Ramiz Raja, a vocal supporter of Babar Azam, has now compared the ace Pakistan batter to legendary West Indies star Viv Richards.
Babar's career has suffered as a result of his lack of form at a turbulent period in his leadership role. Following Pakistan's group-stage defeat in the ODI World Cup in 2023, he was relieved of his captaincy in all forms.
However, four months later, the T20I and ODI captaincy were returned to him, with Shaheen Afridi dismissed after only one series.
Babar Azam's second stint was equally unsuccessful. The Pakistan cricket team was ousted from the 2024 T20 World Cup in the first round after losing to the United States and India. Babar Azam resigned as captain just six months after being reappointed, claiming a desire to focus on his batting performance.
Ramiz Raja says the star Pakistan batter has potential like legendary Viv Richards, and he must follow the blueprint of the former West Indies cricketer.
“I feel Babar Azam has to achieve a lot more in Test cricket. He plays the white-ball format really well and has an average of 50-plus in both formats (T20I and ODI)… There is so much potential in Babar Azam,” Ramiz Raja told reporters during a select media interaction ahead of Pakistan’s white-ball tour of Australia.
“He has been Pakistan’s best batsman in the last 10 years. Fans expect him to be a match-winner for Pakistan and, probably he wants to be a big-match player when there’s a lot more at stake. And that’s why I compared him with Richards; I think that’s a great blueprint for Babar Azam to follow. The bigger the contest, the bigger the innings Richards used to play. Like Richards, Babar Azam too looks to decimate the opposition,” he added.
Meanwhile, Raja also stated that dropping Babar Azam for the last two Tests against England was a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction by the PCB selection committee.
“He (Babar Azam) should have been asked whether he needed time off from cricket or not. Obviously, his form wasn’t great, but even then, I mean, his body of work suggests that there should have been a much better way of easing him out from a Test series. So, it was probably a knee-jerk reaction, but I’m sure that he’ll come back as a stronger individual.
This is probably the first time that he’s been dropped in his career, and he will be eager to prove his point. So let’s see how the comeback is or whether he is inspired, whether he has changed his technique, and how motivated he is because such things can spur an individual,” Ramiz added.
Babar hasn’t scored in 18 innings. Since the start of 2023, Babar Azam’s average has been below 21 in nine Tests.
“I think it’s a lot to do with his temperament in Test cricket. When his form slumps, then it takes a longer time for him to make a comeback in red-ball compared to white-ball cricket. So it’s a temperamental issue more than anything else.
From a technical point of view, you see he doesn’t stay still to the ball pitched on the back of the length side, so he needs to be just a little bit more side-on. Because he’s been, of late, getting out caught behind to a ball that is moving away. Also, he struggles against spin. You know he bats at number 4 in Test cricket, but in white-ball cricket, I don’t think he is going to have a lot of problems against spin. Again, as I said, he needs to tweak his mental game, not his technique,” Ramiz concluded.
Babar Azam will be seen in action as Pakistan tours Australia for three ODIs and three T20Is in November.
(IndianExpress inputs)
