Right now, two of the most dominant batsmen in international cricket are Virat Kohli and Babar Azam. When Kohli was having trouble with his form during India’s 2022 tour of England, Babar posted a photo of the two of them during a game on social media along with a message “This too shall pass”. The captain of the Pakistan cricket team recently discussed the viral encounter with Kohli as well as the motivation behind lending his support on a public platform.
“As a sportsperson, anyone can go through such a time. At that time, I thought maybe if I tweet it might give someone help and confidence. See, as a player, you try to back every sportsman in a difficult time. It is in difficult times when you get to know what you are thinking about others. At that time, I thought I should have done that and maybe something positive will come out of it. Something which can be a plus point,” Babar told ICC Digital.
Babar has to score more Test centuries, according to former Pakistan head coach Mudassar Nazar, in order to be included among the game’s all-time greats. Babar earned the ICC men’s cricketer of the year 2022 title and the ODI cricketer of the year award for the second consecutive year. He struck nine centuries and 26 half-centuries during his career. Babar needs to improve his conversion rate, according to Nazar, who also used the case of England batter Joe Root, who at one point in his career had trouble getting to the century mark.
“If Babar continues to score runs in Test cricket likes he does in ODIs, then he will be considered among greats of the game. It is often seen that after scoring fifty in Test cricket, he fails to convert it into a century. Joe Root was facing the same issue but he worked on it. Babar needs to do focus on the doing the same thing,” Nazar told Cricket Pakistan. (H/T – NDTV)
