Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi expressed his disappointment over Babar’s inability to convert his starts into big scores and stated that the Pakistan skipper should take a leaf out of India’s Virat Kohli book
Babar Azam is one of the best batsmen in the world, but his captaincy has been heavily criticized in the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup. Pakistan has lost four of their first five matches, and Azam has been blamed for a number of tactical errors.
What has also drawn criticism is his average run with the bat, where he has scored three half-centuries in seven outings. In the three games that the men in green have won, Babar’s contribution have been 5, 10 and 9.
Babar Azam has so far scored 216 runs in seven matches, boasting an average of 30.85 and a strike rate of 77.69, which includes three half-centuries
Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi expressed his disappointment over Babar’s inability to convert his starts into big scores and stated that the Pakistan skipper should take a leaf out of India’s Virat Kohli book and play the longer innings.
“Babar Azam ka run run karna alag cheez hai lekin Babar Azam ke score se match jeetna alag hai. Virat Kohli, KL Rahul wagera kya karte hai? Woh apne run bhi karte hai, balls bhi khelte hai aur apne team ko jita ke bhi ate hai. (Babar scoring runs and Babar scoring runs in a winning cause are two different things. Look at what Virat Kohli and KL Rahul do. They score their runs, consume deliveries and make sure they win the match for the team),” Afridi said on SAMAA TV.
“I’m Babar’s fan, make no mistake. We say Babar is a big player. Reaching that level is one thing and maintaining your performance once you reach that level is much more difficult. When Babar Azam walks in to bat, we should get a feeling that we will win it for us. But that feeling doesn’t come. We know that he will score 50-60, but we are confident that he will win us the match,” he added.
Source:indianexpress.com