Pakistan’s Head Coach and Chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq has backed batsman Babar Azam as limited over captain despite former coach’s concern. Former Pakistani coach Grant Flower recently expressed his concern over the pressure that comes along the captaincy job.
According to a report by PTI, Pakistan’s head coach said the newly appointed limited over skipper is capable of maintaining his top class performance with the bat while handling the extra responsibility of captaincy.
There’s a lot of pressure from Pakistani public
Former batting coach Grant Flower, who had worked with Pakistani for over a period of 5 years, has raised concerns and said that there’s a lot of politics in Pakistan cricket and a lot of pressure from Pakistan Public.
“He’s got a good cricketing brain but there’s a lot of politics in Pakistan cricket and a lot of pressure from the public,” Flower said to Stats Perform News.
Flower further added that losing games will affect a captain more than a batsman and if he gets over the pressure he will be at great position in the list of captains.
“We’ve seen with great players in the past the pressures that captaincy can bring, but some players get better and if he gets better than the world is his oyster. Time will tell,” he added.
Babar is ready for the challenge
Former Pakistan skipper, however, feels that Babar Azam is ready for the challenge of handling captaincy pressure, since the experiment of handing over the T20 captaincy for the Australia tour was a successful one.
“That is why we decided to also give him the responsibility of leading the ODI team. I think he is ready for the challenge and he should thrive as the team’s top batsman as well,” said Pakistan chief selector cum head coach.
The T20 World Cup winning captain also expressed his disagreement with Flower’s politics and public pressure remarks and emphasized Babar’s top batsman stature will make the captaincy easier for her.
“The way I look at it, being a top batsman he is best suited to lead the team by example and this would make it easier for him to also take strong decisions and for the team to follow him,” Misbah added.
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