ISLAMABAD With cricket having come to a standstill because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Pakistan’s top batsman Babar Azam also finds its difficult to live without playing the game. “It’s really difficult to live without playing cricket for me. I had a set routine and I was all into it with daily practice, hitting the gym, fielding, training and fitness, and now there’s so much uncertainty.” “Everything is shut down, you are missing your routines, but you can’t do anything about it. As a batsman, you don’t have that satisfaction until you have a bat in your hand and you are middling the ball. So I am just staying positive, getting the pleasure of batting with tennis-ball cricket with my brothers in the garage,” Babar, whose maiden Test century came only in November 2018, against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi, told ESPNcricinfo. The Twenty20 Skipper said gym training was helping him stay fit as it is something he can do from home. “But if the break goes on, it can make me rusty, but I can’t forget your basics. You must believe in yourself, the hard work I had put in to become a good batsman. You have to have confidence in yourself. It might take some time to regain the rhythm, but the base is there, and inshallah I will be the same Babar Azam you saw a few weeks ago,” Babar, who scored 1,850 runs in 26 Tests said. Babar said he used to become complacent easily if he performed well. “I used to have a negative thought process and that’s the area I realised I had to cover. Apart from playing and training, there are elements outside the game as well that needs to be addressed, you need to control them to have a better grip on the game. The more I am in control, the better I can drive my innings.Now, a good performance doesn’t make me happy, instead I push myself to go further and try to expand my game,” Babar, who scored 3,359 runs in 74 ODIs, said. That has helped Azam get into the top five in all three formats in the ICC rankings for batsmen: No. 5 in Tests, No. 3 in ODIs and No. 1 in T20s. “I have got a chance to reflect on what I have done so far. I am analysing myself and I am watching videos of my batting and trying to see what I did when I played well, and how I could have done better – breaking down my failures and understanding what went wrong and how to get it right” “I have stopped thinking that my work is done if I perform, even if the team loses the game,” Babar, who scored 1,471 runs in 38 T20s, said. “I don’t want to prove anything to anyone, what I am doing, how I am playing and how big is my role. It’s easy to perform, go back, and be happy. But now I have told myself that whatever I do is for the team, and that is more relevant and important.—APP
