Ricky Ponting openly tells Babar Azam to 'get away' from cricket and 'stop trying'

Legendary Australia National Cricket Team captain Ricky Ponting has shared bold advice to help the Pakistan National Cricket Team star batter Babar Azam come out of the lean patch.

Ricky Ponting has advised Babar Azam to take a page out of Virat Kohli’s book to revive his career and get back to the top in international cricket, especially in the red-ball format.

Babar Azam was released from the Pakistan Test squad for the England series

Babar Azam has experienced a major downfall in his cricket career across formats, which also led to him stepping down from the Pakistan captaincy.

After consistently dominating with the bat for a few years, Babar Azam became an easy target for the bowlers of the opposition teams, and his poor form had a huge impact on Team Pakistan, who kept facing embarrassing defeats.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) even dropped him from the Test squad for the last two matches of the three-match series against the England National Cricket Team after he endured a long rough patch since 2023, where he scored his runs at an awful average of 20.7.

Babar Azam made his first international appearance since being dropped in the first ODI against the Australia National Cricket Team at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on November 4. He looked good out in the middle and played the Aussie bowlers confidently, but failed to score big. Babar Azam finished his innings with 37 runs off 44 balls, including 4 boundaries.

They've got to find a way to get Babar back into form and back into their Test team - Ricky Ponting

Speaking in the ICC Review, Ricky Ponting stated that the biggest challenge for the Pakistan Cricket Board would be getting back Babar Azam in the scheme of things in Test cricket.

Ricky Ponting feels Babar needs to follow India legend Virat Kohli's footsteps and take an extended break from cricket to freshen up and then make his comeback. He elaborated:

“The biggest challenge is how they get Babar back into their side. They've got to find a way to get Babar back into form and back into their [Test] team.”

“You know, when you look at (Babar’s) numbers, it's been a bit like the stuff that we were talking about with Virat [Kohli] earlier on. Sometimes – and I think Virat was on record saying this – that little bit of a break that he had, he took himself away from the game for a while to freshen up and sort out some things that he needed to sort out."

“This might be exactly what Babar needs. Maybe Babar needs to get away for a while and stop trying too hard. Lock the kit bag away for a while, and think about something else and then hopefully come back recharged, because we know at his best he's as good as anyone going around. Hopefully, we get to see that in the back half of his career again.”

Also Read: Sunil Gavaskar attacked for demanding Rohit Sharma's sacking before BGT 2024-25 by Aaron Finch

He's the sort of player that I love watching - Ricky Ponting on Mohammad Rizwan

Ricky Ponting further spoke of the constant changes of captains in the Pakistan setup and criticized the board for the instability. He said:

“They're continually changing leaders, (Shaheen) Afridi one day, Babar one day, Rizwan another day. Lots of changes going on around their white-ball stuff. You don't like to see that instability, but I guess they're trying to find something that works and they're willing to make changes until they find something that works and they start getting the right outcomes.”

While talking about the newly-appointed white-ball skipper Mohammad Rizwan, Ricky Ponting said that the wicketkeeper-batsman wears his heart on his sleeve and the current series against Australia will showcase where he stands as a leader. He elaborated:

“He's the sort of player that I love watching. Aggressive player that takes the game on, and wears his heart on his sleeve a little bit. I reckon you can see he gets quite emotional out on the field, out on the ground as well, which I think is a good thing. It tends to show that you really care about what you're doing and what your team's trying to achieve.

“So the proof will be in the pudding. I mean, we won't know (until they) give him a decent run at it. They obviously feel he's the right man for here and now. So I think in a few months time, or maybe in a few weeks time, even here in Australia with the one-dayers, the T20Is coming up, we might have a better idea in three or four weeks time.”