Babar Azam ordered to 'forget about captaincy' and overtake Joe Root as World No.1 Test batter

Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has made bold predictions about the white-ball captain Babar Azam ahead of the two-match Test series against Bangladesh, starting on August 21 in Rawalpindi. Ali boldly predicted that Azam is on the brink of an extraordinary achievement with the bat in the coming weeks.

The former Pakistan coach said that Babar will notch up five centuries over the next five months, as the weight of captaincy is now lifted from his shoulders in Test cricket, where Shan Masood is leading the national team.

Basit Ali predicts Babar Azam will smash five centuries in five months

He believes Azam is set to outshine some of the modern-era legends, surpassing Kane Williamson of New Zealand and Joe Root of England in Test cricket. Furthermore, Basit suggested Azam focus solely on his batting prowess without the added pressure of leadership roles; then he can achieve much bigger than what he can while leading the Pakistan cricket team.

He wants the right-hander to solely focus on his batting across the formats. His prediction comes at a time when Babar Azam's performances are under intense scrutiny, as he has not scored a century since his last ton against Nepal in the Asia Cup 2023. He also struggled to get going in the recent T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and West Indies.

Basit Ali said on his YouTube channel: “Babar Azam will score five centuries in the coming five months. Babar has the best chance to leave the top batters behind, whether it is Kane Williamson or Joe Root. It is a very easy chance. However, now that the pressure of captaincy is off from him, he should forget about the captaincy. He should remove the thought of captaincy from his mind and just focus on scoring runs.”

Babar should start skipping ropes: Basit

The former Pakistan selector has also suggested that Azam might benefit from adjusting his batting stance. Ali highlighted the need for the right-handed batter to narrow his wide stance to improve batting performance while advising him to take a cue from Indian batting master Virat Kohli.

Ali signed off by saying, “Babar Azam still has seven to eight days. He should start skipping ropes. I am giving him this advice, which was given to me by Asian Bradman, Zaheer Abbas. It helps in foot movement. Also, Babar needs to shorten his stance by a few inches. If he does these things, he will leave the top batters behind in five months. If you want to see someone's stance, look at Virat Kohli. Both of them have the same height.”

Earlier, Basit Ali delivered a bold statement on the comparisons between Olympic gold medalist Arshad Nadeem and Babar Azam. The former Pakistan batter said that there is no comparison of Babar Azam to Nadeem, whose heroics in the Olympic Games 2024 will be remembered for ages.