Babar Azam. Photo- PCB
Babar Azam. Photo- PCB

Babar Azam talked about the debate on his strike rate on the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) podcast recently. Pakistan captain Babar Azam is a special guest on the 52nd episode of the PCB Podcast.

Babar will be captaining the Pakistan team in the T20 World Cup 2024, which will be the third straight time the Men in Green will play the tournament under Babar’s leadership.

Pakistan’s team has done very well in the last two editions of the tournament. They reached the semi-finals of the 2021 T20 World Cup, only to lose to Australia in the final few overs of the game. Then in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, Pakistan was demolished by England in the final.

While Babar Azam is the premier batter of Pakistan, apart from being the captain, he has been consistently criticized for his poor strike rate in T20s. In 110 T20Is, Babar has 4023 runs with 3 centuries and 35 fifties, at an average of 41.05, but his strike rate is just 130.15.

Speaking on the same on PCB podcast, Babar said: “I know where I am struggling, I have worked on that point that during this time it should be even better. At any time, it is not that you are satisfied, every day something or the other comes to you and you keep on polishing it. My thing is that the strike rate, because there is a lot of debate on it, strike rate, strike rate, but the situation is also demanding.

“You can’t play with one strike every day. You will struggle. In the first match, you played with 150 strike rate. The next day, you can’t play with that. Sometimes you will play on low. You will start with low but you will raise immediately.”

I stay on My cricketing, my basics, my main batting: Babar Azam

Babar Azam, in T20s, has a slightly lower strike rate of 129.70 but has 10820 runs in 300 matches with 11 centuries and 90 fifties to his name.

He said that the strike rate is not a singular entity to work on, as it depends on multiple factors like his form, the conditions, the opposition bowling attack, and at what situation of the match. He also said it is unfair to compare him with someone like Fakhar Zaman, who can hit big shots from get-go.

Babar added: “So it depends. on your form, on the day, what you are feeling. So, it depends, it depends on the conditions. So, we say that no matter what the wicket is, the strike should be on the red. Now my game is a difference. I am a player who takes a little time to run the game. Mine is not that I go and hit sixes. I am Babar, I cannot become Fakhar Zaman.

How can I enhance my game and take it up? I know that I have to work on it. What shortage do I have to develop? What should be my target in the first six hours? When I play, I play my strike rate below 150. It’s not that I play a lot of air. I play a lot of air.”

Babar also said that his strike rate depends on how he wants to increase it during the game and what helps him do so is sticking to the basics.

“I stay on my cricketing smart. My cricketing, my basics, my main batting, I stay on that. I’m not saying that I’ll go tomorrow and start playing a lot of air. That’s not it. But what is it? How do I get better in that? I had 130 average strike rate. Then I said, I didn’t say how much I went up. I came at 140. I came at 135. Then I came at 150,” he signed off.

Babar Azam will captain Pakistan in their T20 world Cup 2024 tournament opener against USA on June 6.

Also Read: T20 World Cup 2024: Babar Azam Opens Up On ‘Immense Pressure’ During India-Pakistan Encounters