New Delhi, Feb 9 (IANS) Former India coach Ravi Shastri and ex-Australian captain Ricky Ponting offered insight amid Pakistan batter Babar Azam’s inconsistent recent form, saying the right-hander has lost a bit of his power.

Babar, who hit an unbeaten half-century against Australia in the final match of the three-game T20I series against Australia prior to the T20 World Cup, made a scratchy 15 off 18 in Pakistan’s three-wicket win over the Netherlands in the tournament opener.

Ponting harbours concerns that Babar no longer has the power he once possessed to maximise the middle overs of a batting innings, pondering whether he’s playing the right role for the team.

“If you’re 15 off 18 balls, you’re not just putting pressure on yourself, you’re putting pressure on the guy at the other end. The guy at the other end then knows that he’s got to be the one to take up the boundary scoring. Babar needs to hit boundaries early on. He needs to get off and going, he needs two boundaries in his first six balls, otherwise the whole momentum of the game is going to change every time he goes in,” Ponting said on The ICC Review.

Shastri worries Babar’s reputation is applying even more pressure to the situation. “When you are at that stage of your career, there’s baggage. There’s a weight of expectation. People expect you to go out there and deliver. Get out there (and) in your first five balls, I don’t care if you get out, but I want you to make an effort to hit a couple of boundaries. Choose your spot, get into good positions, and anticipate what the bowler is doing. You will feel a lot better and things might change,” added Shastri.

Babar batted at No.4 in Pakistan’s T20 World Cup opener against the Netherlands, which Ponting believes only adds to the growing pressure and suggested Pakistan should even consider returning Babar to his more favoured position in the batting order at first drop.

“It just to me looks like he’s lost a bit of his power, his ball-striking ability, like taking that spinner on the way he did and not being able to even go close to clearing it,” Ponting continued.

“I defended him at the start of the tournament … a big-name player in a big event… Pakistan need the best version of Babar Azam if they’re going to go further in this tournament.”

“I would even think about batting him at No. 3. I think the earlier he goes in, if he can get some time inside the powerplay with the field up, I think that’s going to help him because if he has just lost that little bit of power, then you need everything in your favour. So having only two fielders out would help him.

“The guys that (are) batting after him have got plenty of power anyway. They can take advantage of those middle overs with the spinners on and the fielders out. They’ve got a big decision to make whether he stays in or whether they leave him out,” he added.

Shastri continued, “There will be questions asked. He’s a quality player … we know he’s got the experience to adjust very quickly, but he has to do it quickly because (the middle overs are) a very crucial period of play. In T20 cricket, you can’t give it that much time unless the conditions are really in favour of the bowlers.”

–IANS

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