Babar Azam would be a hero in Australia, claims Shannon Young as he slams Pakistan captain's critics

Australia's well-known power-hitting coach, Shannon Young, recently opened up about the intense passion for cricket in Pakistan and its impact on players. He admitted that this passion drives the sport, but it often leads to undue criticism of players like Babar Azam in Pakistan.

Addressing the ongoing criticism faced by Pakistan’s white-ball captain, Young claimed that a player of Babar's caliber would receive more respect and overwhelming support in Australia compared to Pakistan.

Shannon Young slams Pakistan's passion for turning into criticism of Babar Azam

He emphasized Babar's status as a world-class batter and suggested that such talent should be celebrated and backed by the fans rather than criticized. Young also shared his observations on his visit to Pakistan and opened up about his future plans.

Young expressed his enthusiasm for bringing high-performance Australian cricketers and young players to Pakistan next year, with the aim of strengthening cricketing ties between the two nations.

Shannon Young was quoted as saying by Geo News: “Babar Azam is well, he is a world-class player," said Young while speaking about Babar's strike rate amid the ongoing criticism that the young skipper is facing. If there was a player like Babar in Australia, we would have been supporting him instead of criticizing.

In Australia, we back them in and we say they've been world-class players, they're gonna be world-class players again. I think sometimes the passion tips over that these guys carry so much expectation through Pakistan's one of the best players in the world, he's gonna be fine. Young also spoke about his visit to Pakistan, saying that his plan is to bring high-performance Australian cricketers and the younger cricketers for tours next year.”

Shannon Young plans Australian cricket tours to Pakistan next April

Young also mentioned the possibility of organizing a couple of tours around April, as he revealed his long-held desire to bring Australian teams to experience and enjoy playing in Pakistan.

The coach always wanted to visit Pakistan, and now he has the chance. Young revealed that he spent four days in Karachi, and he is currently in Lahore for another four days. The Aussie also said that he toured India many times with cricketers.

He signed off by saying, “We're hoping that maybe April. Previously, I've always wanted to come to Pakistan, so I got the opportunity and I knew really early on that Australians would love Pakistan. So, we're gonna bring hopefully a couple of tours to play cricket here.”

Notably, Young, who coached Australia’s Glenn Maxwell and Jake Fraser-McGurk, is on a private tour of Pakistan, and he met Babar in Lahore. It is being said that Azam has sought the Australian coach’s help to reinvent his T20 skills after a disappointing campaign in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

Babar has frequently faced criticism for his low strike rate and not being able to hit sixes consistently in T20 cricket. After playing 123 T20Is, his strike rate stands at 129. In the recent T20 World Cup 2024, Babar scored 120 runs from four matches at a strike rate of 101 as Pakistan was knocked out of the tournament from the group stages.