Former England captain Nasser Hussain said that the pressure is mounting on the out-of-form Babar Azam after his back-to-back failures in the first Test against England in Multan. Babar scored only 35 runs across the two innings as Pakistan faced an embarrassing innings and 47-
run defeat as well. However, it’s been 18 consecutive Test innings over nine matches for him without reaching even a half-century.
Speaking to Sky Sports at the end of the first Test, Hussain said: “Their (Pakistan) best player – a world-class player – Babar Azam is horrendously out of form. It’s nine Test matches without a half century – on these pitches! Maybe that’s psychological, with everything that he’s been through, giving up the white-ball captaincy? In this part of the world, if you are Babar Azam and you go two games without a half century or a hundred, the pressure builds, let alone eight, nine Tests. The pressure is on him, definitely.”
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“Spin hasn’t seemed to be much of a threat. Where are they with their spinners? Historically, we would have played against Abdul Qadir, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed. They’ve always produced great mystery spinners. And express pace: you wouldn’t say any of their three seamers that they are playing at the moment are express pace. That’s a dangerous combination. You have a top order that’s failing in the second innings and you’re not sure what pitch to prepare that suits your bowling attack,” Hussain again stated.
However, Nasser Hussain also feels the blame for Pakistan’s Test struggles should not fall only on the captain Shan Masood, considering the constant personnel changes behind the scenes as well. He took over captaincy from Babar Azam at the end of last year but it didn’t work as Pakistan have lost all six Tests under him.
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“I don’t blame Shan Masood. You have to look at what goes on behind the scenes in Pakistan cricket. Name me one sporting environment, team or a business that does well with constant change behind the scenes, constant changes in chairman of selectors, chief executives, captains, coaches. It’s all down, and it all has a Groundhog Day feel to it,” concluded Nasser Hussain.
