“Babar Azam is the only player…”: Inzamam-ul-Haq reckons over-dependence on Babar Azam might hurt Pakistan during Asia Cup 2022

Inzamam-ul-Haq reckons relying heavily on Pakistan skipper Babar Azam might not be good signs for the team during their Asia Cup campaign.

Not even a week away now from the commencement date, the build-up to the Asia Cup 2022 has so far has managed to successfully spice things up, especially amongst the fans of the arch-rivals India and Pakistan.

With the star pacers from both these sides – Jasprit Bumrah and Shaheen Shah Afridi ruled out due to injury, fans are yet to decide which of the two teams will start in a position of strength, with the former cricketers too, coming up with their verdicts on the same in their respective bids to not lose the off-field battle.

In the batting department, while team India will be in a bit of a concern regarding their star batter Virat Kohli’s poor run-of-form across formats off-late, the Pakistan side dread of an over-reliance on their star batter cum skipper Babar Azam, who has been one of the very few players in the side to have performed consistently across formats.

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Inzamam-ul-Haq reckons over-reliance on Babar Azam might hurt Pakistan big time

Echoing similar such sentiments mentioned above is Pakistan’s legendary batter Inzaman-ul-Haq, who is of the view that Babar Azam is the only player to have consistently scored runs in the build-up to the imminent Asia Cup.

He cited the examples of Babar’s fellow batters in Fakhar Zaman and wicket-keeper batter Mohammad Rizwan, who have scored runs in one match or the other, but have not been able to maintain that required consistency.

A look at the numbers of the Pakistan batting line-up in their recently concluded tour of the Netherlands, no other batter apart of Babar, who smashed consecutive fifties in each of the three ODIs, could deliver consistently in successive matches.

This over-reliance on just one batter, might hurt the team during the all-important Asia Cup.

“I am tensed about one particular aspect of Pakistan cricket. For example, Fakhar Zaman scored a century against the Netherlands but got quiet in the next couple of innings. Other players like Muhammad Rizwan also hit a century but didn’t continue their form. Babar Azam is the only player who is scoring runs consistently, “remarked Inzamam.