Babar Azam, the rising star of cricket has recently opened up on the struggle he and his family faced to make his dream of playing cricket true. Babar Azam is the emerging player of the Pakistan Cricket. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has recently appointed Babar Azam, replacing Azhar Ali as the Test captain. Now Azam is the captain of Pakistan Cricket team in all the three formats of the game.
In an interview with Dawn News, the 26-year-old revealed that he bought his first-ever cricket kit with his mother’s savings.
“We were not financially sound at that time so my mother gave me the money she had saved to buy my first kit. At that time, she had given me around 3-4000 Rs out of which I had bought my first bat for 2-2500 Rs. The excitement of buying your first kit cannot be expressed in words. I played with it for 2-3 years and took good care of it but I have lost it now,” Babar said.
Further talking to Dawn New, Babar Azam thanked his father who travels with him to watch all of his matches and also give him ‘feedback’ after every match.
“I would especially like to mention my father – who used to take me to all the matches, watch all of them, give me feedback after every match that helped me a lot. It’s been 1 year that he is not sitting at home else he would watch all Pakistan’s matches, T20 or domestic or U19, he never missed them. He supported me throughout and I also received plenty of support from my other family members,” he added.
I Always Played With Pressure: Babar Azam
Babar Azam, on the leading the Pakistan Cricket team in all the three formats, has said that he has always played under pressure and has learned from the experience of former Test captain Azhar Ali and Sarfaraz Ahmed. He further added that he takes all the decisions independently according to his mind-sets.
“I have always played with pressure. When I came into Pakistan team early on there was pressure on me to perform. We have to face challenges every day. Now there is a new challenge and responsibility and I will try to use my experience from white-ball cricket,” he said.
“I take advice from seniors and have learnt a lot from Saifi (Sarfaraz) and even Azhar (Ali). Whatever I have learnt and what they taught me, I am trying to apply those things and if the need arises I will talk to them but in the end, I will take independent decisions according to my mind-set,” he said.
Babar Azam will now be seen leading the Pakistan team in New Zealand, where they are scheduled to play three T20 Internationals and two Tests. The Pakistan squad along with the support staff has reached Christchurch on Tuesday. Currently, they are serving mandatory 14-day quarantine period.
