'Apne temperament se batana hai duniya mein ke woh ek Viv Richards hain': Ramiz Raja backs Babar Azam to perform in Australia after Test snub

Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ramiz Raja has backed under-pressure Babar Azam to silence the critics on white-ball tour to Australia. Raja made a bizarre comparison as he wants Babar to bat like legendary West Indies batter Viv Richards who is considered ahead of his time.

Babar was recently rested or dropped from the Test squad after he failed to cross the fifty-run mark in nine consecutive Tests. Babar along with Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah were rested for the last two Tests against England which they ended up winning to end drought of wins in red-ball format at home. Ahead of Australia series, Raja pointed out Babar’s average in white-ball cricket and wants him to prove his temperament to the world.

"I feel Babar has to achieve a lot more in Test cricket. He plays the white-ball format really well, has an average of 50-plus in both the formats (T20I and ODI)...There is so much potential in Babar Azam. Ab unko apne temperament se batana hai duniya mei ke woh ek Viv Richards hain (now he has to prove to the world with his temperament that he is Viv Richards). Bigger the contest, bigger the innings Richards used to play," Raja said on his YouTube channel.

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Richards vs Babar in numbers

Interestingly, Richards has a better strike rate in ODIs than Babar. Richards scored 6,721 runs from 187 games at an average of 47 and strike rate of 90.20. On the other hand, Babar has scored 5,729 runs at an average of 56.72 but his strike rate is 88.75.

Richards scored at a rapid rate in ODIs when red ball was used, fielding restrictions were less and the rules did not favour the batters as much as they do in modern cricket. Babar is often criticsed for his strike rate. In ODI World Cup 2023, he scored 320 runs from nine innings. He did not score a single century as Pakistan failed to make it to the semifinals.

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Babar’s ODI and T20I numbers in Australia

Babar will have a point to prove when the ODI series starts on November 4 at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). He has a decent record in Australia scoring 282 runs from five innings at an average of 56.40 including one century and one fifty.

In T20Is, he has not been successful on Australian soil. He has 239 runs from 10 innings at an average of 26.55. His strike rate is 110.64 in T20I format in Australia. It includes the matches in T20 World Cup 2022 when he led Pakistan to the final where they lost to England.