Pakistan's explosive batter Azam Khan is making headlines with his power-hitting ability in the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL). Couple of days before Azam turned heads with his lightning 97 off 42 against Quetta Gladiators. He cracked eight sixes and nine fours in his belligerent knock to help Islamabad United post 220 on the board which came for a winning cause. The 24-year-old, despite wreaking havoc with the bat, has failed to make it to the national side due to his overweight. But the voice to include him in the national side is only growing louder day by day given incredible knack of hitting the ball out of the park which has seen even the quality bowlers succumbing to his ability.
Azam's belligerent batting has left many comparing him with World No.1 T20 batter Suryakumar Yadav, who has taken the cricketing world by storm with his 360 degree batting and his wide range of shots.
However Azam has a different take on this as he doesn't consider India's flamboyant batter as his inspiration. The Pakistani thinks Suryakumar is a top order batter unlike him, who comes down the order to bat and has a different set of challenges. Rather, Azam is more inclined towards Australia's Tim David's batting who has hogged limelight with his stunning batting in the leagues all over the world and also he is a middle order batter just like the Pakistani batter.
"The position I bat at, you know the situation is quite difficult. Either the score is about 40 for four or 180 or 160 for two, so then you need to go and finish the match. It is a really difficult role. But I am more inspired from Tim David nowadays. He hits big shots and I know and understand his batting role because I play at the same position. Suryakumar often plays one down which is like top order," Azam said on paktv.tv.
In a press conference which was conducted post the match, one of the reporters asked whether his weight is coming in way of his selection in the Pakistan team to which the star batter said that he can't do anything about his body structure but he has performances under his control, which he has been delivering.
"Sir dekhiye meri fitness shuru se hi mashallah itni tagdi rahi hai (chuckles). Koshish yahi rehti hai ki aapko pata hai ki performance di jaaye aur main apni performance ko zyada rate karta hun. Jo bhi negativity hoti hai, main usko itna dekhta nahi hun aur jahaan tak selection ki baat hai toh dekhein, voh unki apni raiye hai agar voh nahi select karna chahte, baaki performance aap logon ke saamne hai (Sir, see my fitness from beginning has been like this. My attempt has always been to keep performing and I rate that highly over my weight. I stay away from negativity and as far as selection is concerned, that's the selectors' call, if they want to select me or not. Otherwise, my performances are in front of you)," he said.
