The former Pakistan captain now player Babar Azam has been in the news for quite a time now. Be it his captainship skills over the last four years or be it being the most consistent batter in the Pakistan batting line up, Babar Azam in Pakistan has always been looked up as a generational player who could be the future legend and an inspiration for youths to take up the game of cricket.
Always being on the radar as the No 1 batter in the ICC Rankings, Babar’s performances in the past were consistent with the bat even though his captainship skills were to be questioned. In 2021, he captained his team to the semis of T20I World Cup followed by guiding his team to the finals of the T20I World Cup in the subsequent year 2022.However Pakistan lost both the matches though.
Though Pakistan in previous years were losing matches as a team on continuous streak, what remained intact was the consistency of Babar Azam which he showed with the bat over the years. He was the fastest in terms to surpass the milestones amongst the current crop of cricketers. However as it happens to every cricketer or batter, there came a slump in his batting form which has remained for a longer time now and has started raising questions regarding the ability of the batter to counter his torridness with the bat.
Since the 2022 T20I World Cup in which Babar scored only one fifty vs New Zealand in the semis finals there have been no notable performances with him with the bat .The only significant performance to remembered is his 160 runs vs Nepal in the Asia Cup which was followed by a torrid show in the World Cup , the Sri Lankan series and now the ongoing Australian series with the bat where he is not able to score runs at will on consistent basis.
This drop in form has worried many Pakistani former players and they have raised concerns regarding the same.
“It can’t rain forever”-Mohammad Yousuf reacts to Babar Azam’s flop show in AUS vs PAK Test series
Former Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Yousuf on Wednesday, December 27, shared a message of hope for former captain Babar Azam amid his flop show with the bat in Australia. Yusuf, who holds the record for most runs in a calendar year in Tests, wants Azam to come out stronger in his remaining innings in the ongoing Test series.
The reaction came as Azam departed for just one run off seven balls before getting cleaned by Aussie skipper Pat Cummins on Day 2 of Pakistan’s first innings at the Boxing Day Test. Cummins had earlier dismissed him during the second innings of the opening Test in Perth.
The 29-year-old had previously scored 21 and 14 in his two innings during the first Test in Perth, which Australia won by 360 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
Yousuf wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter):
“Be strong now because things will get better, it might be stormy now, but it can’t rain forever.”
This post by Mohammad Yousuf on the backdrop of the torrid form of Babar Azam is like an hope amongst the cloud where the former batter feels that Babar just needs to pass the time and believes in his ability as batter to have faith in his skills. Batting form and consistency would gradually come back , Babar only has to back his skills while batting.
This words could indeed be helpful in increasing confidence of Babar Azam who currently is undergoing a tremendous drop in form and needs a revival boost to perform in the remainder of the Australian series.