EXCLUSIVE: Rashid Latif exposes Pakistan team's biggest batting flaw, decodes reason behind Babar Azam's extended batting fiasco

Babar Azam, despite being the number one batter in ODI cricket and Pakistan's talisman, has been a major concern for the team due to his failures in Test cricket. This coincides with Pakistan's winless run in the longest format since 2021. A concerning statistic reveals that it has been 614 days and 15 innings since Babar last scored a fifty in Test cricket, after being dismissed by Shakib Al Hasan for 31 runs in the second Test against Bangladesh.

Babar, who has been struggling to find his form in Test cricket, has recently slipped six places in the ICC Test batters' rankings. His struggles continued in the first innings of the second Test, which only followed his batting blip in the first Test against Bangladesh which Pakistan lost by 10 wickets. 

However, former Pakistani cricketer Rashid Latif, in an exclusive conversation with Sports Tak, decided to talk about the elephant in the room as he apparently decoded the reason behind Babar's extended lean patch and Pakistan's batters' batting flaws.

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Rashid Latif reveals reason behind Babar Azam's torrid show with bat

When asked about Babar's torrid show with the bat, Rashid said:

“It becomes really difficult for our players to come out of the poor form if there is some issue with their technique. I have seen many players going through a form slump, including Sachin Tendulkar. But since Sachin had a sound and good batting technique he never took time to overcome the patchy form. On the other hand, players like Virender Sehwag used to take more time to come out of a lean patch. This is the difference between a better player and comparatively less skilled player,” the former Pakistan's wicketkeeper-batter told Sports Tak.

 

“Talking about Babar Azam, he was a skilled player, but in face of lean patch, he started charging the ball harder which made his shot selection really tough. He never gets played on, he always gets troubled tinkering the ball going away from him. He is literally failing to decide which ball to hit or leave. The entire problem in his batting lies here only,” he added.

He also went on to praise Babar and said there are some players who are meant for batting only and the former Pakistani captain is certainly one of them.

 

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“There are quite a few players who are only meant for batting, and Babar Azam is certainly one of them. He has that command in his batting and never shy away from putting in the extra yard. The reason why Babar is taking too much time to overcome his patchy form is because he is looking for runs. Rather, he should patiently wait for the ball to come. He should wait for the ball to come and concentrate on building the innings because Test cricket is all about this,” the 55-year-old further stated.

 

“The way Mehidy Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim have played in this series, there is much to learn from them. Pakistan batters are sort of trying to play attacking cricket. This is not how Test cricket is played. Another classic example of this in the Test series between England and India. England did try to display their Bazball cricket in that series and rightly so they ended up winning the first Test, But everyone knows what happened next. Shan Masood and his batters are following the same template and are crashing badly. A time taken 325 runs are better that fast scored 274,” he concluded.

 

Talking about the match, one against Pakistan have found themselves in a perilous position. Despite scoring a modest 274 in the first innings, Pakistan bowlers did well to put Bangladesh on backfoot as the visitors were once reeling at 26/6, thanks to Khurram Shahzad's six-fer. But Litton Das was in no mood to surrender as he went on to score a stunning century (138 off 228) to rally Bangladesh from a difficult situation to a respectable total of 262, giving only a slender lead to Pakistan. His 138-run partnership with Mehidy Hasan Miraz was vital in Bangladesh's recovery.

On the third day, Bangladesh's bowlers dismissed Abdullah Shafique and Khurram Shahzad, leaving Pakistan struggling at 9-2 at the close of Day 3's play.

 

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