Azhar highlights lack of Babar's first-class appearance after Rawalpindi Test defeat

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan’s interim red-ball head coach Azhar Mahmood on Thursday termed Babar Azam’s first-class experience insufficient, advising the star batter to play ‘more’ domestic cricket to comply with the pressure of Test cricket.

Mahmood, while addressing the post-match press conference here at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium following the national men’s team’s eight-wicket defeat in the second Test against South Africa, underlined his players’ insufficient experience of playing first-class cricket, while citing the example of Babar Azam and Abdullah Shafique.

The former all-rounder stressed that the players could ‘learn’ how to cope with the pressure of Tests by playing domestic cricket regularly, which he also described as helpful for players to come back from failures.

“If you look at our players, for example, Babar or Abdullah, they both have not played much first-class cricket. Abdullah has only played a few matches, and even Babar has not played a lot of first-class or Test cricket,” said Mahmood.

“When you play domestic cricket day in and day out, you learn how to cope with pressure. Then, when you come into international cricket, you perform better.

“If you fail, you also know how to come back from that failure. I think domestic cricket is the best solution: to go and play more.”

Azhar Mahmood also cited Pakistan’s lack of exposure in Tests this year as the primary reason behind their players’ failure to deal with the pressure and thus called for consistent opportunities.

“Our two best batters came in to bat, but unfortunately, we lost a wicket in the very first over. That naturally puts pressure on you,” Mahmood stressed.

“Of course, we will work on that, but for that, we need consistent opportunities. Last year, we only played four Test matches, so unfortunately, we did not get much exposure.

“Moving forward, next year we have around 11 Test matches, so we will truly understand how to absorb the pressure of Test cricket only when we play it regularly.”