Babar Azam walks again to pavilion after his dismissal throughout a Check match between Pakistan and Bangladesh, at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi on September 2, 2024. —AFP
Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting on Thursday suggested Pakistan ace batsman Babar Azam to take a break to rediscover his kind as India’s Virat Kohli did earlier this yr and in 2022 as nicely.
Speaking within the ICC Overview podcast, Ponting steered Babar undertake “the Virat Kohli approach” to treatment his troubles and rejuvenate his profession, significantly the Check kind, the place he averaged 20.7 since 2023.
Apparently, Babar sits atop in ODI rankings. He displayed vigour together with his satisfying knock of 37 within the first ODI towards Australia earlier this week as nicely. Nonetheless, what issues Ponting extra is the previous Pakistan captain’s efficiency within the longer format sport.
“The biggest challenge is how they get Babar back into their side,” Ponting mentioned within the ICC Overview. “They’ve got to find a way to get Babar back into form and back into their [Test] team.”
Ponting mentioned the break freshened Kohli up and sorted out the issues in his favour, so will it for Babar as nicely.
“You know, when you look at (Babar’s) numbers, it’s been a bit like the stuff that we were talking about with Virat [Kohli] earlier on,” Ponting mentioned. “Sometimes — and I think Virat was on record saying this — that little bit of a break that he had, he took himself away from the game for a while to freshen up and sort out some things that he needed to sort out.
“This might be exactly what Babar needs. Maybe Babar needs to get away for a while and stop trying too hard. Lock the kit bag away for a while, and think about something else and then hopefully come back recharged, because we know at his best he’s as good as anyone going around. Hopefully we get to see that in the back half of his career again.”
