Babar Azam is getting ready for his maiden captaincy experience in international cricket. Ahead of his first T20I captaincy, Babar has revealed that he will try to emulate the top captains like Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson etc.
Under the leadership of Sarfaraz Ahmed, Pakistan achieved massive success in T20I cricket in past. Currently, Pakistan are holding the top-most ranking position in T20I cricket for the record-period.
But due to the recent unsatisfied and discouraging performances, Sarfaraz Ahmed has lost his position in the national team along with his captaincy. While Azhar Ali is the new Test captain, the 25-year-old Babar Azam has taken the T20I captaincy role.
Sarfaraz Ahmed lost his captaincy position after suffering the whitewash in the home T20I series against inexperienced Sri Lanka. While Babar was playing that series as a vice-captain, the no.1-ranked T20I batsman faced a rare struggle as he scored just 43 runs in three innings with an average of 14.33. In that series, he scored 13, 3 and 27 runs respectively.
However, Babar recently performed well in the domestic T20 tournament. Playing as a captain for Central Punjab in the National T20 Cup, he hit one century (102*) and one another half-century (83).
I’ll continue to play as I always have – Babar Azam
Babar will start his international captaincy assignment during the upcoming T20I series against the hosts Australia. Australia and Pakistan will play this three-match T20I series from 3rd November to 10th November 2020.
Talking about his captaincy assignment, Babar told according to the ESPNcricinfo, “People judged in three matches (against Sri Lanka) that my performance suffered because I was vice-captain.
“That’s not how it works. In the game of cricket, you have ups and downs, and that was a poor series for us, no question. I give 120 per cent for the team in every single match, and I don’t see why there would be any added pressure on me just because I’m the captain. I’ll continue to play as I always have, and I’m sure the performances will come.”
As a captain, Babar is looking to bring out the best from the team as well as his best performance. He will try to emulate the top present captains like Virat Kohli (India) and Kane Williamson (New Zealand).
“Moreover, I’m not just thinking I’ll be happy to play regardless of the results. I’m looking to get a performance out of my team, as well as my individual performances. I look at current captains like Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli, and how well they manage their own form along with bringing results to the team. I’ll try to emulate them,” Babar added.