Pakistan’s Babar Azam has endured something of a nightmare World Cup, posting scores of 0, 4, 4, 6 and 25 in his five innings to date.
That’s 39 runs at a strike rate of 61.90, horrific figures for a player ranked as the fourth best T20 batter in the world.
Pakistan’s batting coach, Matthew Hayden, sees similarities with one of his former opening partners.
“Babar and Mohammad Rizwan rightly are our No.1 combination opening,” Hayden said.
“If you can take your mind back to the 2007 World Cup, when Adam Gilchrist had quite a lean World Cup by his standards.
“And if you remember that last match against Sri Lanka, he went on to score an incredible hundred and realised his potential in that tournament.”
Hayden pointed out it was impossible for Babar to maintain the ridiculous standards he set from 2018-2020, where he averaged 52.73 at a strike rate of 133.
“You can’t continue to keep punching out hundreds and fifties and strike-rates of 140-plus,” he said.
“There has to be moments in time when there is a lull. And when there is a lull there is often a storm that follows.
“So look out the rest of the world because I think you are about to see something very special from Babar.”