Ricky Ponting suggests Virat Kohli’s method to Babar Azam to regain form

Former Pakistan captain Babar Azam was recently dropped from the Test squad for the second and third match against England. His form in white-ball cricket is concerning, having scored 357 runs in his last ten ODIs. When it comes to the shortest format, Babar has played some good knocks, but under his leadership, the team failed to qualify for the Super Eights of the T20 World Cup.

Meanwhile, former cricketer Ricky Ponting is concerned about Babar’s future in Test cricket. He understands the difficulties that the cricketer would face in getting back into red-ball setup and the 49-year-old has suggested that Babar should take a break and get away from the game, just like Virat Kohli did in the past. He believes that this could help the cricketer to come back to the game fully recharged and regain his lost mojo.

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“You know, when you look at (Babar’s) numbers, it's been a bit like the stuff that we were talking about with Virat (Kohli) earlier on. Sometimes – and I think Virat was on record saying this – that little bit of a break that he had, he took himself away from the game for a while to freshen up and sort out some things that he needed to sort out,” Ponting said while speaking to ICC.

“This might be exactly what Babar needs. Maybe Babar needs to get away for a while and stop trying too hard. Lock the kit bag away for a while, and think about something else and then hopefully come back recharged, because we know at his best he's as good as anyone going around. Hopefully, we get to see that in the back half of his career again,” he added.

Notably, Babar scored 37 runs in the first ODI against Australia. Pakistan went on to lose the game by two wickets as Australia are leading 1-0 in the series.