Azhar Mahmood: “Abdullah [Shafique] and Babar [Azam] scored 40s, but we’d like to see them turn into big scores”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan red-ball head coach Azhar Mahmood wants to see batsmen Abdullah Shafique and Babar Azam turn their strong starts into big scores.
His comments come after both of them surpassed 40 runs in the second innings of the 1st Test against South Africa in Lahore before getting out shortly after.
Considering the effort Shafique and Azam put into their respective scores of 41 and 42, Mahmood feels they need to knuckle down and push on to convert those starts into hundreds.
“Abdullah [Shafique] and Babar [Azam] scored 40s, but we’d like to see them turn into big scores,” he was quoted as saying by NDTV.
Overall, Azam ended the two-Test series against South Africa with 131 runs, which included a top score of 50, at an average of 32.75.
As for Shafique, he made 106 runs, which included a top score of 57, at an average of 26.50.
After that, Azam featured in the three-match T20I series and accumulated 79 runs, which included a top score of 68, at an average of 39.50 and a strike-rate of 117.91.
The 31-year-old then proceeded to amass 45 runs in three ODIs at an average of 15.
The Lahore native fared a lot better in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka as he accumulated 165 runs, which included his first hundred since August 2023, at an average of 82.50.
Pakistan will now join a T20I tri-series with Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe from November 18 to 29.
Pakistan squad for Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe T20I Tri-Series: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan (wicketkeeper), Usman Tariq
Reserves: Haris Rauf, Sufiyan Muqeem