"Take your money, play your game, go home" – Wasim Akram’s advice to Babar Azam ahead of PSL
Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has suggested that Babar Azam should play solely as a player in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). Akram feels Babar should stick to batting, since he believes adding captaincy duties would only cause him unnecessary stress.
The comments come a couple of weeks after Babar stepped down as Pakistan skipper across formats.
Akram has previously worked with Babar as coach and captain for Karachi Kings in PSL 2022. Led by Babar, Karachi Kings managed a solitary win in 10 games that season. The former Pakistan skipper has a poor captaincy record in PSL, winning just six out of 22 matches as skipper.
During a discussion on Sportskeeda, Akram said:
“I had a given an idea to Babar Azam a couple of years ago that don’t do captaincy in league cricket. [You’re a] Big player, take your money, play your game, get runs, go home, and then to the next event. Pakistan’s captaincy is alright, but the league brings extra stress without any reason.”
Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir believes that a different Babar Azam would be on display against Australia after stepping down as Pakistan skipper. He reckons that Babar failed to deliver in the recently concluded 2023 ODI World Cup due to captaincy pressure.
In the mega event, the right-hander amassed 320 runs in nine games at an average of 40, including four half-centuries.
During the same discussion, Gambhir said:
“I think you’ll see the best of Babar Azam now, you’ll see a completely different Babar Azam because I had picked Babar Azam ahead of the World Cup. I told him that he’d be the batter of the tournament, but the captaincy pressure [let him down]."
"When you do captaincy in the World Cup and the team doesn’t perform well, then you can imagine the pressure on the skipper," he added. "Now, you’ll see the actual Babar Azam, which no one has seen. I don’t know what are the records of Babar Azam, but you’ll see his actual ability from now on."
Babar Azam has amassed 12,986 runs in 270 international games at an average of 49.18, including 31 centuries and 88 half-centuries. He is only behind Pakistan greats Inzamam-ul-Haq (20,580 runs), Younis Khan (17,790), Mohammad Yusuf (17,300) and Javed Miandad (16,213) in his career run tally.
“He can go out and become the best better Pakistan has ever produced” – Gautam Gambhir on Babar Azam
Gautam Gambhir believes that Babar Azam can go on to become the best batter that Pakistan has ever produced in the coming days. He relayed similar sentiments as Wasim Akram, saying that Babar doesn’t need to prove anything by winning the PSL.
"Yes, no need because Babar doesn’t have to prove anything. Babar Azam won’t get anything by winning the PSL. Honestly, Babar Azam has a lot of quality, he can go out and become the best batter Pakistan has ever produced," Gambhir said.
The cricketer-turned-commentator believes that Babar Azam can represent the Pakistan cricket team for another decade.
"And he’s what 27 or 28 (actually 29), he’s got another 10 years and now he’ll have 10 years because of no pressure of captaincy," he added.
Babar has been retained by Peshawar Zalmi ahead of PSL 2024. The right-handed batter is currently the leading run-scorer in the PSL with 2,935 runs in 79 matches, including one century and 28 fifties.
Babar Azam is currently part of Pakistan’s warmup game against the Australian Prime Minister’s XI. He scored 40 off 88 in the first innings.
The 29-year-old will next be seen in action in the upcoming three-match Test series in Australia. The opening Test will be played in Perth from December 14.