Mohammad Hafeez mentioned that he feels bad for Babar Azam regarding his performance in ICC tournaments, but believes that Babar is the only one who can explain the problem. Babar had another disappointing performance with the bat in an ICC event, even though he has been leading the batting statistics for a while. Currently, Babar ranks third in T20I rankings and is at the top in ODIs.
Last year during the ODI World Cup, Babar faced a lot of criticism for his performance. He made 320 runs in 9 games, but his speed of scoring runs was a major problem. This year, the same issue continued. In 4 matches, he scored only 120 runs, and his scoring rate was just over 101. Hafeez talked on PTV Sports about how Babar’s performance in big tournaments is worrying and questioned if being the team captain is also affecting his batting.
Hafeez thinks that only Babar can explain why his performance drops a lot during big international cricket competitions.
“I feel bad for Babar Azam. It’s worrying that such a good player like him does poorly in important ICC events. Only Babar Azam can really answer this question. Is it because he’s also the captain?”
“I hope he becomes the top scorer for Pakistan, and he has the ability to do that. But in the regular series, Babar plays really well, while in ICC events, his performance is much worse. This big drop in his performance is a worry, and only Babar can explain it, or maybe someone else can,” Hafeez said.
Babar made 32 runs from 34 balls, helping Pakistan win against Ireland in a game where they struggled to chase just 107 runs. Some fans criticized Babar for not scoring faster, but Hafeez believed Babar’s slow approach was necessary at the time. Babar, the captain of Pakistan, stayed until the end to make sure they won.
Hafeez said, “Babar’s performance against Ireland was really good. Other players were getting out, and as an experienced player, it’s important to stay in the game until the end.”
“Babar didn’t try to hit big shots, which was the correct strategy. He focused on staying in the game and finishing it. If Babar had been dismissed, Ireland might have felt more confident about winning. So overall, Babar’s innings was excellent,” Hafeez explained.
With this win against Ireland, Pakistan ended up in third place in Group A.
