Legendary Sunil Gavaskar has suggested Babar Azam to make a few changes to his batting stance after he could not deliver the goods in the high-octane clash against India. Azam was dismissed after scoring only 23 runs and thus could not convert his start against the arch-rivals.
Gavaskar wants Babar Azam to reduce the width between his legs and feels it will help him maintain the right balance. The former Indian opener noted that Azam has spread out stance, which is not helping him.
Speaking on Basit Ali’s YouTube Channel, “If you ask me, I will tell Babar just one thing. Right now, his stance is quite spread out. If he can reduce the width between his feet, then two things will happen: one, when your feet are spread out, then you face difficult going on back foot and front foot but when you are more balanced (with feet less wide), then you also gain a bit of height, while you are a bit down with feet spread out.”
“So you can judge the bounce and movement of the ball a bit better when you are more upright. And an opening batter needs that height. If he tries to do this, then I believe the run-making ability he used to have will return, and the whole world will enjoy that, not just the Pakistanis….The whole world wants to see him play shots like the flick through mid-wicket he produced (in the match against India).”
Azam could only score 64 runs off 90 balls in the opening match against New Zealand and many experts felt his low strike rate didn’t help the team in the run-chase of 321.
On the other hand, Gavaskar feels the current Pakistan team looks under-confident.
“Earlier, we used to say natural talent involved the West Indies. Then post-1980s, we used to say about Pakistan. They had the mentality. I think the major flaw that we saw in the Pakistan team was simply a lack of confidence. It’s a question of self-belief. There’s no lack of talent, but they’re not confident,” said Gavaskar.
“There’s a sort of confidence that was formerly reserved for all the previous teams, and you don’t see that in the Pakistan team. It appears as if they are somehow hesitating to plunge into the pitch, that they are hesitating.”
Pakistan will play its final game of the tournament against Bangladesh at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi on Thursday.
