High Expectations From Babar Azam To Perform Against England: Misbah-ul-Haq

Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq is expecting his senior players Babar Azam, Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq to perform in the upcoming series against England. Pakistan will return to international cricket with their tour to England slated to get underway from August 5. The tour will consist a three-Test series which concludes on August 25 followed by three-match T20I series which will run from 28th to 1st September.

On the contrary, it will be second series straight for England after hosting the West Indies in a Test cricket. The hosts clinched the series by a 2-1 margin but Misbah-ul-Haq reckons that England have struggled and it will be a battle of the top-orders from both the side when they come up against Pakistan.

“England’s batting has struggled in these conditions. It will be a match between how the top order of both teams perform. If you can cross 300 in the first innings your chances of winning are around 75 percent.”

“We have high expectations from Babar and then Azhar (Ali) and Asad (Shafiq) as they are senior players and their contributions are very important,” Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq said.

Babar Azam has shouldered the burden of scoring runs for Pakistan across format with ease. As a result, he is compared with the likes of one of the finest cricketers of the generation Virat Kohli. His success in international cricket has bore fruits for him with his board further appointing him as the captain of the limited-overs side.

Azam earned his ODI cap in 2015. But he was always persistent towards it as he did not shy away from challenges as a youngster. Azam has scored at an average of 45 in the longest format and over 50 in the limited-overs, which says a lot about his batting.