Former cricketer said that the Pakistan captain has room for improvement in his batting
12 February, 2023
PHOTO: AFP
Former cricketer, Mushtaq Ahmed, believes that Babar Azam needs to work on his game against spinners.
In an exclusive interview with Cricket Pakistan, former spinner said that the Pakistan captain has room for improvement in his batting.
“Babar Azam is the number one batsman in the world, but there is always room for improvement,” said Mushtaq.
“People say that Babar gets caught on spin. Before that Virat Kohli was also dismissed by Graeme Swann a lot of times. Babar was also bowled by the leg-spinner three or four times. He has to prepare himself better like Virat, in order to face leg spin and googly. He has to plan whether to go to the front or play from the back foot,” he added.
Mushtaq was appreciative of how Pakistan all-rounder Shadab Khan has improved his game despite facing fitness issues.
“His leg spin and line and length have improved. I have spoken to Shadab and he has learned a lot of tricks recently. He has fitness problem sometimes maybe because he is three-in-one player like Shahid Afridi i.e. he performs in batting, bowling and fielding,” he said.
“Shadab is a match winner. It would be better for his overall game if he also plays red-ball cricket,” he added.
Mushtaq, who is the assistant coach of Multan Sultans, also heaped praise on his franchise captain, Mohammad Rizwan, for his selfless attitude.
“Rizwan insisted the coach and captain to play Sarfaraz Ahmed in the Test team. His greatest quality is that he admits the truth with open heart,” he said.
“When he was not getting a chance to play, people said that he doesn’t deserve a place in the side and he doesn't have the ability to play T20s. However, he proved them wrong. A big man has a big heart, and this is seen in Rizwan's character,” he added.
