Mohammad Yousuf: “I gave an opinion of resting Babar Azam as a selector”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf has revealed that when he was serving as a national selector, he recommended that Babar Azam be rested.
Azam has been working hard to get back in form after finding it difficult to score runs regularly for numerous months.
The 31-year-old has produced several encouraging performances recently, including a solid 50 in the Test series against South Africa, a fluent 68 in the T20Is that followed, and an unbeaten 102 in the ODI series against Sri Lanka – his first international century in more than two years.
During the T20I tri-series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, Azam also impressed against the latter with a superb knock of 74.
Considering how badly Azam was struggling a while back, Yousuf felt the Lahore native might have benefitted from a brief break from the national setup.
“I gave an opinion of resting Babar Azam as a selector,” Yousuf said on Samaa TV programme Zor Ka Jor.
Azam is now playing for the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash League (BBL), where he has amassed 129 runs in five matches, which includes two fifties, at an average of 32.25 and a strike-rate of 117.27.
Pakistan’s next assignment will be a T20I tour of Sri Lanka, but Azam was not among the players selected for the series,
All three T20Is will be played in Dambulla from January 7 to 11.
Pakistan Squad for Sri Lanka T20I Series: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmad, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Nafay (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wicketkeeper), Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan (wicketkeeper), Usman Tariq