Shahid Afridi on Babar Azam: Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has pointed out a flaw in the batting of current captain Babar Azam. This flaw is related to Babar’s batting style in T20 cricket. Shahid Afridi says that Babar starts slow in T20 cricket. Afridi has also given a suggestion to overcome this shortcoming.
Shahid Afridi said in a conversation with News24, ‘Babar Azam is like my younger brother and I have never criticized him. But I must say that in T20 cricket you need to play at a good strike rate. Babar takes some time at the beginning of his innings, in such a situation he always needs a partner who keeps scoring runs at a strike rate of 135-140 from the other end. Afridi said, ‘We have seen in PSL that some players can play in the top order in the Pakistan national team and can form a good partnership with Babar.’
Fast batting in PSL but slow down in international cricket
In PSL 2023, Babar Azam scored a lot of runs and he also played in a rash manner. He was the second highest run scorer (522) in this season of PSL. Mohammad Rizwan (550) remained on the first position here. The batting average of both was above 50 and the strike rate was above 142. Both the teams had reached the playoffs of PSL but could not win the title.
Currently, only Babar and Rizwan open for Pakistan in T20 International cricket. Both the batsmen always start the innings in a slow manner. Both have been criticized for this. In T20 International cricket, where Babar Azam’s strike rate is just 127, Mohammad Rizwan is able to bat with a strike rate of only 126.
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