Ian Chappell finds it ridiculous that Babar Azam bats at number 5 for Pakistan

Pakistan’s premier batsman Babar Azam has been widely recognized as perhaps one of the finest batsmen of the modern era. The right-handed batsman has a stellar record in ODI and T20I formats for the Green Army and was recently named the T20I captain of the team as well. However, he lost the three-match T20I series 0-3 against Australia.

Meanwhile, he rectified his poor Test record a bit as he slammed his second century of the longest format of the game. His innings of 104 runs in the second innings of the Brisbane Test came after he had fallen for 1 run in the first innings. He along with Mohammad Rizwan, who made 95 and Shan Masood, who scored 40 odd runs, delayed the inevitable for a long time against a powerhouse of the bowling attack. His ton has left Australian legend Ian Chappell mightily impressed, but he had one concern.

Ian Chappel felt that Pakistan team management made a big mistake by sending Babar Azam down the order

Yes, this was what Ian Chappell said, saying that the Pakistani team management was making a big mistake by sending him so low down the order. Usually the best batsmen of the team bat higher up in the order, but Chappell felt this was ridiculous from the Pakistani side.

“I think he’s a very good player. But Pakistan has got to make much better use of him by getting him further up the order. Four is the minimum. He should have batted at four in the match and I’d like to see him put in at three, but certainly no lower than four,” Chappell was quoted as saying by cricketpakistan.com.pk.

Chappell further pointed out that if Babar had come in at number three in the first innings when Pakistan had a good start, he might have made a big difference to the final total. Even Babar Azam was asked this question, but he didn’t seem to be perturbed by his batting position.

“When I started playing Test cricket, I didn’t have a set number, I was up and down the order because Younis bhai and Misbah bhai were there, sometimes I was at 5 or 6 then when we came to Australia, I was at 3, then later I went to 4. I will play at any position where the team requires me to, my job is to perform,” Babar said.

Meanwhile, Chappell also praised Rizwan and Babar’s 132-run stand and mentioned that playing positively makes a big difference which was seen in the partnership between the two batsmen.

[interaction id=” ="5dcd6430342c3067af608693"”]