Pakistan’s Babar Azam is going through a tough time for the past one year. He flopped both as a batter and captain during the ODI World Cup 2023 and the T20 World Cup 2024.

Babar is currently struggling in the home Test series against Bangladesh. He bagged a golden duck in the first innings of the opening Test in Rawalpindi followed by a laboured 22 off 50 balls.

In the first innings of the ongoing second Test, Babar could manage just 33 runs off 77 balls as Pakistan were bowled out for 274 on Day 2.

The 29-year-old hasn’t been able to cross the 50-run mark in his last 15 Test innings. No wonder, he is drawing flak from the fans and experts alike.

Amid the criticism, former India cricketer Dinesh Karthik has come out in defence of Babar Azam, saying that the latter is a quality batter and has got immense potential.

“Babar Azam as a player, nobody can doubt his quality. He’s got outstanding batting potential, though I feel he’s under a lot of pressure as a skipper. That’s something that they need to rethink about,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz’s HeyCB with DK show.

Karthik also commented on Pakistan’s humiliating 10-wicket defeat in the first Test against Bangladesh at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium last week.

“Pakistan now in that Test match against Bangladesh; I thought they declared a touch too early in the first inning. In Asia, it’s about batting big and batting long in the first inning,” he remarked.

Coming to Babar Azam, he will come out to bat in the second inning of the ongoing second Test against Bangladesh on Monday (September 2). The fans will expect a big knock from him on the penultimate day of the Test match, in which Bangladesh staged a comeback after being reduced to 26/6 at one point.