'I am not a gora to know English completely' - Babar Azam responds to Tanvir Ahmed's 'improve your English' remark

Babar Azam’s rise in international career has been phenomenal. After breaking into the national side, he has impressed everyone by his consistency across all formats. Due to his astounding batting records in international cricket, Babar has been hailed as a ‘modern-day great’ by many veterans of the game.

Recently, former Pakistan pacer Tanvir Ahmed hogged the headlines for his bizarre advice to Babar Azam. Tanvir, while lauding Babar’s batting skills, suggested the prolific Pakistan batsman to improve his overall personality.

Tanvir even suggested the right-hander to work on his English skills after he was assigned the captaincy role in ODIs. Tanvir’s suggestion for Babar attracted a lot of criticism as he was trolled by many fans for his odd piece of advice.

“Babar Azam also needs to improve his English, which is necessary. Whenever someone becomes a captain, he has to talk during the toss and post-match presentation. Plus, he will also give interviews on various channels when he tours different countries,” Tanvir said in his YouTube video.

Babar, while responding to Tanvir’s advice, has said that batting is his primary role but he’s also working on improving his English skills.

‘My job is to play cricket’: Babar Azam

“I’m a cricketer, my job is to play cricket. I am not a ‘gora,’ who knows English completely. Yes, I am working on it, but you learn these things over a period of time, you can’t just suddenly learn it,” said Babar as quoted by PakPassion Editor Saj Sadiq.

Babar Azam responding to suggestions he should improve his English "I'm a cricketer, my job is to play cricket. I am not a 'gora,' who knows English completely. Yes, I am working on it, but you learn these things over a period of time, you can't just suddenly learn it" #Cricket

— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) May 18, 2020

Babar also opened up about his feelings after being assigned the skipper’s role in One-day Internationals. He said that he was optimistic about the national team’s future in limited-overs formats.

“It is an honour for me to captain Pakistan in ODIs as well,” he said. “I take advice from Misbah bhai and senior players with regards to captaincy. It is not easy to lead Pakistan side but I will try my best to ensure the team produces good results in ODI and T20I cricket. I believe in attacking captaincy like Imran Khan,” said Babar.

Babar also urged people to stop comparing him with India’s star batsman and captain, Virat Kohli. “Don’t compare me with Virat Kohli because he is a player of a different class,” he said. “I try to perform well in my own way,” added the prolific right-hander.

In a career spanning over 74 ODIs and 38 T20Is, Babar has gathered 3359 and 1471 runs respectively. Talking about his Test exploits, the right-handed batsman has amassed 1850 runs in 26 Tests and has 5 tons and 13 half-centuries under his belt.