Former England captain Nasser Hussain accepted that Pakistan’s best batter Babar Azam is totally out of form, which is reflected in his team’s performances. Hussain claimed that there is a lot of pressure on the star Pakistan batter.
Babar Azam has gone without a fifty-plus score in his last 18 innings. His last fifty-plus score came in December 2022 when he scored 161 against New Zealand. However, he has scored just 366 runs in 20 innings since then at an average of 20.33.
In the first Test against England, Babar registered scores of 30 and 5 across the two innings. Despite the pitch being good for batting, Babar’s failure to capitalize raised quite a few questions about his form and ability.
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“Babar Azam is horrendously out of form” – Nasser Hussain
While speaking to Sky Sports after England’s win in the first Test, Nasser Hussain spoke about the recent struggles of Babar Azam and wondered if it’s psychological. He further admitted that even if Babar does not score for two innings, the pressure starts to build on him.
“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,” Hussain said.
“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,” he added.
Babar Azam recently resigned as Pakistan’s white-ball captain and decided to play as a specialist batter in all the formats. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is yet to announce the team’s next captain in ODIs and T20Is.
Pakistan fast bowlers lack express pace, claims Nasser Hussain
Nasser Hussain further expressed his concerns over Pakistan’s fast bowlers. The former England skipper claimed that Pakistan do not have an express fast bowler in their ranks which made their job difficult in Multan.
“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 added.
Pakistan played three fast bowlers in this match in the form of Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Aamer Jamal. All of them looked toothless and lacked the pace and skill to trouble England’s batters. Afridi, Naseem, and Jamal each went for more than 100 runs in the innings.
Nasser Hussain on Pakistan’s spin bowling
Hussain also spoke about the lack of high-quality spinners in Pakistan. He remembered the time when Pakistan used to have great spinners in their ranks who used to perform wherever they played.
“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, and Mushtaq Ahmed. They’ve always produced great mystery spinners,” he added.
Pakistan played with just one specialist spinner in this match in the form of Abrar Ahmed. Abrar conceded 0-174 in 35 overs in the innings and was further admitted to the hospital due to high fever.
Englan thrashed Pakistan by an innings and 47 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series. The next Test of the series will also be held on the same ground. The third and final Test will
be held in Karachi.
