Ace Pakistan batsman Babar Azam was part of a videoconference call with emerging batters and the Pakistan Women team, in which he spoke about how he goes about his game and the importance of watching opposition batsmen.
The call with the men’s T20I captain was organised by the PCB, and involved 15 international and emerging batters. The crux of Azam’s message revolved around being positive. “I am unable to perform 99 per cent of the times when I have a negative thought in my mind that I might fail,” Babar said. “It is very important that you don’t change your batting approach altogether because of a failure in one innings. But try to identify how you could have done better.
“I watch all the top batsmen in the world to understand their batting approach in different situations as it helps me understand the game better.”
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Azam, ranked No.1 in the T20I batsmen’s charts, also makes it a point to rewatch his own innings, especially those in which he’s scored centuries.
“I watch even those innings of mine in which I have scored centuries,” he said. “Not to gloat, but to identify where I could have done better. It is very important that we stay away from complacency.”
Babar Azam is pure class, both on and off the field ?https://t.co/sqhhTaAXp7
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) April 3, 2020
Azam’s session with the women’s players comes a day after Wasim Akram, the pace-bowling great, had a session with the players, in which he spoke of the importance of watching other teams play.
“I remember during our one of the tours of Australia,” Akram said, “we used to train in the morning. Because of the heat and rigorous training, I was once feeling sleepy but Imran bhai told me to watch a match between Australia and West Indies and said that he will ask me questions about it.
“He made me watch the match so I could make better decisions by learning from what the other teams were doing.”
