'Babar Azam Carries A Lot Of Weight...' - PAK Coach Share Thoughts Before T20 World Cup 2024
Babar Azam during PAK vs IRE (X.com)
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) made a bold call, sacking Shaheen Afridi from T20I captaincy duties to bring Babar Azam back at the helm.
The decision was taken after considering Shaheen's poor leadership skills following the ODI World Cup for both the country and his club, Lahore Qalandars, in the previous edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
As Pakistan have roped in India's 2011 World Cup-winning head coach Gary Kirsten as their main man for white-ball cricket just ahead of the T20 World Cup, a whole different era was about to begin for the Men in Green. As part of a recent interview with TalkSport Cricket, Kirsten discussed how his relationship with Babar has been, as well as what he expects from the 29-year-old in the months ahead.
Gary Kirsten Speaks About Babar Azam
"I have been in touch with Babar. He has done remarkably well as a cricketer and sort of carries a lot of the weight of that team on his shoulders. What we would try to do as a coaching staff is to lift that a little bit and to realize he's just one of a whole group of players and then he can just free himself up to play with his natural talent," Gary Kirsten told TalkSport Cricket.
In addition, Kirsten highlighted how Babar performed in Pakistan's must-win tie in Ireland, and urged him to produce a similar performance on a constant basis in T20Is.
"We certainly saw that in the last game against Ireland and I think he played an outstanding inning and hopefully we see kind of a lot more of that Babar Azam rather than the one that feels that he has to be contributing all the time to a team," the South African added.
Pakistan, under Babar Azam, will next be in action in England, where they will play a four-match T20I series, starting on May 22 at Leeds, Headingley.
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