"Guys like him generally find a way of scoring runs when the pressure's on" - Nasser Hussain on under-fire Babar Azam
Former England captain Nasser Hussain has opened up on Pakistan's decision to drop Babar Azam for the remaining two Tests against the Englishmen. While Hussain acknowledged that Babar seems out of nick, he reckons great players like him thrive under pressure.
Babar has seen his form dip significantly across formats in the last 18 months or so. The former skipper has gone 18 Test innings without a half-century and managed only 35 runs in the opening Test in Multan despite the track producing big runs.
In his column for The Daily Mail, Hussain wrote that he would be relieved to see Pakistan's best batter out of the side.
"As for Pakistan, with their new selection panel, leaving out Babar Azam, I think England won't mind. He's a bit out of nick at the moment, but guys like him generally find a way of scoring runs when the pressure's on. If I were in England's shoes, I'd be pretty relaxed about turning up on Tuesday and finding a Pakistan team without their star batsman," he wrote.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) made sweeping changes to the squad for the next two Tests against England after a historic innings loss in the first. Along with Babar, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah are also out of the remaining Tests.
"Test cricket cannot afford another game like the one we had last week" - Nasser Hussain
Hussain also called for a balanced surface for the second Test, claiming that it should offer something for the seamers and spinners in a timely way. He warned that another pitch significantly favoring the batters would be bad for Tests.
"There'll be plenty of talk this week about the fact that the second Test in Multan will be played on the same pitch as the first. But let's be honest: Test cricket cannot afford another game like the one we had last week. There has to be a balance between bat and ball, and that means the pitch has to offer bowlers something at both ends of the game: movement for the seamers at the start, turn for the spinners at the end," he added in his column.
"Instead, we had a pitch that offered no one anything for four and a bit days - and that is not good for the game," Hussain further wrote.
Pakistan lost the first Test by an innings and 47 runs despite posting 556 in their first essay in Multan. The second Test will start at the same venue on Tuesday, October 15.