ICC World T20 | Don’t be surprised if Babar Azam produces something spectacular in semi-final, remarks Matthew Hayden
Although Babar Azam is having a forgettable outing at the ongoing T20 World Cup, Pakistan mentor Matthew Hayden is confident that their skipper’s lean patch is not going to stay any longer. In fact, Hayden has mentioned no one should be surprised if Babar set the stage on fire against New Zealand.
Pakistan are all set to face New Zealand on November 9 in the first semi-final of the T20 World Cup at Sydney Cricket Ground. The Men in Green began the tournament with back-to-back defeats against India and Zimbabwe but came back strongly with a hat-trick of victories. In the meantime, the Netherlands’ victory over South Africa ensured their qualification in the semi-finals without much worry.
However, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has been struggling badly since the beginning of the tournament. In the five matches they have played, Babar’s scores read 0, 4, 4, 6, and 25. Yet, team mentor Matthew Hayden is not at all worried about their current form and is expecting something big is coming off his bat very soon.
“Babar has been under some adversity, but that will only make him a greater player … you can’t keep punching out hundreds and fifties and strike rates of 140 plus, there’s got to be a lull. As with the weather, when there’s a lull, there’s often a storm that follows. So look out the rest of the world because I think you’re about to see something very special,” Hayden told the reporters ahead of the New Zealand match, reported Indian Express.
Further, Hayden compared Babar’s lean patch to his long-standing opening partner Adam Gilchrist’s outings during Australia’s World Cup-winning campaign in 2007.
“If I can take your minds to the different world cup and that was in 2007, where Adam Gilchrist, from his standard, had quite a lean World Cup in the undefeated campaign of Australia. And if you remember the last match against Sri Lanka, he went on to score an incredible hundred and made the world realise why he is such a premium batter in that format,” Hayden highlighted.