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Shaheen Afridi Backs Babar Azam To Deliver In ODI Tri-Series, Calls Him 'Backbone Of The Team'

Anurag Dasgupta

Babar backed by Shaheen to deliver [Source: AFP] Babar backed by Shaheen to deliver [Source: AFP]

Pakistan will take on Sri Lanka in the opening match of the ODI tri-series, and ahead of the marquee clash, Pakistan captain Shaheen Afridi backed his teammate, Babar Azam, to deliver the goods.

The left-arm seamer gave his vote of confidence to Babar by stating that the seasoned veteran remains the backbone of the team, and there is no pressure on him.

"No pressure on Babar Azam": Shaheen Afridi delivers verdict on star batter

Despite being one of the most experienced players in the ODI setup, Babar Azam has been under pressure to score runs for Pakistan. Last year, he broke his ODI century drought, but despite that, his form in all three formats has fluctuated in recent years.

While he has done well in ODIs in recent months, the same cannot be said about his red-ball performances, as people have been calling for his axing. However, ahead of the first ODI, Shaheen attended the pre-game presser and stated that there is no pressure on Babar from the management.

“There is no pressure on Babar; he is our main player. He is the backbone of our team. In our last ODI series, he performed really well. After the England Tests, he went back to domestic cricket and tried to score runs,” Shaheen told reporters in the pre-match press conference.

Babar struggling across formats in recent years

Once touted as the future of Pakistan cricket, Babar was certainly the best player in the world during the 2020-2022 phase; however, since the Asia Cup 2023, his numbers have dipped massively across formats.

Since his ODI debut in 2015 till 2023, he averaged a staggering 56.72 in ODIs, and it included 19 hundreds. However, since 2024, the numbers have gone downhill to just 39, and in the same period, he has scored only a solitary hundred.

The trend continued in red-ball cricket, as he last scored a Test ton in December 2022, and since then, the barren run has continued as Babar continues to search for a century. Since 2023, he has averaged a mere 30.43 and was also dropped midway through the period.

Recently, he was dropped from the T20I team, and hence the question has arisen: Is Babar Azam under pressure? Well, according to Shaheen, he is not.