"Babar Azam has made people habituated by scoring so many runs that people now want him to score lots of runs in every inning" - Salman Butt
Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt feels Babar Azam's high standards of the past are haunting him now, as fans and experts scrutinize his current form in Test cricket. The 29-year-old has been struggling in the red-ball format, with not even a half-century in his last 14 innings since the beginning of last year.
Babar has averaged under 22 in this phase, a massive dip from his overall Test average of almost 45.
During a recent interview, Butt addressed the criticism of Babar's poor form, saying (via Cricket Pakistan):
"There are two reasons (why Babar is facing so much heat). No doubt, he is currently Pakistan's best batter and I think the most consistent player of the decade. But the problem is that players who struggled earlier were more out of form than Babar. Now, when he is not scoring, it feels like Babar is not doing anything. Babar has made people habituated by scoring so many runs that people now want him to score lots of runs in every inning."
He added:
"Now there is no other match-winning player with him in the Pakistan team. But with him, there were 4-5 other players who used to win matches, so everyone's respect used to be saved and it was covered. Now the problem is that Babar has scored so much, then he is the only one who scores most of the runs for Pakistan."
Amid Babar Azam's poor form, Pakistan have lost their previous four Tests, including their first-ever loss to Bangladesh in the red-ball format last week.
The stylish batter looked good in the first innings of the ongoing second Test before being trapped LBW on 31 by Shakib Al Hasan.
"The day he doesn't run, you know that the Pakistan team will not win the match" - Salman Butt on Babar Azam
Salman Butt also blamed the Pakistan Cricket Board for not developing technically sound batters to hold fort and win matches should Babar Azam endure a lean patch.
Pakistan find themselves in the eighth spot on the nine-team World Test Championship (WTC) table for 2023-25.
"You can see, the day he doesn't run, you know that the Pakistan team will not win the match. So, this is the problem of Pakistan that you did not develop the players. You tried to develop everyone on the basis of power-hitting, the basis of playing openly. And now you don't have players with the right techniques," Butt said in the same interview.
Pakistan's hopes of a series-leveling win against Bangladesh are hanging by a thread, with the side at 18/2 (at the time of writing) in the second innings on Day 4. They lead by 30 runs, with Babar Azam set to walk out next on a tricky Rawalpindi surface.