Ricky Ponting, Ravi Shastri unite to brutally bury Babar Azam’s T20I career

Pakistan are struggling with the poor form of their most senior batter, Babar Azam. Azam is currently not best suited for T20 cricket since he loses shape too early and prefers a defensive game plan even in the shortest format of the game. ICC Hall of Famer Ricky Ponting and former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri offered an insight into Babar Azam.

Pakistan started their ICC T20 World Cup campaign with their first game against the Netherlands in the opening game in Colombo. However, despite having started off against a minnow, Pakistan nearly collapsed and could manage a win by only 3 wickets.

Babar Azam scored just 15 runs off 18 balls as his side struggled to build on a formidable innings for his team. However, Babar had come into the T20 World Cup after a spectacular half-century in the final T20I against Australia.

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"You're putting pressure on the guy at the other end,” Ponting said on Babar Azam

Babar Azam has almost seemed like a burden to the Mike Hesson side. Former Australian great Ricky Ponting has pointed out that he no longer possesses the ability and the power to maximise his team's efforts in the middle overs.

“If you're 15 off 18 balls, you're not just putting pressure on yourself, you're putting pressure on the guy at the other end,” Ponting said, as quoted by ICC.

“The guy at the other end then knows that he's got to be the one to take up the boundary scoring. Babar needs to hit boundaries early on. He needs to get off and going, he needs two boundaries in his first six balls, otherwise the whole momentum of the game is going to change every time he goes in,” Babar Azam has been pondering on whether he's playing the right role in the team.

“When you are at that stage of your career, there's baggage,” said Ravi Shastri

Ravi Shastri, the former Indian head coach, also echoed the thoughts from the former Australian great on the latest episode of The ICC Review. Shastri believes that Babar's reputation is applying more pressure on the cricketer.

“When you are at that stage of your career, there's baggage,” said Shastri. Babar Azam has currently been demoted to no. 4 in the Indian middle-order, which is a poor decision as per these experts, since they believe it only adds to the growing pressure.

“There's a weight of expectation. People expect you to go out there and deliver. Get out there (and) in your first five balls, I don't care if you get out, but I want you to make an effort to hit a couple of boundaries. Choose your spot, get into good positions, anticipate what the bowler is doing. You will feel a lot better and things might change.”

"Pakistan need the best version of Babar Azam if they're going to go further in this tournament"

Ricky Ponting, who had defended Babar at the start of the tournament, said that teams need a big-name player in big events. He has also claimed that in order to win this tournament, Pakistan would need Babar Azam to be back to his very best.

Ponting also suggested moving him back to No. 3, as he feels that some exposure to the powerplay overs with the field up might help him because he has lost a bit of power to accelerate in the middle overs, which is a very crucial juncture in the series.

“They've got a big decision to make whether he stays in or whether they leave him out,” suggested Ponting. Ravi Shastri also has the same doubt on whether Babar would feature for Pakistan in their upcoming games or not.

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