Let him first settle down in Test cricket: It will be a bit early to elevate Babar as captain

ISLAMABAD: Is it not a bit early to talk and even think of elevating Babar Azam as captain of the Pakistan’s future cricket team (s).

In contemporary cricket, he probably is the best batsman Pakistan is having, and around him, is the less consistent and less impressive of the lot. To believe that he is single handedly looking after the Pakistan batting line up in limited over format of the game would be no exaggeration.

Babar’s contributions for the country in the World Cup and even in all limited over cricket in recent times is no secret. What he lacks however is to express himself in a big way in Test cricket.

Just one hundred in 21 Test matches and with less than impressive average of just over 35 runs per innings, he has been seen struggling a bit there. The real class lies in performance in Test cricket format. As the name suggests, it is an ultimate test of your qualities and potential as a reliable player. A batsman cannot become a genuine class till the time he scores consistently and bears the brunt of responsibility on this bigger and classic stage.

In T20 and one-day cricket you often relatively find friendlier tracks, devoid of any grass or any real juice. Here scoring sometimes becomes quite easier. However, the real stage of exhibiting your class and form is when you start scoring fluently and consistently in Test cricket.

And, to be frank, the Test cricket record does not support Babar Azam as being the one who has settled down as a batsman as is ready to look beyond his batting ability. In fact it is the area where he needs improvement and that too drastically in near future to stake a claim for future captaincy.

He should be allowed to learn more on how to settle down as a linchpin for his team in Test cricket. Babar has to groom himself as a Test cricketer on the same lines which saw Steve Smith (Australia) and Virat Kohli (India) making headlines quite often. Smith has never been even a proper batsman to start with. Over the years he has become an asset for his country. What we want from Babar is to first settle down as a genuine Test player and then think of taking over captaincy. Premature approach on the part of a player or even any of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials would never help him gain that maturity in Test cricket where he needs improvement in a big way.

PCB high ups including the chairman Ehsan Mani should refrain from even taking about Babar as being the future captain at this stage. Such an approach would never help him work even harder on his technique.

Former England Test captain Nasir Hussain was right in saying that Babar success in limited over cricket would never make him a great player unless and until he starts performing in Test cricket and there he said he has to improve when it comes to handling the ball outside the off stumps at early stage of his innings.

The learning process never ends and for so talented a batsman as Babar is, there is a dire need to realize that he requires to work on his flaws to become a reliable Test batsman. There will be no better opportunity for the middle-order batsman to enhance his credential as solid Test batsman than to perform on the forthcoming tour of Australia. A real test of subcontinent player is to perform down under.

A couple of hundreds or even a hundred and couple of fifties in two-match series in Australia would go a long way in proving his mettle and authority. Those trying to project on his future as captain of the team are serving no good to him. Let him become a real genius of Test cricket first. What we want from Babar is to show the same consistency in Test what he has shown in limited over cricket. In all definitions of the game he has those guts to do that-what he needs is a stable and focused mind, and hopefully the Board officials would allow him to evolve that.