Former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has urged Pakistan’s star batter Babar Azam to engage in honest discussions with head coach Mike Hesson as he looks to rediscover his form in the fast-evolving T20 cricket. Du Plessis believes that Babar’s class is unquestionable; however, the demands of modern T20 batting require constant adaptation that Babar has lacked. Du Plessis asserted that Babar might be falling slightly behind in terms of adapting to the new tempo that defines T20 sides today.
“Look, I think first of all, all great players evolve their careers at different points in their careers. So someone like Babar, we have known him as one of the world’s best players for a very, very long time. I think the game of T20 cricket has moved so fast forward and towards strike rates that he’s found himself a little bit behind in terms of strike rates," Du Plessis said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut show.
Recently, Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson had remarked that they want to play according to the situation, highlighting his low strike rate in the powerplay.
“So I think if you’re someone like Mike Hesson, what he’s trying to do is he’s trying to find the best way to introduce him into the game and on spinning pitches in the middle, that’s where someone like him is worth his gold. He can minimise the dot balls, and he can rotate strike. So he’s found a role for him and especially on slow pitches. When you come to flat wickets, those kinds of roles these days are not as important anymore. But on tricky surfaces, there is a role for someone to play in the 120-130 strike rate. So I can imagine he almost looked at how I can maximise the best out of Babar Azam," he said.
Meanwhile, the ongoing T20I World Cup has been particularly disappointing for Babar. Across four innings, he has managed only 66 runs. Moreover, Babar has received a lot of flak for his relentless failure with the bat, as he has been unable to reassess his approach in the shortest format.