Former Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir backs underfiring star Pakistan batter Babar Azam to make a strong comeback after relinquishing his captaincy in all three formats of the game. During the 2023 ODI World Cup in India, the 29-year-old failed to make a mark as a batter and captain.
Babar Azam has been an exceptional player for the Pakistan team across the format, however, his captaincy and on-field strategies have been a source of controversy. The 29-year-old looked undercooked in the ODI World Cup failing to make an impact for his team and had not lived up to the expectations.
During a conversation with legendary Wasim Akram in Sportskeeda, Gautam Gambhir expressed his belief that giving up the captaincy would bring out the best in him as a batter. \Gambhir feels that from now on, the world will see a completely different Babar Azam and that he has the potential to be the best batter the country has ever produced, with nearly a decade to play without the strain of leading his team.
“You’ll see the best of Babar Azam now. You will see a completely different Babar Azam. I picked Babar Azam before this World Cup and said that he would be the batter of the tournament.
“But the pressure of captaincy, because when you do captaincy in the World Cup and the team still does not perform, you can imagine how much pressure there will be on the captain,” Gautam Gambhir said.
“Now, you will see the real Babar Azam which no one has seen till now. Babar Azam’s actual ability will be seen from now till he plays. Babar Azam has enough quality in him; probably he can go out and become the best batsman Pakistan has ever produced. He has got 10 years with no pressure of captaincy,” Gautam Gambhir added.
Many things have changed after Pakistan’s exit from the ODI World Cup following the team’s poor performance in the main event, Babar Azam stepped down as captain in all three formats.
Later, Pakistan chose Shan Masood as Test Captain and new coaching staff joined the team in the wake of the departure of the old coaching staff.
Babar Azam is currently in Australia with the Pakistan national side for a three-match test series against the World Champions. The difficult Australian conditions will put Babar’s abilities to the test, especially in red-ball cricket. The first test will take place in Perth on December 14th.
