Babar Azam, considered one of the best batters in the world, has the strike rate question hovering over him like a sword in T20 cricket whether he plays for Pakistan or in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). Babar, who is known to score consistently across formats has been criticised for his strike rate and lack of intent, however, the Peshawar Zalmi captain isn’t too much bothered about the noise. Babar played a magnificent knock of 75 runs on Thursday, February 23 against Islamabad United, however, his strike rate remained low (129.3).
Zalmi underwent a massive middle-order collapse as they went from 76/0 to 99/5. The Peshawar outfit did reach 156, however, that proved to be too less as Islamabad chased it down without much discomfort. After the match, the skipper was quizzed about his strike rate and he decided to take a dig at the reporter.
“Aur kitna accha [strike rate] chahiye aapko? 300 kar lein? Koshish hai (How much better you want? Why not 300? I am trying to reach there as well),” Babar said.
Then the journalist explained his question saying that he is regarded one of the best in the world as he is scoring the runs consistently but the tempo at which he is getting those runs might could be improved. To which Babar responded saying, “Baatein toh jab strike rate accha bhi tab bhi hoti hain, iss cheez ka farak nahi padta. Pehle 10 over mera strike rate almost 160 tha, lekin jab 6 out ho gaye hain, toh aap wahaan pe koshish nahi karenge ki 200 pe jaun main. Koshish karunga ki wahan pe partnership build karun. Aaj ki innings mein mera yahi plan tha. (People talk when I bat at a good strike rate as well, so that doesn’t bother me. In first 10 overs, I was striking at 160 and when we were 6 down, there you don’t focus on increasing your strike rate, rather I would build a partnership then and that was my plan in today’s innings.
“When you build a certain momentum, you try to carry it for long unless it gets broken by a wicket or two, or when you are not able to hit. Then my plan was to build a partnership after the 10-over mark because I told Shanaka that we’ll play normally till 15 overs and then take the charge. Then we lost back-to-back wickets and in that process, the SR is bound to come down and it was still 150,” he added.
The Babar-led side suffered its second loss of the tournament and is currently in the fourth position with two wins in four matches.
