Misbah-ul-Haq: “He was changing his game and losing his shape. Now he has realised this and he’s going back to his original style, focusing on timing the ball and maintaining his shape. That’s what he’s trying to do and doing what he does best”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq said Babar Azam is beginning to return to his original batting style after altering his game, which resulted in him “losing his shape”.
Azam has shown signs of regaining his form following a prolonged rough patch, during which he lost his place in Pakistan’s T20I side.
Misbah said it was encouraging to see the 31-year-old focusing on timing the ball and keeping his shape, with the approach bringing him plenty of success.
“He was changing his game and losing his shape. Now he has realised this and he’s going back to his original style, focusing on timing the ball and maintaining his shape. That’s what he’s trying to do and doing what he does best,” he was quoted as saying on X.
Azam recently captained Pakistan in their three-Test series against England and mustered 97 runs, which included a top score of 76, in two games at an average of 24.25.
The Lahore native has now returned to first-class cricket for the first time in seven years as he is representing Oil & Gas Development Company Limited in their President’s Trophy Grade-I match against Khan Research Laboratories.
He didn’t get off to the best of starts as he was dismissed for 12 runs by Arshad Iqbal in the first innings.