Australia World Cup winner Shane Watson backs Pakistan skipper Babar Azam to return back to form in the game against arch-rivals India in Ahmedabad. The 28-year-old performed poorly in the first two World Cup games, failing to have any significant impact for the side with the bat.
Babar’s innings against Sri Lanka turned out to be a massive letdown for the team. On the second ball of the 8th over, Sri Lankan pacer Dilshan Madushanka delivered a full-length delivery that swung down leg and the Pakistan skipper had edged the ball to Sadeera Samarawickrama to put the team in a spot of bother in Hyderabad.
Speaking on Star Sports, Shane Watson believes that Babar Azam has the ability to put his poor performance behind to come good against the Indian team in the marquee clash in Narendra Modi Stadium and feels that the Pakistan skipper would be absolutely ready to take on the high-quality Indian team in their third game of the World Cup.
“Look, he’s a class player. Yes, he’s had a bit of a dry spell, Uh, five innings of less than 30 runs. So it’s the first time he’s done that since 2019. You know that things aren’t going that well if you when that happens”.
“So, um, Babar Azam, even the first couple of balls that he faced, you can see he’s getting in really good positions. He’s a world-class batter. He’s gonna absolutely ready to go against India. Sometimes you’re just not so much out of touch because he’s not even more badly you just out of runs,” Shane Watson said.
In the warm-up games, Babar had initially displayed promise with scores of 80 and 90. But he seemed to lose his form and couldn’t play at his best during the pivotal ODI World Cup matches failing to make an impact on the team in the first two games of the marquee event in India.
Babar Azam Has Got More Confidence In The Other Batters – Deep Dasgupta
Deep Dasgupta believes that a bigger match like the India-Pakistan game can unleash Babar Azam’s batting ability in the game and feels that he has got good middle-order batters behind him which would obviously add confidence to his game and reckons that he could be a bit more relaxed going into the game against India.
“A game like this could actually unleash Babar Azam the batter (on India vs Pakistan). You know, he’s got more confidence in the other batters now you know he’s got Abdullah Shafique. He’s got, obviously, Rizwan. Then he’s got Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar. Everyone’s contributing”.
“Before this game, it seems like it’s going to be only Babar or maybe Rizwan. But now I think he’s gonna go out next game, feeling a little more free, can bat like himself and not feel the pressure of the world on the shoulder,” Deep Dasgupta said.
The Men in Green were put under a lot of pressure in the game after losing two quick wickets, but Mohammad Rizwan and Abdullah Shafique managed to score a hundred each in a historic run chase and Pakistan would look for a hattrick victory in the tournament on Saturday.
