Former cricketer Mushtaq Ahmed lauded Pakistan’s white-ball skipper Babar Azam’s “aggression with the bat” saying that he has changed his batting approach in the last few years.
Azam, 29, was recently re-appointed as Pakistan’s white-ball captain and led the Green Shirts in the T20 World Cup 2024 where the Men in Green suffered a group-stage exit after losing two matches in their group.
Talking to a local sports channel, Mushtaq, 54, said that Babar has shown aggression with the bat as his intent has changed.
“Babar's intent has definitely changed in the past year. He has shown aggression in his batting. If a person can improve so much, I think that's enough," Mushtaq said.
The former cricketer also raised concerns about the teamwork in the Pakistan cricket team saying that every player has a role to play but players don’t go for runs in the last few overs and this problem has been within the team for some years now.
“Other players also have a duty to score runs; they have a role to play too. If one person gives you a score, but the rest of our players don't go on to score in the remaining 7-8 overs, then there's a problem. This has been happening for the last 3-4 years. They only score when it doesn't make a significant impact," he further added.
The legendary spinner then reminded everyone that they should not forget what Babar has done for Pakistan cricket and also added that people at times are too hard on him.
"If we talk about Babar, there's a reason why people respect him worldwide. He brings honour to Pakistan. I think sometimes people are very hard on him," he concluded.