Shoaib Malik has a piece of advice for Babar Azam amidst his prolonged poor form

Babar Azam‘s batting drew criticism from several Pakistan cricket fans after their team suffered a heartbreaking five-wicket loss to England in the finals of the 20-20 World Cup. Pakistan, who were invited to bat first, could only manage 137/8 in 20 overs, with their skipper scoring 32 off 28 balls.

While some fans criticised the captain’s approach, veteran middle-order batter Shoaib Malik has a request for Babar, which he believes the batter needs to work on. During a talk show on A Sports, Malik pointed out Babar’s performance against Adil Rashid, particularly the googly. In fact, Babar was dismissed off a googly by Rashid.

“Bahut zyada aisa hona shuru hogaya hain. Ek request hai Babar se, please against googly usme thoda sa kaam karne ki zarurat hai (This has been happening quite often and it’s a request to Babar to start working against googly. He needs a bit of work on that),” said Malik.

Malik elaborated on the subject, saying: “If you are not able to check a spinner’s hand, you need to watch a lot of videos.

“Babar needs to make changes in his batting. If your legs are planted, you still manage against pacers. But you can’t play a spinner with planted legs. For example, Babar thought Rashid bowled him leg spin and prepared to play in the covers but since it was a googly, he could not do anything but get out.”

If you are not able to read the bowl, never go to play this square: Misbah ul Haq

Misbah-ul-Haq, Malik’s co-panellist and former Pakistan coach, also shared his thoughts on the subject. “If you are not able to read the bowl, never go to play this square off the wicket. Because once your bat goes out to play, it will land you in trouble. So if you are not able to understand it, just go and play straight. We have discussed this in Hasranga’s case as well but our batsmen play cut without reading the ball,” he said.

In the meantime, Ben Stokes scored a gutsy half-century to guide his team through the line.