"Babar has not yet proved himself as a match-winner" - Shahid Afridi
Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has claimed that Babar Azam is yet to establish himself as a genuine match-winner. While Afridi agrees that the Pakistan skipper is one of the best players in the world, he said the batter must learn to finish games like Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have.
While the talismanic batter has proven himself to be a prolific run-getter in the last few years, Azam has often struggled to raise the tempo in T20 cricket. The right-handed batter opens for Pakistan in T20 cricket and has been found wanting on a few occasions against good bowling attacks.
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Speaking on a local TV channel, Afridi believes that the No.1-ranked ODI batter is the face of Pakistan cricket, but that he must learn to finish games.
He said:
"No doubt, Babar is the number one player in the world, and he is the pride of the Pakistan cricket team. However, one thing that stops him from being named along with the likes of AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli is finishing games. Babar has not yet proved himself as a match-winner."
Azam went on to sweep two major ICC awards in 2022, winning the ICC Men's ODI Player of the Year Award and the ICC Men's Cricketer of the Year Award. The apex body of the sport also appointed him as the captain of the ICC ODI Team of the Year.
"The ambition is to be a part of World Cup team and to win the tournament" - Babar Azam
In a recent episode of the ICC Review, Babar revealed that individual awards mean little to him and that winning the World Cup carries more weightage. The Lahore-born batter highlighted the need to take it step by step and said:
"The ambition is to be a part of World Cup team and to win the tournament. The World Cup is coming up and my ambition is to perform well so that we can win it. You see lot of things individually too, but my goal right now is to win the World Cup. This year we have lot of white ball cricket because of the World Cup...you need to take things step by step."
Alhumdulillah, couldn’t be more proud of my pack. You all fought like true warriors.
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As captain, he has been impressive, leading Pakistan to the semi-finals and finals of the last two T20 World Cups.