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'No Match-Winner In Pakistan,' Salman Butt Explains Why Babar Azam Is Struggling Vs Bangladesh

Babar Azam has struggled vs Bangladesh [X]Babar Azam has struggled vs Bangladesh [X]

Former Pakistan captain, Salman Butt, has held the burden of expectations responsible for Babar Azam's torrid run in Test cricket. 

Pakistan's veteran batter Babar Azam has had a poor Test series against Bangladesh on home soil. 

After being dismissed for a duck, Babar was cleaned up by Nahid Rana for 22 runs  in the second innings of the first Test. 

He extended his lean patch with another underwhelming outing, as Shakib Al Hasan outfoxed him with a beauty on day 2 of the second Test in Rawalpindi. 

Salman Butt reckons Babar is burdened by the huge expectations from Pakistan's passionate cricket fans. 

The stylish southpaw believes Babar lacks support at the other end, as Pakistan does not have an equally talented batter like him. 

"When a player struggled earlier, they were more out of form than Babar. But with him, there were 4-5 other players who used to win matches, so everyone's respect used to be saved and it was covered," Butt was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan. 

"Babar has made people habituated by scoring so many runs that people now want him to score lots of runs in every inning. Now there is no other match-winning player with him in the Pakistan team," he added. 

The ex-captain also highlighted how Pakistan's desperation to produce power hitters has resulted in a dearth of technically correct batters for Test cricket. 

"This is the problem of Pakistan that you did not develop the players. You tried to develop everyone on the basis of power-hitting. And now you don't have players with the right techniques,” Butt concluded. 

Pakistan in a commanding position in 2nd Test vs Bangladesh

Although Babar Azam couldn't play a significant knock, a valiant fifty from Agha Salman propelled Pakistan to 274 in their first innings. In response, Bangladesh had the worst possible start, with Khurram Shahzad running through their line-up. 

However, a consolidating stand between Mehidy Hasan and Litton Das steadied the ship for the visitors, who were placed at 203 for eight as of writing.