ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistani cricketers believe that Skipper Babar Azam should have come out to bat in the super over of the third ODI against Zimbabwe saying the Lahore-born cricketer needed to improve as a batsman for the betterment of the side.
The actual match finished in a tie after tailender Musa Khan hit the final delivery of the 50th over from Richard Ngarava for a boundary to level the scores at 278.
But player of the match Muzarabani (who had bagged figures of 5/49), dismissed Iftikhar and Khushdil for two runs on four balls in the super over which Zimbabwe scored off just three balls without any loss.
Despite the defeat Pakistan have won the three-match series by 2-1. Bath teams would now be seen in the action in the three Twenty20s be held at the same venue on November 7, 8 and 10.
Former Pakistani Skipper Ramiz Raja was disappointed to see the Men in Green’s strategy in the super over.
“The talent which was introduced during the super over was not right. Babar Azam, who had scored a century, would have been seeing the ball like a football and he should have come out to bat for the super over as well. The person who is in form should always be ready for the super over,” he said on his official YouTube channel as quoted by cricketpakistan.com.pk.
“Fakhar had not played in the previous two games who would have been low on confidence and seemed rusty. Iftikhar did not have a good match and he is a middle-order batsman and Khushdil Shah was playing his first match,” he said.
He was also not impressed with the performance of the youngsters during the match. “This was a shock for the entire Pakistan cricket system and it also reveals that the temperament of new players is not at the required level at the moment as they failed to live up to expectations at a challenging time,” he said.
Legendary Pakistani batsman Inzamamul Haq, claimed that Babar needed to ‘improve a lot’ as a bastman for the betterment of the side.
The 50-year-old believed that there was no doubt that Babar was a great batsman however the side Green should have wrapped up the third ODI.
“Babar played really well. He is a great player and there is no doubt about that. But Babar needs a lot of improvement. I think, when Wahab and Babar were playing, they should have finished the match with around 10 to 15 balls remaining. Babar should have taken more of the strike. He is a senior player and plays really good ground shots. But there is a different type of cricket that needs to be played during the final overs,” Inzamam said.
The former batsman said Babar needed to work on the art of hitting the ball during the final stages of a match.
“When you are chasing, you need to maintain the average. You have to hit at this stage and the class that Babar possesses, if he doesn’t hit the ball well then teams will catch up to you. If you don’t hit against a team like Zimbabwe then I do not think that bigger teams will give you any leverage. This is what he needs to learn which is how to hit the ball and how to tackle a chase,” he said.
“The second thing is finishing a match. If Babar is scoring so many runs he should be able to single-handedly win matches like these. If Pakistan is still not winning than it is a point of concern,” he said.
