Would have advised Babar Azam to change his batting position, remarks Mohammad Azharuddin
Mohammad Azharuddin has highlighted Babar Azamâs recent struggles against swing bowlers.
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Mohammad Azharuddin has highlighted Babar Azamâs recent struggles against swing bowlers and opined he should change his batting position to deal with it. At the same time, Azharuddin backed Babar for Pakistanâs captaincy role and lauded him because of his consistency with the bat across formats.
Babar Azam is not having the best phase of his cricket career, especially as the captain of Pakistan. Under him, Pakistan lost to England by 3-0 in the Test series and drew with New Zealand 0-0 in the Tests before enduring another series defeat in the ODIs against the Black Caps, all at home. Although he has been getting runs on a regular basis, his leadership skills have often been questionable, particularly after recent results.
However, former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin has not joined hands with others to criticize Babar for his captaincy role. Rather, Azharuddin believes that Babar should get a long run as a Pakistan skipper as he is still learning at this point, and will improve with time.
âYou canât 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 a captain after a few years in the role and I believe Babar should be allowed to continue as one,â Azharuddin said, as quoted by geo.tv.
Further, Azharuddin praised Babar for his unique style of batting, which has yielded him rich dividends in recent years. At the same time, the 59-year-old, who is currently in the UAE participating in the inaugural edition of the IL T20 as a commentator, felt the Pakistani skipper is recently struggling against swing and should take a call to consider his batting position.
âBabar Azam has his own style; aggression is not his way of playing cricket. He has a variety of shots and has been doing well with that. We shouldnât expect him to go against his natural style,â Azhar added.
âWe have recently seen that he has struggled against swing. If he is struggling, then he must change his batting position. If I was in the Pakistan team's dressing room, I wouldâve certainly advised him to consider changing his batting position.â
