Pakistan skipper and ODI Numero Uno batter Babar Azam has played seven matches so far in the ongoing World Cup 2023 and is yet to score a century which proves his struggle with the bat. In a total of seven matches Babar has amassed just 216 runs at an average of 30.85 riding on three fifties. His weakness against spinners has once again been exposed as Colin Ackermann, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Noor Ahmad, Tabraiz Shamsi and Adam Zampa have combined to trap Babar five times in the tournament.
Babar's latest failure came in the World Cup match against Bangladesh on October 31, Tuesday when Pakistan skipper could only manage to score just 9 off 16 before Mehidy Hasan gave him his marching orders. However, Pakistan won the match by seven wickets but Babar's struggle with the bat was once again on display.
Meanwhile, former PCB president Ramiz Raja revealed the reason behind Babar's failure in the ongoing ODI World Cup. While analysing Pakistan skipper's batting Ramiz said that Babar has looked the most jittery against spinners.
"If you want to find fault in his batting, it's his batting against spin upfront when he starts the innings. He is not as fluent as he is when he is facing pace. I don't know whether it's his footwork whether it's in his mind, or whether he doesn't have too many options because he doesn't play the sweep shot. On slow pitches, you need to play the sweep shot," Ramiz told Star Sports.
"Every time he has been aggressive, he's gotten out as well. Against Afghanistan, he hit a massive six and then got out just at the wrong time. So the confidence builds and it goes flat," he added.
"All he needs to do is work his way through to a hundred where he faces pace, spin, and feels comfortable about his role. He is not entirely out of touch, he is still middling the ball, but it's that when he begins his innings against spin, he looks just a little bit jittery," Ramiz concluded.
Talking about Pakistan's performance in the World Cup 2023, Babar's brigade haven't had the best of the campaign so far and are struggling to make their way to the semifinals. Pakistan started well by defeating Netherlands and Sri Lanka in their initial two matches, but little did they know what's next in store for them. Pakistan ended up losing their next four ties on the trot against India, Australia, Afghanistan, South Africa which jeopardised their chances to make it to the semifinals. However, they defeated Bangladesh in their seventh match to somehow keep their semifinal hopes alive. Pakistan will next play against New Zealand on November 4 in a do-or-die contest.
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