Saeed Ajmal: “Babar Azam was let down to such an extent that people openly said he wasn’t the kind of player needed in T20Is”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal believes batsman Babar Azam was let down so much and put under excessive pressure in T20Is.
Ajmal said he struggles to understand how a player of Azam’s calibre was dropped from the T20I side primarily due to his strike-rate. Addressing the issue further, he pointed out that all players brought in while Azam was out of the side failed to showcase a significantly better strike-rate.
“Babar Azam was let down to such an extent that people openly said he wasn’t the kind of player needed in T20Is. If you don’t value your players, how can they learn from you?” he told PakPassion as quoted by A Sports.
“Have you seen any of our players play T20 cricket differently? Has anyone’s strike-rate consistently exceeded Babar’s? He’s our world-class player, yet he was criticised so publicly that he couldn’t even handle the pressure.”
Azam ended up returning to Pakistan’s T20I team for the recent home series against South Africa, where he scored 79 runs in three matches, 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 took part in the T20I tri-series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, and made 127 runs in five games, which included a top score of 74, at an average of 31.75 and a strike-rate of 112.38.
Ajmal believes Azam’s recall to the T20I team was made “out of compulsion” as none of the replacements managed to perform consistently or fill the gap left by him.
“This decision was taken out of compulsion. When the new players didn’t perform, they went back to the same ones who could at least do something. First, you remove them, then take them back out of necessity. This is the state of affairs,” the 48-year-old off-spinner said.
Recently, Pakistan travelled to Sri Lanka for a three-match T20I series in Dambulla, but Azam was not part of the squad.
Instead, he has been playing for the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash League (BBL), where he has accumulated 201 runs in nine matches, which includes two fifties, at an average of 28.71 and a strike-rate of 107.48.
Next up for Pakistan will be three T20Is against Australia in Lahore, which will be held from January 29 to February 1.