Former captain Asif Iqbal backs Azhar Ali, says he will perform well against England

33-year-old Azhar Ali has been having a bad time at the crease, but former captain of Pakistan Asif Iqbal says that there is nothing to worry at all, or at least he is not going down that path. Iqbal is confident that Ali will prove his mettle once again in the larger platform, and do well in the upcoming series against England.

In a recent interview, the ex-skipper shared his insights about the performance of Ali and another batsman Asad Shafiq. He is sure that both of them will have key roles to play in the team’s performance in England wickets.

“Asad had a great game against Northamptonshire and did well in the first innings in the Test against Ireland. However, Azhar did not get the runs that we would have liked him to score. But I am not worried about that at all,” Asif Iqbal was quoted as saying by PakPassion.

Pakistan in dire need of experience in the batting order

He goes on to point out that any batsman can have a few off days like Azhar Ali did. But that does not point at the lack of ability to perform altogether. Ali is one of the veterans in the current Pakistan team, and perhaps the batsman with most years of experience in the international circuit.

Though his scores have been really low in the last couple of practice matches and in the test against Ireland, Iqbal reminds us that Ali has always been a big match player and he will fire when it is needed.

“Azhar’s scores in warm-up games and the one-off Test against Ireland may not be to everyone’s liking but always remember that he is a big-match player and he will perform well on the big stage against England,” he said.

Azhar already had a bad beginning to the year with injuries cutting short his time on the field. Even though the team defeated Ireland comfortably, his total score in two innings was only 6. Before that, he scored 15 runs in the practice match against Kent and a total of 19 runs against Northamptonshire.

Pakistan is about to face England next in the test match starting from May 24th at Lord’s.

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