'He was a little blown away by the degree of analytics'- Dean Jones feels Babar Azam needs help as a skipper

Babar Azam, the young and talented batsman was recently appointed as Pakistan’s ODI skipper. While many backed the PCB’s decision, a few of the cricket pundits opined that he is still too young and raw to take up this responsibility. Now, Dean Jones has opened up saying that Babar will need some support from management in leading the team.

The 25-year-old was appointed Pakistan’s T20I skipper back in 2019 ahead of their tour to Australia. He plays for Karachi Kings and Dean Jones is the coach of the team. The latter said that in PSL 2020, he got a chance to share his ideas with Babar during the T20 tournament.

Dean Jones feels Babar needs a little bit of help with where he wants to go

Dean Jones added that Azam was in shock after watching his preparation for each team that was totally based on analytics. He cited that surely the youngster will use some of them as a skipper. Jones also recited that someone will have to help Babar on where he wants to take his team as a skipper.

“I still think he needs a little bit of help with where he wants to go. We had a few good talks with him about how I prepare for each team and he was a little blown away by the degree of analytics I get into. I gave him some good ideas. Hopefully, he took a few of them on board.” Dean Jones said on Sportscreen’s YouTube page.

Talking about Babar Azam’s comparison with the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, Jones reckoned that the Indian duo plays alongside a quality batting line-up. But, Pakistan’s ODI skipper doesn’t have that kind of luxury. According to him, they all are great batsmen and it is always great to watch them batting.

“In a way, you are only as good as the guys you are batting with. Apart from Babar, there is no one who has been making runs consistently for Pakistan. Whereas in India, you have Virat, Rohit or someone else putting their hands up and making runs. They are all great players. When Babar Azam is batting, everyone is watching. Same is the case with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma,” he added.