Australia’s legendary cricketer Matthew Hayden intrigued cricket lovers with his comments on Pakistan batter Babar Azam’s batting performances as a captain.
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Babar Azam resigned as Pakistan’s all-format skipper over the side’s disappointing outing at the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in India. Under the right-handed batter’s captaincy, the side could not get past the round-robin stage as they won four and lost five matches.
As far as the Pakistan captain’s performance was concerned, he scored 320 runs off nine matches at an average of 40 and a strike rate of 82.90. He struck four half-centuries in the 50-over world championships.
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Former cricketers, experts and fans had urged Babar Azam to resign and excel as a player instead.
Matthew Hayden, who was part of Australia’s 50-over World Cup winning teams in 2003 and 2007, had a different perception of Babar Azam’s batting performances as a team leader.
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The left-handed batter, who served as the Pakistan team’s mentor for a short span, said Babar Azam performed better when he led the side. He added that those responsible for relieving him as frontman made their decision without comparing his performances as a captain and non-captain.
“Whoever was doing the numbers clearly wasn’t looking at them when it came to Babar’s performances as non-captain and captain,” he said in a conversation. “He actually had far better numbers as a captain. We’re talking an average of 50 plus more. So he was a natural leader, a good choice. I think they have potentially shot the gun a little bit early in terms of leadership capabilities.
“He’s still a young player, a dominant player in world cricket. So I am a little disappointed and a little shocked about the reaction.”
Related – ‘Babar Azam took right decision by resigning as Pakistan captain’
