years, he proved his fitness, he ran on the field, and scored runs while batting first as well as second innings,” he said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam’s form has been a big concern as of late as he has struggled to score runs on a regular basis. This has led to him being dropped from the T20I squad and resulted in him missing Pakistan’s three-match T20I series against Bangladesh in Lahore, the T20I tour of Bangladesh, and the T20I series against the West Indies.
The Lahore native did feature in the ODI series against the West Indies and accumulated 56 runs at an average of 18.66.
After their tour of the West Indies, Pakistan won a T20I tri-series against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan in Sharjah.
They are now playing in the 2025 Asia Cup, which is taking place in the UAE.
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