Mushtaq Ahmed, speaking in an interview with Cricket Pakistan – compared Indian cricketing giant Virat Kohli and Babar Azam while defending the latter’s batting approach.
Pakistan’s T20 World Cup mission was a disaster as they were eliminated early after losing consecutive group-stage matches to the USA and India respectively. Despite Azam scoring 122 runs from four games, he has had to face criticism for having had a moderate strike rate of just 101.66.
This is his strength (taking time). Even; Virat Kohli also takes time, he is also the same. Rohit Sharma scored only 20-25 runs apart from last two or three matches. But I have noticed change of intent in Babar’s game; he has become more aggressive.
If a person can do that much, I believe it is enough. Other than that batsmen too have to score; they also have their roles. If one person gives you a score but other players don’t go on scoring in remaining 7-8 overs, there is problem. This has been happening for three-four years now. When it doesn’t make a difference then these (other players) score,” Mushtaq Ahmed said emphatically as so many people should appreciate improvement made by Azam.
Therefore, after recent setbacks, PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) put strategic planning at first point in its agenda for upcoming tournaments and series. The focus of the PCB will be on how to use Jason Gillespie with Gary Kirsten who is the white-ball head coach and come up with effective strategies ahead of ICC Champions Trophy scheduled for February-March next year.
Pakistan will play a number of tough games before this mega event begins. After hosting Bangladesh and England for five test home series, Pakistan will travel to Australia for white ball tour. Then, the team will go to South Africa for a full-fledged series which will also include Test matches and white ball games.
