File photo of Babar Azam.© Twitter
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam is undoubtedly one of the best batters in the world on current form. After his ODI debut in 2016, the 27-year-old batter has played 92 matches, scoring 4664 runs and 17 centuries. Babar also has great numbers in Tests and T20Is, scoring 3122 and 2686 runs respectively. Currently, Babar is preparing for the upcoming Asia Cup, where Pakistan will square off against arch-rivals India in their opening game on August 28. As the match is just around the corner, former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris called Babar the “number one man going around” and said that a “special delivery” will be needed to dismiss the Pakistan skipper.
“I’m not so sure. I think what you would say is if India could win, any team could say I’ll give you 16 Babar Azams and then you’re out. They would take it every day of the week. He is that good. He is the number one man going around. Look there’s usually what you look to do is to give him a single and get him off strike and bowl the guy at the other end. And I think that’s not something new. That’s been around for a decade or two, or three decades. So that sort of strategy to Babar Azam, I think he’s used to it, and I’m not sure that will work,” said Styris on Sports18’s daily sports news show ‘Sports Over The Top’.
“I think you’ve almost got to be brave. Be a little bit risky and try that magic delivery that you might be a little afraid to bowl, because if you get it wrong, it can go out of the park because it’s going to take a special delivery to get somebody like him out in the form that he’s in. He’s that good player at the moment and that’s perhaps the strategy. As it is, I think I’d probably need a few more hours of studying film to work out any genuine weaknesses that he has, but as it is just you’ve got to be aggressive and go after it,” he added.
Earlier last week, Pakistan faced a body blow after their star pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi was ruled out of Asia Cup due to injury. Mohammad Hasnain has been named as the replacement for Afridi.
India and Pakistan will be squaring off against each other in their opening match of the Asia Cup on August 28 in Dubai.
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India will be looking to exact revenge for the loss to Pakistan in T20 World Cup 2021. The victory in Dubai last year was Pakistan’s first ever over India in a World Cup encounter.
They are yet to beat India in the 50-over World Cup where the Indians enjoy a 6-0 record over the ‘Men in Green’.
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