"Babar Azam Wasn't Able To Finish In All 3 Games.."- Shaheen Afridi

Pakistan captain Shaheen Afridi has praised his predecessor Babar Azam for his performance in the ongoing NZ vs PAK T20I series. Babar Azam’s performance is one of the only few positives for Pakistan in the ongoing series against New Zealand so far.

While the Men in Green have already conceded the five-match series with two games remaining, the former Pakistan captain has managed to perform well to relieve some pressure off himself. The right-handed batsman was under immense pressure after failing to do well in recent times, especially in the three-match Test series in Australia where he managed just 126 runs in six innings with a top score of 41.

However, Babar Azam has performed well in the ongoing series against New Zealand. He has scored three half-centuries in three games so far and is currently the second-highest run-scorer in the series. He has scored 181 runs at an average of more than 60 and is the only Pakistan batsman with more than 100 runs in the series.

Shaheen Afridi praises Babar Azam:

With Babar Azam doing well, Shaheen Afridi was all praise for him after the third T20I on Wednesday (January 17). He also defended the star batsman for his failure to finish any of the three games and pointed out that his predecessor received very little help from the other end.

“Babar proved how good he is once again and played 3 best innings in 3 matches. Yes he wasn’t able to finish the game but to do that, you need some help to take the game deep. If a good batsman stayed with him at the other end then he could have finished the match,” said Shaheen Afridi while addressing the media after the third T20I.

Meanwhile, New Zealand beat Pakistan by 45 runs in the third game to clinch the five-match series with two games remaining. The Black Caps had won the first and second games by 46 and 21 runs respectively. In the third T20I, the hosts piled up a huge total of 224/7 in the allotted 20 overs thanks to Finn Allen’s blistering 137-run knock. In reply, Pakistan ended their innings on 179/7 with Babar Azam scoring 58.