Pakistan star batsman and limited over format skipper Babar Azam has said that he was so good at batting in ‘Gully Cricket’ that nobody could get him out.
Sharing a childhood memory in a Instagram live session with Pakistan senior cricketer, Shoaib Malik, Babar Azam said, “I used to play ‘Gully Cricket’ a lot and guess what, nobody could have got me out. From there, I decided to become a specialist batsman and here I am”.
Babar who found it easy to speak with his senior teammate and said, “I have learnt from every experience. See, ups and downs are a part of the game but you need to be strong enough to come out of those bad patches”.
“For me, playing all three formats of the game is an ‘honor’. I tried my best to come as improved [Babar Azam] every time,” he said.
Babar said that initially he failed with convert his scores into big ones but with the help of seniors he has now been able to do that.
“Earlier, I faced problems in converting 60s’ and 80s’ into 100 but now you can see me scoring triple figures consistently. Players like you [Malik], Sarfaraz Ahmed had helped me out a lot and I try to learn every time I spend time seniors,” he revealed.
Pakistan’s newly appointed limited format skipper thinks that captaincy is a whole different thing than just playing as a player.
“You need to be strong enough while captaining your national team,” said the 25-years-old cricketer. “As a captain, you have to deal with a lot of things. You have to take the whole team alongside you which I think is not an easy task. Don’t think there is a pressure on me, but it is a responsibility,” he added.
Babar hails Sarfaraz as ‘captain’ and said he learnt a lot from him as his deputy. “I remained vice-captain for the last three years under his captaincy. To be honest, he backs players at full. He personally goes to the players to guide them and back them if they are out-of-form,” he said.