PAK vs AFG: 'Babar Azam Can Still Score 3-4 Hundreds In World Cup 2023'- Gautam Gambhir Adamant On His Prediction For Pakistan Batter

Former India batsman Gautam Gambhir has said that Babar Azam will be under pressure when he leads Pakistan in the remaining games of the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.

The Pakistan captain is under immense pressure as his team’s hopes of making it to the semifinal is hanging by a thread. Pakistan are currently in the fifth spot in the points table after losing their last two games against India and Australia. Before that, they had started their campaign with two wins.

The right-handed batsman’s poor run with the bat in recent times has only made things worse for him. He began his campaign with knocks of 5 and 10 against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka. He did score a 50 against India but still faced criticism for not being aggressive. And he failed to do well against Australia too, scoring just 18.

Gautam Gambhir’s advice for Babar Azam:

With Babar Azam facing immense pressure and criticism, Gautam Gambhir has advised him to play aggressive cricket. The World Cup winner has opined that the under-fire Pakistan captain should focus on playing impactful knocks instead of going for centuries.

“Babar Azam as well as the whole team is under pressure. Can Babar Azam deliver because you have got reputation, you have got class, you have got ability. In fact before the start of the World Cup, I had backed him to score 3-4 hundreds in the World Cup. Still, a lot has not gone wrong,” Gambhir told Star Sports.

“He has the ability. He has to score runs. He does not need to score hundreds but needs to score runs to make his team win. If you score 50 runs in 60-70 balls or 80 runs in 120 balls, it is of no use. The kind of innings he had played against India, it had put more pressure on the succeeding batsmen.

“Your team will play just like your captain plays. If you want your team to play aggressively, you should do it first. Babar Azam needs to bat freely, he needs to play out-of-the-box cricket. He also needs to have out of the box approach as a captain to take his team to the semifinal,” he added.

Advice from a #TeamIndia legend to a #Pakistan one!#GautamGambhir thinks #BabarAzam can salvage his #CWC23 campaign by playing aggressive, out-of-the-box cricket!#CWC23 #Cricket pic.twitter.com/BDrpYZEJii

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) October 23, 2023

Pakistan will be in action next on Monday (October 23) when they take on Afghanistan in a crucial game. The match is scheduled to be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.