Batsmen have put behind second Test’s failure: Babar Azam

22-year-old says Pakistani willow-wielders confident, not under pressure

Middle-order batsman Babar Azam denied claims that Pakistani batsmen were under pressure after the second innings failure which led to a 106-run defeat against West Indies in the second Test.

Pakistan, while chasing a 188-run target on a misbehaving day-five pitch against West Indies, were dismissed for 81 at Bridgetown. The loss helped the hosts level the three-match series 1-1 pushing Pakistan one step away from history as now have to win the third match to beat West Indies in West Indies for the first time.

“It is part of the game; whatever happened happened in the past,” said Babar during the press conference after the first day’s play. “All the batsmen are confident. There is no pressure on anyone.”

When asked about the plan that Pakistan had worked out for the third Test while batting first, Babar said they emphasised the importance of building partnerships. “The plan was simple: play good and lose fewer wickets. The plan in our first innings is to put up partnerships, as many as big as possible.”

He continued: “When me and Azhar were playing, we told each other that we need to put up a big partnership so that the incoming batsmen would not face problems. We wanted to focus throughout our innings [and not lose our wickets].”

With rain forecast throughout the last Test, Pakistan will have to work hard to win the third match to bag a 2-1 series win and Babar thinks the spinners will a big role.

“The wicket is good but it is helping the spinners. The ball is coming slow on to the bat when the pacers are bowling and there was a little bit of swing too early on. All in all, it is good for both batting and bowling.”

The 22-year-old also enlisted problems faced by batsmen due to the rain. “The rain causes a few problems. The outfield gets wet and slow and the ball doesn’t travel to the boundary quickly,” he said.