Babar Azam, the Pakistani skipper is receiving a lot of criticism due to his lackluster run in the ongoing PSL. He is the captain of Peshawar Zalmi which recently lost a high scoring match against Lahore Qalandars in which Babar could only 6 runs off 7 balls. Shahid Afridi, the former Pakistani skipper has said on Live TV that Babar Azam is still miles behind the likes of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.
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Shahid Afridi Says Babar Azam Miles Away from Virat Kohli
“Babar could have stuck at one end and allowed the other players to play around him in the chase. No doubt he is the number-one ranked batter in ODI cricket but one thing that he needs to do consistently to reach the level of Virat Kohli or AB De Villiers is to finish games for Pakistan. He has not proved himself as a matchwinner. I want Babar to become a finisher, finish games for Pakistan. Not doing that is hindering him from being the classy batsman that he is” Afridi said in the panel discussion with the Pakistani TV channel Samma TV.
Imam-Ul-Haq, who opens the batting with Babar Azam in ODI cricket also criticised the approach of Babar Azam on the same platform.
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Imam-Ul-Haq’s Criticism of Babar Azam
“There are discussions that happen in the dressing toom of Babar finishing matches for Pakistan. He continuosly speaks about being more dominant with the bat having played the game for such a long period of time. Babar does understand the importance of finishing matches for Pakitan and we have had long discussions on the same as well” Imam said on Live TV.
“Babar needs to be more dominating as a cricketer and needs to work on his strike rate as well to become a quality finisher like Kohli or De Villiers,“ He added further.