Harbhajan Singh, a former Indian cricketer, has criticized Pakistan captain Babar Azam, saying that he struggles to take the attack to the opposition in limited-overs cricket. Currently leading Peshawar Zalmi in the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) season eight, Azam is the second highest scorer in the event, having amassed 480 runs in 10 innings at a strike-rate of 148.6.
Harbhajan suggested that Mohammad Rizwan should take a single and bowl five deliveries to Babar, as he won’t be able to inflict damage on the opposition. While Harbhajan acknowledged that Babar is a good batter in Test cricket, he opined that he may not be as effective in T20s or even in ODIs, and that there may be better players than him in Pakistan.
“Let [Mohammad] Rizwan take a single and bowl five deliveries to Babar, because he won’t inflict damage on you. Babar is a very good batter in Test cricket, but not in T20s or even for the ODIs. I feel there might be better players than him over in Pakistan,” Harbhajan said while speaking on a YouTube channel.
In an earlier interview, Babar had revealed that he practices 500-600 balls daily to improve his performance on the field. During the PSL 8 Eliminator against Islamabad United on Thursday, Babar became the fastest player to score 9,000 runs in T20 cricket, achieving the milestone in just 245 innings. The previous record holders were Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, and David Warner, who achieved the feat in 249, 271, and 273 innings, respectively. Babar took only 27 innings to move from 8,000 to 9,000 runs in the shortest format of the game.
It should be noted that Harbhajan announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in 2021 after representing India in 103 Tests, 236 ODIs, and 28 T20Is, claiming 417, 269, and 25 wickets, respectively. He was a part of the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 World Cup-winning squads and also contributed significantly with the bat, scoring 3569 runs with two centuries and nine fifties.
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