'Nobody could get me out in gully cricket' - Babar Azam on why he became a batsman

Pakistan's newly-appointed skipper in white-ball cricket, Babar Azam, has shared his thoughts on captaincy, emphasizing that it's more of a responsibility than anything else.

Speaking to his teammate Shoaib Malik in an Instagram live session, Babar Azam reflected upon the fact that playing as a captain is a completely different from playing as a normal cricketer.

“You need to be strong enough while captaining your national team. As a captain, you have to deal with a lot of things. You have to take the whole team alongside you which I think is not an easy task. Don’t think there is a pressure on me, but it is a responsibility."

The 25-year-old Babar Azam then delved into his experience of playing in all three formats and how his senior players have helped him in improving things like his conversion rate:

“Earlier, I faced problems in converting 60s’ and 80s’ into 100 but now you can see me scoring triple figures consistently. Players like you [Malik], Sarfaraz Ahmed had helped me out a lot and I try to learn every time I spend time seniors. For me, playing all three formats of the game is an ‘honor’. I tried my best to come an improved [Babar Azam] every time.”

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Babar Azam on why he became a batsman

The No.1 T20I batsman in the world didn't shy away from sharing some childhood memories as he recalled batting for hours upon hours in street cricket, bringing other players to the brink of utter frustration.

“I used to play ‘Gully Cricket’ a lot and guess what, nobody could have got me out. From there, I decided to become a specialist batsman and here I am.”

During the online conversation, Babar Azam also hailed Sarfaraz Ahmed as his captain and stated that he learned a lot during the last three years under the latter's leadership.