Recently the former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar asked the former Indian batter Virender Sehwag for advice regarding struggling Babar Azam, who has recently been dropped from the Test team.
Sehwag believes that Babar’s challenges are more mental than technical and recommends he focus on domestic cricket.
“Babar Azam should play domestic cricket now. He should work on his fitness, spend some time with family, then come back to international cricket as a physically fitter and mentally stronger player,” Sehwag stated on Shoaib Akhtar’s YouTube Channel.
Sehwag also feels that Babar’s relinquishing of the limited-overs captaincy has affected him. He is optimistic that the out-of-form batter can make a comeback.
“With expectations from Babar decreasing and his resignation from captaincy, it seems he has been more impacted mentally than in terms of technique. He needs to stay mentally strong. He’s a talented player and players like him tend to bounce back quickly” he added.
Babar has not registered a half-century in his last nine Tests and his poor performance in the red-ball format has significantly contributed to Pakistan’s struggles in this area.
Alongside Babar – pacers Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah were also dropped. On a spin-friendly wicket in Multan, which was prepared on the advice of Aqib Javed, the Shan Masood-led squad defeated England, breaking their long-standing drought for a Test win at home and leveling the series 1-1.
Kamran Ghulam who replaced Babar in the lineup and is known for his prolific domestic run-scoring made an impressive century.
Meanwhile Pakistan’s assistant coach Azhar Mahmood clarified that the trio has been rested rather than dropped, he also assured that Babar would return for overseas tours.
Questions remain about whether Babar will keep his place in the ODI and T20I squads. He didn’t perform well during the ODI World Cup 2023 and T20 World Cup 2024 and Pakistan exiting early from both tournaments.
