Pakistan captain Babar Azam scored 50 and 34 in the first Test against Sri Lanka.
Pakistan men's head coach Mike Hesson on Friday (November 13) defended captain Babar Azam's absence of 'big' scores in 2026, stating that his problems are being 'over-hyped' and that critics are not taking the batting conditions into account when he bats.
Babar has made 489 runs this year across 12 innings, including five half-centuries. Backing up his point, Hesson noted that the right-hander was the only batter averaging above 50 in 2026 among those with at least ten innings.
That held true until the first innings, when he made 50 (58), but his average dropped to 48.9 after he was dismissed for 34 (48) in the second innings.
Speaking after Pakistan's draw with Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi, he added rather oddly that people should 'look out' for Babar's best form when 'the conditions are flat' and 'he gets himself in.'
“Look, sometimes those are condition-dependent. So, I don’t think the 50 he got in the first innings was a high-quality 50, and when the ball seams like that, sometimes it’s going to have your number on it. So, you look at Babar—he averages over 50 this year in Test cricket. It’s the highest average for anybody who’s played more than 10 innings. So, to think that he’s got an issue, I think, can often be overhyped. And I think, as I said, if the conditions are flat and he gets himself in, look out,” Hesson answered when asked about Babar not converting his half-centuries.
Babar’s highest score this year was 88 against the West Indies in the second Test, where he got run out. His last Test hundred came in 2022.
(ANI inputs)