Watch: Simon Doull praises Babar Azam, a year after slamming him for his strike-rate

A year after launching a scathing attack on Babar Azam for his strike rate, former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull praised the Pakistan star for the same reason. While Babar Azam is known for his consistency with the bat especially in T20s, he has faced criticism now and then for his strike rate.

However, he came up with a brilliant knock on Monday (February 27) while leading Peshawar Zalmi against Islamabad United in the ongoing Pakistan Super League 2024 (PSL 2024). The former Pakistan captain led from the very front and scored a brilliant match-winning century.

Asked to bat first, Zalmi posted a big total of 201 for 5 in the allotted 20 overs. Babar Azam led the charge with the bat, scoring an unbeaten 111 off just 63 balls. His brilliant knock was studded with 14 fours and a couple of sixes. In reply, Islamabad came up with a good effort but eventually ended on 193/9 and lost the game by eight runs.

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Simon Doull praises Babar Azam:

With Babar Azam scoring a blazing ton, Simon Doull made sure to compliment the batsman for his efforts. The former cricketer-turned-commentator was interviewing the Zalmi captain in the post-match presentation ceremony and ended the interaction by complimenting the batter for his strike rate.

Watch:

NO WAY SIMON DOULL 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/CFzsyYjEOI

— عثمان (@usmssss) February 26, 2024

During the last edition of the PSL, Simon Doull had slammed Babar Azam for his strike rate and had criticized him for putting personal milestones ahead of the team.

“Rather than putting the team first… the last little while, that’s all that been happening. Rather than looking for boundaries, still so much firepower to come. Hundreds are brilliant, stats are great, but it has to be team first,” Doull had said on air.

Earlier in PSL 2024, Babar Azam became the fastest to reach 10000 runs in T20s. He achieved the milestone in 271 innings and broke Chris Gayle’s record who had done it in 285. Babar is also the leading run-scorer in PSL 2024. In five games so far, he has scored 330 runs at an average of more than 80.

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