Former Pakistan’s team director, Mohammad Hafeez, has revealed that he encouraged Babar Azam to adapt his role to the team’s requirements during recently-concluded T20I series against New Zealand.
While speaking on a local sports channel, Hafeez revealed that he reminded Babar and Mohammad Rizwan that they’re not the only ones playing; it’s about the whole team.
“It took me about two months to convince Babar Azam that you have to do it for Pakistan and you are not the first one who’s doing it. You are a great player, you are a wonderful player and you are playing great cricket however you have to develop Pakistan team. You and Rizwan are very good players, excellent players but you are not the whole team. We need to develop a team and for that I want you to come at number 3 because you have been playing this role in the ODI cricket for last six years, so it won’t affect you; technically you are very solid,” Hafeez said.
“Thank you very much to him that he accepted this and he played for Pakistan at number 3 which obviously I think is the best way to move,” he further added.
It is worth noting that Babar had been opening the T20 matches with Rizwan for more than two years, but Hafeez suggested a change. He asked Babar to bat at number three instead, a position he’s good at in One-Day matches. Babar agreed, showing his commitment to the team’s success over his own stats.
