World Cup 2019: Grant Flower lavishes praise on Babar Azam and reveals tips given to him

Babar Azam has been the most prominent scorers for the Pakistani team in this ICC World Cup 2019. The only batsman from the team to make over 300 runs, Babar has been the lone warrior with the bat as wickets have often crumbled around him. As Pakistan takes on Bangladesh on July 5 in their last league game, in order to make it into the semi-finals; all eyes will be on the right-hander.

The 24-year-old from Lahore, Punjab also received some praise from batting coach Grant Flower talked about his excellent batting in the recent matches, as Pakistan makes strides towards semi-finals qualification. Flower and the coaching staff has been under severe criticism after Men in Green’s big defeats to West Indies and India but subsequently, have made progress in the right direction.

He was under pressure to score

The Zimbabwean said that “confidence-wise this is definitely his best one. because I have seen him hit a few on flat wickets and that has taken away from many of his hundreds. But this was a tough wicket and the ball was turning. He was under pressure to score for his team to stay in the tournament,” he stated during the media interaction.

Furthermore, when asked about the tips he gave Babar to make him a better batsman than he already is, Flower replied, “Keep it simple, practice hard, keep your feet on the ground and make good decisions like he does on and off the field. [If he does all that], I’m sure he’ll do well.”

Babar Azam has scored 378 runs in 7 innings at an average of 63.00 and a strike rate of 85.52 with one century, which came against New Zealand and two half-centuries. Pakistan will require him to come good against Bangladesh as well, as they definitely need to win that match. The Sarfaraz Ahmed-led team also needs New Zealand to beat England in their match on June 3.

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If New Zealand loses to the hosts, Men in Green will need to beat Bangladesh by a big margin in order to better their net run rate and make it into the top four.