Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir has once again heaped praise on veteran Pakistani batsman Babar Azam, saying that the classy player will now be seen in his ‘actual’ avatar and has the potential to become the best batsman Pakistan has ever produced.
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Explaining why his prediction for Babar Azam to be the pick of batters during the ODI World Cup did not work, Gambir told Sportskeeda, “You’ll see the best of Babar Azam now. You will see a completely different Babar Azam. Before the World Cup, I picked Babar as the batter of the tournament. But the pressure of captaincy hampered his form with the bat. It’s because when you are the skipper and your team isn’t performing well, you can imagine how much pressure he was under,”
Gambhir also noted that with Babar Azam not having the pressure of the captaincy, the veteran batsman will now be seen like never before and Azam may have 10 more years of cricket ahead of him. Gambhir said, “You will see the actual Babar Azam that no one has seen. From now until the day he retires, you will see his actual ability. Babar has so much quality that he can go out and become the best batter Pakistan has ever produced. He has got 10 years with no pressure of captaincy,”
The talented top-order batsman had scored 320 runs for Pakistan in the 9 matches played during the recently concluded World Cup, averaging 40 and scoring four half-centuries.
Notably, Babar recently stepped down as Pakistan’s captain in all three formats of the game, paving the way for others in the team to take charge. The Pakistan selectors have chosen Shaheen Shah Afridi as Babar’s successor in the limited-overs format, while Shan Masood has been appointed Pakistan’s Test captain.
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Published: 11 Dec 2023, 11:06 AM IST