You don't expect such a shot from a world-class batter: Gautam Gambhir

Former Indian cricketer, Gautam Gambhir, expressed his disappointment with Babar Azam's performance, highlighting a questionable shot from the renowned batsman during the recently concluded 2023 World Cup clash against India on Saturday at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. 

In a recent interview with Star Sports, Gambhir emphasized that such an uncharacteristic shot was unexpected from a world-class batter like Babar Azam, especially considering the circumstances of the game.

“It was an extremely bad shot. You don't expect such a shot from a world-class batter. You had scored 50 runs and played nearly 60 balls, you knew there wasn't much bounce and it was not the length where you could have played the late cut. You could have punched it,” he said.

He further pointed out the need for diverse approaches within a batting partnership and criticized Babar for being too timid in his approach.

“Babar Azam has been extremely timid. Two batters cannot bat the same way in a partnership, one of them has to take chances. If you are playing for a fifty or your runs, you will get such results,” Gambhir said.

Moreover, the 42-year-old highlighted Pakistan's historical approach to aggressive batting at the start, followed by consolidation in the middle order. 
He noted a shift in this pattern in the current top three batters of the Pakistani team.

“Babar Azam has scored a lot of runs for himself but it's been Pakistan's history that they have liked to bat aggressively at the start, whether it was Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir or Taufeeq Umar, and they consolidate in the middle. However, here in the top three, there isn't a single batter who can take on the opposition attack,” he concluded.