Faf du Plessis: “It starts with honesty. That’s the groundwork of any conversation that happens. Once you’re honest in your conversation as a coach, everything flows from that”

Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani

South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis has advised Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson to have a candid conversation with Babar Azam about his T20I future, saying “it starts with honesty”.

His remarks come amid growing debate over whether Azam should remain in Pakistan’s T20I side, particularly as he continues to bat at number four without making a significant impact.

Du Plessis believes Hesson now needs to sit down with the 31-year-old and be frank about what the future holds, based on the numbers he is putting up.

“It starts with honesty. That’s the groundwork of any conversation that happens. Once you’re honest in your conversation as a coach, everything flows from that; whereas if you are hopping around and not telling the truth as a coach or a captain, it leads to holes a player can jump into. So the nature of the conversation is always really important. For a coach, it’s like, ‘Listen, these are the numbers. The numbers are suggesting this … Once the stats are in front of a player, it’s pretty difficult to go ‘I’m not agreeing with you.’,” the former South Africa captain said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show as quoted by NDTV.

Azam is now getting ready to captain Pakistan in their two-Test series against the West Indies, which will take place in Trinidad and Tobago from July 25 to August 6.

The men in green will then tour England for three Tests from August 19 to September 13.

Pakistan Squad for West Indies Test Series: Babar Azam (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Fazal, Ali Usman, Azan Awais, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Awais Zafar, Ghazi Ghori (wicketkeeper), Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Shan Masood and Ubaid Shah

Pakistan Squad for England Test Series: Babar Azam (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Fazal, Ali Usman, Azan Awais, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Awais Zafar, Ghazi Ghori (wicketkeeper), Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel (subject to fitness), Shan Masood and Ubaid Shah

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