An Ex-Indian Cricket Star Takes A Stand for Babar Azam
An Ex-Indian Cricket Star Takes A Stand for Babar Azam: Rohan Gavaskar, who used to play cricket for India, came out in support of Pakistan captain Babar Azam. Babar has been criticized for his low strike rate in the shortest form of the game. Even though he keeps getting runs, Babar’s form has deteriorated since the Asia Cup began a month ago. Even though he scored a century in the T20I series at home, his overall performance has not impressed critics. Gavaskar, on the other hand, thinks that Babar is “not a one-dimensional player” and calls the 27-year-old a good player.
“To call him a one-dimensional player is a little harsh because he is a quality-quality player. And if anything, the numbers suggest that he is not one-dimensional. The fact that he can change gears and you look at his numbers from the first innings to the second innings. In the first innings, his strike rate is about 125, second innings his strike rate is about 137 which shows that he has the ability to change gears. I think it is a mental mindset with Babar. Fear of failure. And when I say fear of failure, I don’t mean fear of failure as a batter,” Gavaskar said on a news show.
Gavaskar believes in Babar’s skills!
Babar has had trouble getting the runs to flow when Pakistan bats first. But when his team is trying to beat a total, his strike rate goes up by a lot. Gavaskar also said that Babar puts himself under more pressure to stay in the game until the end, which has a big effect on his overall strike rate.
“I could be wrong here; he feels that the Pakistan team revolves around his batting. So, when he is batting first, he feels that he’s got to stay long because if he fails the team might fail and that can sometimes shackle a player. And that’s what happens to him when they are batting first. When they are batting second, when the target is in front of him, he is just phenomenal because he knows how he needs to pace his innings. He knows at what strike rate he needs to go and how he needs to sort of chase that target down. When he has got that target in front of him, he is just phenomenal. So, for me to call him a one-dimensional player, it is a little harsh. But I think sometimes it’s just the mental mindset which he may need to change when they are batting first,” he added.