Azam confidence has suffered, according to former captain of Pakistan Moin Khan, because the team management and selectors have not given him a consistent run in the side.
Moin gave the example of the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA earlier this year, where Azam made his only appearance for Pakistan in the Super-Over defeat to the USA, where he played as a wicketkeeper-batter and scored a first-ball duck before being dropped and Mohammad Rizwan, who played as a specialist batter against USA, replacing the keeper’s gloves.
“I watched the entire World Cup and the matches leading up to it, and it seemed like Azam was the number one choice for wicketkeeping and batting,” Moin stated to PTI.
Pakistan won two games and lost the other against the United States of America and India to leave the competition in the first group round.
“Any player can be out on the first ball, but this place no longer has the development of players as a tradition. How can we develop quality players if the management or captain makes such abrupt changes to the players?”
Although Moin acknowledged some of the criticism directed at Azam’s fitness during his career, he said that his son was now making significant progress in that area.
“I’m not saying that all the blame lies with the team management and the captain; Azam has his own shortcomings too,” Moin stated. “He has to emulate other athletes’ training regimens and strengthen both his body and mind.
“He’s been training hard with his trainer Shehzar Mohammad to increase his fitness for the past month or so, and they even went to the Caribbean [Premier] League together. I think this experience has taught Azam a lot.”
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