In the aftermath of Azam Khan’s consecutive failures in the recent matches, Pakistan’s batting coach, Adam Hollioake, has offered insights into his performance, expressing both confidence in his abilities and acknowledging the competitive nature.
During the post-match conference after the Men in Green’s consecutive defeats in the T20I series against New Zealand, Adam, while analyzing Azam’s performance, highlighted his destructive batting style but admitted that the young player had faced a challenging night, where an immediate impact was required.
“Azam Khan is a destructive batsman I mean unfortunately tonight he came in and he really needed to go straight away and he got out. One of those things where if it works you look great if it doesn’t work you look stupid. He’s an exciting player, a big hitter, though he hasn’t shown it in these two games. Expect him to shine in the future,” Adam said.
However, when questioned about the wicket-keeper batter’s place in the squad for future matches, the national teams batting coach acknowledged the presence of other talented players.
“I don’t know I mean he’s a talented guy but there’s lots of talented guys in the squad so you just have to see what the pitch is and what the makeup of the team is in the next game so it’s not a case of just he deserves to be in because there’s a lot of good players in Pakistan and to be who you keep in Pakistan you have to be at the top of your game so we’ll see,” he said.
Pakistan fell 21 runs short while chasing 195 against New Zealand at Seddon Park, Hamilton in the second T20I of the five-match series. On the back of an outstanding half-century by Finn Allen, New Zealand posted 194 for the loss of eight wickets in the first innings.
In return, Pakistan were bowled out for 173 courtesy of a solid performance by the home side’s bowling attack.
