The white-ball head coach of Pakistan, Mike Hesson, has given the actual explanation regarding the reason why Babar Azam came back to the Pakistani national T20I team after missing a number of series. Hesson states that the move to revive Babar was not based on the form, but it was a strategic and selection based move.
Babar, who had not participated in any single T20I since Hesson assumed command, has been called back now to play the series against South Africa and the triple-nation tournament that is set to be held in the following month. The fact that he was not available during the Asia Cup, had made his fans and analysts start asking questions regarding his absence, as most of them thought that Pakistan could not do without his cool head in the middle order.
In one of his press conferences Hesson gave details that resulted in the fact Babar was allowed to come back after the request of Fakhar Zaman that he would take a break. He explained,
Fakhar Zaman was to work more on One-Day International and was dispatched to play first-class cricket. That allowed us to replace another top-ranking batter and Babar was the logical candidate.
The coach assured that Babar is expected to be batting at position three and he will bring balance and experience to the batting line. Hesson said he was sure that he would be a world-class player and perform well in that position.
Babar had previously been out of T20I teams under the leadership of Hesson, but he had never suggested that Babar could not make his way back. By doing this, it appears that Pakistan is attempting to reconstruct their batting line in a shrewd manner – letting Saim Ayub and Sahibzada Farhan remain at the top of the order with Babar at the innings norm.
This is a strategy re-shuffle, having Babar back in T20Is and Fakhar in ODIs, that would enable Pakistan to build on its approach to white ball in the coming T20 World Cup.
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