Basit Ali applauds Gary Kirsten for backing Babar Azam

18 May, 2024

Calling Gary Kirsten’s remarks a “too-good-statement” on his YouTube channel, Ali said, “Kirsten, who has not even joined the team, has said that he will not try to change Babar Azam. He wants the captain to play as he is and that is what Babar needs”.

Continuing his praise of Kirsten, Ali added that “Saim Ayub and Fakhar Zaman should learn from Kirsten as much as they can because Kirsten was an amazing top-order batter and he can teach a lot to these two batters”.

Ali also revealed if Babar were to learn a few techniques then he would leave behind all the other batters in the world.

“Babar Azam needs to learn how to hit the ball in the middle of the wicket more. If Babar learns this, he will leave all the other top-order batters in the world behind,” he said.

Kirsten had recently commented on Azam saying that the player “carries a lot of burden of the team on his shoulders. What we would try to do as a coaching staff is to lift that a little bit and to realize he's just one of a whole group of players and then he can just free himself up to play with his natural talent”.

Kirsten’s support for Babar comes at a time when the white-ball captain has been under scrutiny from cricket fans in the country despite winning the Pakistan vs Ireland series by 2-1 and performing well with the bat.

The Pakistan cricket team will play a four-match T20I series against England before the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 begins in June. The series will start on May 22nd and will end on May 30th.

Kirsten will join the squad on May 19 in Leeds, officially commencing his two-year tenure as Pakistan’s white-ball head coach.