![Babar fails to emulate Suryakumar [Source: X]](https://onecricketnews.akamaized.net/parth-editor/oc-dashboard/news-images-prod/1769417912256_BabarfailstoemulateSuryakumar.jpg?type=hq)
Babar fails to emulate Suryakumar [Source: X]
The T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka is just around the corner and all sides are sweating hard to get their best combination for the marquee event. Ahead of the tournament, Pakistan is set to play three T20I matches against the visiting Australian team, and the preparations for the series havea already begun.
The Men in Green have assembled for a training camp before the series as the team is fine-tuning its skills to defeat a strong Australian unit. There were several interesting takes from Pakistan’s first training session, but the most notable part was Babar Azam trying to emulate India’s Suryakumar Yadav.
Babar fails in emulating Suryakumar Yadav
In the net session, Babar took on a left-arm spin bowler, and while he played some attractive conventional cricketing shots, the batter struggled when he tried to be unorthodox.
The net bowler gave a couple of tossed-up deliveries to Babar, and the batter went for a switch-hit, but he failed to connect from the sweet spot of the bat. He attempted shot a couple of times, and each time he failed to hit the ball.
This is a shot that India’s T20I captain, Suryakumar Yadav, plays to perfection, but Babar, known for his conventional batting style, failed to emulate him.
Not everything went wrong for Babar in training session
In the same training session, there was a competition as to which batter could smack the biggest six in the practice. The first batter was Usman Khan, and he failed to clear the ground. The next batter was the southpaw, Saim Ayub, and he, too, failed to deliver the goods.
Hard-hitting batter, Fakhar Zaman, barely managed to cross the ropes before Babar Azam showed his class. The batter was next in line as he stepped down the track, connected from the middle and smacked the ball out of the ground.
This was a statement hit as the former Pakistan captain is trying to bring some aggressive stroke-play in his arsenal ahead of the T20 World Cup.
Pressure on Babar Azam to deliver the goods
The upcoming T20I series against Australia and the T20 World Cup could potentially decide Babar’s fate in this format for the future. Before the Asia Cup last year, he was dropped from the T20I side, citing strike rate issue.
He was eventually brought back in the team, but the same issue persisted as Babar couldn’t do much, barring a couple of fifties.
The Pakistan star was roped in by the BBL side, Sydney Sixers for the 2025-26 season, but things turned from bad to worse as he failed to up the ante and scored only 202 runs in 11 matches, with a strike-rate of just 103.06 as the batter eventually left the tournament midway.
Hence, the upcoming T20Is are crucial for Babar as the team management wants him to be a bit more proactive in his batting and head coach Mike Hesson expects the right-handed batter to play with an aggressive mindset as Pakistan aims to win the T20 World Cup for the second time.
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