He has taken part in 128 T20I games, scoring 4223 runs at an ordinary strike rate of 129.2.
Pakistan star batter Babar Azam continues to remain off the radar for the selection of the T20I team. The veteran batter failed to make it to the Pakistan team for the upcoming series against Bangladesh. Ever since Babar’s ouster, a lot of reports have been going around that the white-ball coach Mike Hesson has asked Babar to keep wickets if he wants a place in the T20I team.
As of now, Babar has never played as a wicketkeeper in his career. He is still in the ODI set-up, but then his stock has fallen in the shortest format of the game, with Pakistan taking part in a five-T20I series against New Zealand and a three-match one against Bangladesh without him.
Amidst all the speculations, Hesson responded by saying that he did not make any suggestion to Babar. After the reports came out in the public domain, a lot of former cricketers criticised the former New Zealand coach. Rashid Latif, Basit Ali, Moin Khan, and Sikander Bakht all expressed their disappointment.
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“Firstly, Babar Azam is not seen as a wicketkeeping option, no. Not sure where that came from, but I have heard that speculation. Babar is competing for one of the opening positions at the moment. But obviously we have Fakhar [Zaman] and Saim [Ayub] in those two roles at the moment, so he’s competing for that”, Hesson said.
The likes of Fakhar Zaman and Saim Ayub have had a topsy-turvy run in recent matches. Zaman has struggled with injuries, while Saim Ayub has shown glimpses of his talent but failed to make it big. As of now, Zaman has played 93 T20I games, scoring 1849 runs at a strike rate of 132.6. Ayub, on the other hand, has taken part in 30 T20I matches where he collected 547 runs at a strike rate of 138.5.
Babar’s strike rate has been very poor in the shortest format of the game (129.22 overall after 128 T20Is). He has been following the same old school ways of runs aggregation in an increasingly cut-throat era. As of now, Babar has taken part in 128 T20I games, scoring 4223 runs at an ordinary strike rate of 129.2.
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“No doubt strike rate is important in T20 cricket but you have to combine it with a volume of runs. Babar is one of many who have the ability to make those improvements. And I’m here to work with them and help them. In the last month or so, he’s made some really good changes. It’s not just a matter of going from 125 to 150, it’s a matter of increasing what you can offer because we’re no doubt often 30-40 runs short with the bat. So, we need to find a way of getting that”, he added.
Babar has been made a part of the camp in Karachi alongside Mohammad Rizwan, who is also out of the Bangladesh tour, which starts on July 20. The series against the Bangla Tigers will be Hesson’s first in the job, as he looks to build the team from scratch under new captain Salman Agha.
The T20I series between Bangladesh and Pakistan will commence on July 20. All the matches are slated to take place at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
Pakistan squad: Salman Ali Agha (Captain), Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Sufyan Moqim.
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