When Babar Azam begins his innings against spin, he looks just a little bit jittery: Ramiz Raja

Former Pakistan cricketer Ramiz Raja feels that Babar Azam has struggled against spin bowling at the start of his innings in the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. He has been dismissed by spinners in five of seven games so far in the tournament. The 29-year-old has scored 216 runs which included three half-centuries at an average of 30.85.

Raja’s comment came after Babar’s performance against Bangladesh at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata where he was removed for a paltry score of nine runs by Mehidy Hasan. The cricketer-turned-commentator stated that the right-handed batter needs to start playing the sweep shot in slow pitches to counter quality spin bowling.

“If you want to find fault in his batting, it’s his batting against spin upfront when he starts the innings. He is not as fluent as he is when he is facing pace. I don’t know whether it’s his footwork, whether it’s in his mind, or whether he doesn’t have too many options because he doesn’t play the sweep shot. On slow pitches, you need to play the sweep shot,” Raja told Star Sports.

The 61-year-old went on to say that Babar needed to work on how to score a ton where he faces pace as well as spin while highlighting his dismissal against Afghanistan. Babar is not out of touch but he seems tense while facing spin bowling, according to Raja.

“Every time he has been aggressive, he’s gotten out as well. Against Afghanistan, he hit a massive six and then got out just at the wrong time. So the confidence builds and it goes flat. All he needs to do is work his way through to a hundred where he faces pace, spin, and feels comfortable about his role. He is not entirely out of touch, he is still middling the ball, but it’s that when he begins his innings against spin, he looks just a little bit jittery,” he concluded.

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