‘He’s getting better,’ Sarfaraz backs Babar Azam’s captaincy skills

KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed has thrown his weight behind current all-format captain Babar Azam by asserting that the latter’s captaincy skills are getting developed with time.

Pakistan’s captain Babar often faces criticism regarding his captaincy and on-ground tactics in the team’s crucial matches.

Under Babar’s captaincy, Pakistan played in the finals of the T20 World Cup and Asia Cup 2022 and the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2021.

However, the team also had a dismal home season last year as the green shirts lost the Test series against Australia, England and could draw against New Zealand. They also lost the T20I series and ODI series against England and New Zealand respectively.

Meanwhile, Sarfaraz, during an interview with a prominent Youtuber Nadir Ali, backed Babar as the team’s captain and claimed that he is improving with time.

“There is always room for improvement. Babar is getting better as a captain. He has started doing good and I hope will keep on getting better,” said Sarfaraz.

“In Pakistan, making a mistake is a sin. I know Babar makes mistakes but give him some time. It takes time to become a captain and build a team. We need to be patient and support Babar as he is our captain.

“Gradually, Babar will learn from his mistakes if he continues as a captain in the future. I have played under him recently, and I have seen improvement in his captaincy. He will do good for Pakistan.”

Sarfaraz, who is considered one of the most successful Pakistani captains. He is the only Pakistani captain two have won two ICC trophies — the Champions Trophy and U19 World Cup, also shared a piece of advice for his successor Babar, stating that he needs to improve communication with his players.

“My suggestion to him is that he needs to improve communication with his players. Good communication will make his players confident and it will produce big results,” he concluded.

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