The former Pakistan middle-order batter Basit Ali feels that their former Test captain Babar Azam has a great chance of scoring truck-loaded runs for them in the upcoming home season, where they face Bangladesh for a couple of red-ball games before hosting England for three more games in the format.
Babar Azam didn’t enjoy his time during the three Test matches in Australia, where he scored only 126 runs in six innings, at an average of 21 and a strike rate of 46.84, with the best score of 41 runs. He struggled against the quality pace bowling attack of the home side.
The pitches at the sub-continent will be different, and Babar can aim to score a basketful of runs in the upcoming five Tests before they make their trip to South Africa towards the end of the year.
“Babar Azam, look at Virat Kohli”- Basit Ali on the latter’s developed technique
The former player also requested Babar Azam to forget about his captaincy, which generally puts pressure on the shoulder of a player, as he should now focus only on his batting during that period.
Also Read: Pakistan Announces Match Officials For 2 Tests vs Bangladesh
The 53-year-old insisted that the right-handed batter should look to make the most of the home season, as his only focus at the moment will be scoring runs.
“Babar Azam will score five centuries in the coming five months. Babar has the best chance to leave the top batters behind, whether it is Kane Williamson or Joe Root.” He expressed this in a video shared on his YouTube channel.
“It is a very easy chance. However, now that the pressure of captaincy is off from him, he should forget about the captaincy. He should remove the thought of captaincy from his mind and just focus on scoring runs.” The former batter remarked.
Babar Azam stepped down from the captaincy of the longest format of the game last year before Shan Masood led the side in Australia for the three games. Following their poor season in the recent T20 World Cup 2024, in the United States of America and West Indies, his role as the captain is tremendous as he could also lose his place in the side in the shortest format of the game.
Basit also suggests that Babar should look at Virat Kohli’s stance as both of them are of the same height. He pointed out that a wide stance would need to make his stance a little wider to score freely.
“Babar Azam still has seven to eight days. He should start skipping ropes. I am giving him this advice, which was given to me by Asian Bradman, Zaheer Abbas. It helps in feet movement.” He continued in the video.
“Also, Babar needs to shorten his stance by a few inches. If he does these things, he will leave the top batters behind in five months. If you want to see someone’s stance, look at Virat Kohli. Both of them have the same height.” The 53-year-old concluded.
The 29-year-old Babar Azam has managed to record 3898 runs in 52 Tests at an average of 45.85, with a strike rate of 54.86, celebrating 26 half-centuries and nine centuries with a best score of 196 runs.
The first of the two-match series begins on August 21 at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, while the second one will be played at the National Stadium in Karachi. The series victory with a clean sweep is quite important for the home side to stay alive in the ongoing third cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25.