Babar Azam’s attempt to get his batting back on track produced a laborious half-century and promising start in his two innings of the ICC Champions Trophy, where the team continued with him as an opener. And Pakistan’s defeat in both the matches to get eliminated from the race to the semis made the criticism of his batting more scathing.
The ex-Pakistan captain scored a laborious 64 off 90 balls while chasing 321 against New Zealand. The defeat led to sharp criticism of Babar’s approach even when the hosts were chasing a big total. He then produced a more promising 23 off 26 balls against India but failed to kick on in the six-wicket defeat that put the defending champions out of the tournament.
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While the criticism of Babar has intensified, former India captain and batting legend Sunil Gavaskar came forward to offer advice to Pakistan’s batting ace while talking in a video on Basit Ali’s YouTube channel.
“If you ask me, I will tell Babar just one thing. Right now, his stance is quite spread out. If he can reduce the width between his feet, then two things will happen: one, when your feet are spread out, then you face difficult going on back foot and front foot but when you are more balanced (with feet less wide), then you also gain a bit of height, while you are a bit down with feet spread out. So you can judge the bounce and movement of the ball a bit better when you are more upright. And an opening batter needs that height,” said Gavaskar analysing the technical flaw in Babar’s stance.
“If he tries to do this, then I believe the run-making ability he used to have will return, and the whole world will enjoy that, not just the Pakistanis….The whole world wants to see him play shots like the flick through mid-wicket he produced (in the match against India).”
Pakistan have the inconsequential Group A fixture against Bangladesh left to play, while India and Pakistan will face off to decide who finishes on top of the group.
New Zealand have also qualified for the semis with wins against Pakistan and Bangladesh.
