'We shouldn’t expect Babar to go against his natural batting style,' Azharuddin
Azharuddin also backs Babar as captain
ABU DHABI: Former Indian captain Muhammad Azharuddin has backed Babar Azam as captain of Pakistan cricket team but has advised him to reconsider his batting position.
Azhar is in UAE to work as commentator in inaugural edition of ILT20 tournament.
Talking to a group of Pakistani journalists in Abu Dhabi, Azharuddin said that Babar is a top-class player but it would be unfair to expect from him to play aggressively as it is not his natural game.
“Babar Azam has his own style of playing cricket, aggression is not his way of playing cricket, he has his variety of shots and has been doing well with that. We shouldn’t expect him to go against his natural style of playing,” Azhar said.
He, however, advised that Babar should consider changing his batting position.
“We have recently seen that he has struggled against swing, if he is struggling then he must change his batting position. If I was in dressing room of Pakistan team, I would’ve certainly advised him to consider changing his batting position,” the former Indian captain said while adding that Babar is not a natural opening batter.
Azhar also backed Babar as captain and said that he should be allowed to continue leading Pakistani side.
“You can’t judge a player as captain that quick, he is new to this job. I am sure he will learn. A player should be judged as captain after few years in the role and I believe Babar should be allowed to continue as Pakistan captain,” he said.
Replying to a question, Azharuddin said that Pakistan has good talent of bowling but insisted that these bowlers must concentrate on their fitness.
“I’ve seen them getting injured quite often, they must work hard on their fitness as it is never easy for any bowler to regain same rhythm after coming back from injury. Otherwise, Pakistani bowlers are very good,” he said.
When asked about World Cup 2023 in India, the former captain said that he expects it to be an exciting tournament but added that it is too early to predict anything about that event.
“So much of cricket is to be played before that, so lets focus on that before starting discussion on World Cup,” Azhar said.
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