'Wish people will cut him a little bit of slack'- England great wards off Babar Azam critics, predicts him to become 'all-time great'

Babar Azam (Image source: Twitter)

Pakistan endured an embarrassing series whitewash against England on Tuesday. Following their 0-3 loss, their hopes for qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) have also faced a massive dent.

The loss has also put a lot of question marks on the captaincy of Babar Azam. The right-hand batter had a decent batting performance in the series wherein he made 348 runs from six innings including a century and three half-centuries. It is however his captaincy that has come under criticism.

England great Nasser Hussain however has come out in support of the Pakistan skipper and predicted him to become Pakistan’s all-time great.

"I think he'll end up as Pakistan's all-time great. Not just the runs he gets, but the way he gets his runs. In an era where some of batting, not all of batting, is about hitting the ball hard, hitting the ball a long way, I look at (Joe) Root and Babar (Azam) as multi-format players. I look at (Virat) Kohli, (Steve) Smith, (Marnus) Labuschagne, I still look at people who could stroke a cricket ball.

“When they play a shot you sit there and go WOW, whether it be a Babar coverdrive, or Root slog sweep, even a Labuschagne forward defence. Call me boring but I'm an old school of stroking a cricket ball,” noted Hussain during an interaction with Cricwick, the video of which is available on their YouTube channel.

I wish people cut him some slack- Hussain

The former batter also asked everyone to cut Babar Azam some slack. He also said that the fans will only realise Babar’s importance once he is gone.

“So I love watching Babar play, and he's under immense pressure. He's carrying a batting line-up, in the World T20 I think it was the first I've ever since Babar looked out of nick. I think he'll end up in all-time great, I wish people will cut him a little bit of slack because he'll go through periods when he doesn't get runs, and in this part of the world (subcontinent) you get absolutely vilified. But you won't realise how good Babar Azam is until he's gone because he is that much of a special talent,” he added.