Grant Flower, the former Pakistani batting coach, thinks that several factors can affect Babar Azam’s captaincy amongst which, politics in Pakistan Cricket is the primary factor.
Babar Azam has been appointed as the skipper of the ODI format recently. In 2019, he became T20Is skipper, and now as another role has been given to him, Grant Flower fears his captaincy.
He thinks that like other world-class players, who used to perform well, failed to play after they got selected as skipper. He also mentioned that there is a lot of pressure and politics in Pakistan cricket.
Praising Babar Azam, the former batting mentor spoke that Babar seeks the length brilliantly and evaluating the ball, he plays perfectly.
Grant Flower: Politics in Pakistan cricket can affect Babar’s captaincy
“He’s got a good cricketing brain, but there’s a lot of politics in Pakistan cricket and a lot of pressure from the public,” Flower told Stats Perform News.
“If you start losing, it’s one thing being the best batsman, but that will put pressure on your batting skills, and it can all come tumbling down pretty quickly,” he added.
“We’ve seen with great players in the past the pressures that captaincy can bring, but some players get better, and if he gets better, then the world is his oyster. Time will tell,” he added
“But he seems pretty positive about it, and I read what he said in an interview when he got the captaincy. I wish him all the best and hopefully, all positives come with that,” he maintained.
“He is brilliant. The first time I saw him play and worked with him when I threw balls at him at the academy in Lahore, he picked up length so much quicker than the rest of the players and I think that’s the hallmark of a great batsman,” he said.
