Ramiz Raja says dropping Babar Azam was a knee-jerk reaction

Former Pakan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ramiz Raja maintained that dropping Babar Azam in the middle of the series was a “knee-jerk” reaction from the management and feels the slump in his batting form is not because of his technique but is more to do with his mental side.“He (Babar Azam) should have been asked whether he needed time off from cricket or not,” Raja told reporters during a select media interaction ahead of Pakan’s white-ball tour of Australia.
“Obviously, his form wasn’t great, but even then, I mean, his body of work suggests that there should have been a much better way of easing him out from a Test series. So it was probably a knee-jerk reaction, but I’m sure that he’ll come back as a stronger individual.
“This is probably the first time that he’s been dropped in his career, and he will be eager to prove his point. So let’s see how the comeback is or whether he is inspired, whether he has changed his technique, and how motivated he is because such things can spur an individual,” he added.
The scrutiny around Babar Azam’s form has been magnified with each subsequent failure with the bat. The right-handed batter hasn’t scored in 18 innings. Since the start of 2023, Babar Azam’s average has been below 21 in nine Tests.
“I think it’s a lot to do with his temperament in Test cricket. When his form slumps, then it takes a longer time for him to make a comeback in red-ball compared to white-ball cricket. So it’s a temperamental issue more than anything else.
“From a technical point of view, you see he doesn’t stay still to the ball pitched on the back of the length side, so he needs to be just a little bit more side-on. Because he’s been, of late, getting out caught behind to a ball that is moving away. Also, he struggles against spin. You know he bats at number 4 in Test cricket, but in white-ball cricket, I don’t think he is going to have a lot of problems against spin. Again, as I said, he needs to tweak his mental game, not his technique,” he said.
The loss of form during a turbulent time regarding his leadership status has impacted Babar’s career. Following Pakan’s group-stage exit from the ODI World Cup in 2023, he was sacked from the captaincy in all formats. However, four months later, the T20I and ODI captaincy were returned to him, with Shaheen Afridi sacked after just one series.
Follow Viv Richards’ blueprint
Babar Azam’s second stint was equally poor. Pakan cricket team was eliminated from the T20 World Cup in 2024 in the first round after losing to the USA and India. Just six months after Babar Azam was reappointed, he left the captaincy, citing a desire to focus on his batting.
Ramiz Raja says the star Pakan batter has potential like legendary Viv Richards, and he must follow the blueprint of the former West Indies cricketer.
“I feel Babar Azam has to achieve a lot more in Test cricket. He plays the white-ball format really well and has an average of 50-plus in both formats (T20I and ODI)… There is so much potential in Babar Azam,” he said.
“He has been Pakan’s best batsman in the last 10 years. Fans expect him to be a match-winner for Pakan and, probably he himself wants to be a big-match player when there’s a lot more at stake. And that’s why I compared him with Richards; I think that’s a great blueprint for Babar Azam to follow. The bigger the contest, the bigger the innings Richards used to play. Like Richards, Babar Azam too looks to decimate the opposition.”