"He has to prepare himself better like Virat" - Mushtaq Ahmed wants Babar Azam to improve his gameplay against spin bowling
Former Pakistan spinner Mushtaq Ahmed has urged star batter Babar Azam to work on his gameplay against spin. The former leg-spinner cited Virat Kohli's example of how he lost his wicket to Graeme Swann multiple times and worked hard to rectify it.
Kohli has established himself as a top-class batter of his generation across formats, accumulating a truckload of runs consistently. His struggles against England's Swann are well documented, losing his wicket to the off-spinner eight times and averaging 16.25. The former Indian captain has also struggled against spin recently.
Double delight for Babar Azam 🤩
After being named the ICC Men's ODI Cricketer of the Year, the Pakistan star bags the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Men's Cricketer of the Year 👏
#ICCAwards
Speaking to Cricket Pakistan, Mushtaq reflected that leg-spinners have had Babar's number quite often recently and that the 28-year-old must reassess his plans against them:
"Babar Azam is the number one batsman in the world, but there is always room for improvement. People say that Babar gets caught on spin. Before that, Virat Kohli was also dismissed by Graeme Swann a lot of times. Babar was also bowled by the leg-spinner three or four times. He has to prepare himself better like Virat in order to face leg spin and googly. He has to plan whether to go to the front or play from the back foot."
England's leg-spinner Adil Rashid comprehensively tricked the right-hander in the T20 World Cup 2022 final as he mistimed a googly straight back to the bowler.
"He admits the truth with open heart" - Mushtaq Ahmed on Mohammad Rizwan's selflessness
Reflecting on Mohammad Rizwan's recent statement of asking the management to drop him for Sarfaraz Ahmed for the New Zealand Tests, Mushtaq said that Rizwan is a strong character:
"Rizwan insisted the coach and captain to play Sarfaraz Ahmed in the Test team. His greatest quality is that he admits the truth with open heart. When he was not getting a chance to play, people said that he doesn’t deserve a place in the side, and he doesn't have the ability to play T20s. However, he proved them wrong. A big man has a big heart, and this is seen in Rizwan's character."
Sarfaraz Ahmed scored a century after keeping 213 overs in the match, the most a Pakistan keeper has kept in a Test before scoring a hundred. Top effort by Sarfaraz. #PakvNZ
Sarfaraz earned the Player of the Series in the two-Test series against New Zealand, scoring an impressive 335 runs in four innings at an average of 83.75.