My mother gave me the money she had saved to buy my first kit: Babar Azam

Since his debut in 2015 against Zimbabwe, Pakistan captain in all three formats Babar Azam has managed to impress the who’s who of the cricket fraternity. The batsman has stamped his authority in all the three formats of the game and is the only player to feature in Top 5 in ICC batting rankings in all three formats. He is ranked at number 2 in T20 Internationals, Number 3 in ODIs, and Number 5 in the longest format of the game.

Just like many other cricketers, Babar came from a humble background and his parents had to struggle a lot financially to support his passion for playing cricket. Speaking about the contribution of his parents, the Pakistan captain revealed the story of buying his first cricket kit.

“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 told Dawn News

The 26-year-old also extended his gratitude to his father for always being there for him and being his biggest critic. Babar revealed that his father used to take him to all the matches and always made sure to watch all Pakistan’s matches, T20 or domestic or U19.

“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.”

I have always played with pressure: Babar Azam

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had recently appointed Babar Azam as the Test captain by replacing Azhar Ali. It would be a great challenge for the 26-year-old to lead the team in all three formats. However, Babar is not worried about that as he is looking forward to this new responsibility.

“I have always played with pressure. When I came into the 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.”

“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 need arises I will talk to them but in the end I will take independent decisions according to my mind-set,” Babar concluded.