Younis wants other players to learn from Babar Azam

LAHORE – Pakistan batting coach Younis Khan has said that other players need to learn from Babar Azam, who is on his way to becoming one of the batting greats.

Talking to the reporters virtually, Younis said: “Babar Azam is one of the top players in the world and he went through a process and got the time he needed to grow as he has been with the team for good few years now. The most important quality that Babar has is the desire and hunger to score runs. We are also seeing his captaincy improve with each outing as his shot selection.

“Being a top international player, there are a lot of expectations from Babar Azam. That’s why he is improving his fitness as well as his technique. The demand of fitness in today’s games is very high. Sometimes people say that they see glimpses of us (Younis, Yousaf and Misbah) in Babar, Fakhar and Rizwan which feels like an achievement for us,” he added.

“I feel that Babar’s learning process is amazing but I let me say that when players in my generation came into the national side, we had the examples of Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, Aamir Sohail, Ijaz Ahmed and Salim Malik in front of us; so in a sense we had a factory of readymade examples where we could go into learn and come out as good players. The players from today miss that kind of exposure to top players but Babar is lucky that he saw players like Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan playing in their prime,” he asserted.

Younis said he doesn’t agree with the way the players are selected for the national team across formats. “A benchmark needs to be set to pick players for the senior team, particularly batsmen. We need to look at how much cricket experience a player has under his belt before considering him for selection. How much responsibility he is willing to take and whether he is a performing player.

“I am not in favour of picking players based on limited franchise cricket exposure. I agree players must have proper first-class and List A experience behind them before they are considered for selection. You need to see how capable a player is of adjusting to international standards and cricket when he is selected for Pakistan,” he added.

To a query regarding repeated chances given to players like Asif Ali, Haider Ali and others despite their failures, Younis replied that he was just a batting coach and final selection is the domain of the head coach and captain. “I can’t interfere. I can only give recommendations and feedback to them and the final decision is with the head coach and captain. We are trying to find the right combination in batting. So that we get performing batsmen in all formats.”

The former captain said the South African tour, where Pakistan won both the ODI and T20 series, has been a good learning experience for the players. “Overall, the tour was a good learning experience for our players and especially the top order batsmen and bowlers excelled during the tour. But the middle order batsman didn’t produce good results during the series. We are lacking in this area and we have to address this area well before playing the T20 World Cup in India,” Younis concluded.