Babar can still reach greater heights, says Hafeez

Ag Agencies

KARACHI: Babar Azam is regarded among the world’s best batsmen but former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez believes that the youngster is yet to realize his full potential.

Babar, who has been rewarded with Pakistan’s captaincy in ODI and T20I formats for of his consistent form with the bat, is currently the number one batter in T20Is and also among the top-5 in Tests and ODI formats.

But Hafeez stressed that Babar still has a long way to go.

“He [Babar] is a brilliant performer for Pakistan. In his five-year career for Pakistan so far, he has played some amazing cricket. However, he is yet to reach his full potential, considering his talent,” Hafeez said.

“He is like my younger brother and I tell him to his face that a talent like him is not there yet where I want to see him. He is trying to push those barriers and I am confident that he will serve Pakistan for a long time.”

Babar has been Pakistan’s T20 captain since the conclusion of the 2019 World Cup but was recently given ODI captaincy too after the PCB announced new central contracts for the 2019-20 season. While there still haven't been many games for Azam as a captain, Hafeez is holding on to his opinion of Azam as a leader until the latter has showcased his tactical side in a few games.

“I haven’t seen him a lot as a captain. I played only two matches under his captaincy. I can’t evaluate his captaincy until I see his personal tactics as a captain in different match situations,” he said.

“I have best wishes for him that he leads Pakistan for a long period of time and joins the list of successful Pakistan captains. It will be beneficial for him as well as Pakistan because when our top-level performer will start winning as a captain, his confidence will be even higher,” Hafeez added.