Babar relishes leading from front

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s all-format captain Babar Azam enjoys leading the team from the front and taking the challenges head on.

In an interview with ‘The News’ from Sri Lanka, a day ahead of the start of the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka, Babar told this correspondent that he never shied away from challenges. “Instead I enjoy leading from the front by accepting challenges at crucial times. Whenever I feel there is a requirement for my contribution, I try to contribute by staying long at the wicket and playing an innings that ultimately helps my team.

“I really enjoy playing in such situations. Over the years I think such behavior has contributed a lot to my personal performance. When you take the difficult situation head on, you also contribute to the team in a big way,” Babar said when asked about the general feeling that Babar’s contributions in Test matches in recent months have made Pakistan look like a one-man brigade.

Babar, however, said that others have also showed excellent form in the recent past. “Basically Test cricket is more a team game where you require everyone to play their part.

Barring one odd performance, our performance in Test has shown an upward trend in recent past. That is because of the teamwork. Everyone has contributed well in all formats of the game. When you talk about white-ball cricket we have batsmen like Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Rizwan. Khushdil has added an extra punch and is turning out to be a good finisher.

“In Test cricket, we have got experienced Fawad Alam and youngsters like Abdullah Shafique. Look how well Imam has been playing. So it all added to our cause as a result in all formats of the game. I hope you will see even better performances from the batting lineup in days and months to come,” Babar said.

On the future roles of Abdullah and Agha Salman, the Pakistan captain said he has been playing with Agha since school age. “I know he is a capable all-rounder and has got spin bowling edge. Abdullah is gaining confidence with each passing day. I hope you will see him getting better and better with each passing day. Hopefully, he will repeat the performance he showed against Australia,” he said.

The captain said that the best is yet to come from the batsmen. “There are some quality batsmen for all formats. What they require are a bit more experience and exposure and you will see them making headlines in days to come,” he added.

Asked about the need for a dependable new-ball partner of Shaheen Afridi, especially in Test cricket, Babar rated Naseem Shah as one for the future.

“Look Naseem is gradually growing as a future partner of Shaheen Shah Afridi. For now I think Hasan Ali is playing the role well. Though sometimes he struggles to get in form, I believe in his abilities and think that at the moment he is the best. Hopefully, he will start delivering to the expectations.