"Start With Honesty": Faf du Plessis Tells Pakistan Coach What To Do With Babar Azam
Once labelled as one of the biggest prospects in world cricket, Babar Azam is facing criticism left, right, and center for his T20I batting style of late.
Former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has shared a valuable piece of advice for struggling Pakistan batter Babar Azam, who continues to be in the eye of the storm amid the ongoing T20 World Cup. Once labelled as one of the biggest prospects in world cricket, the 31-year-old is facing criticism left, right, and center for his T20I batting style of late. During a discussion, du Plessis was blunt in his assessment of Babar's struggles, suggesting that it is time for a bit of soul searching.
The 41-year-old feels that Babar and Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson should have an honest conversation and make the necessary changes.
"It starts with honesty. That's the groundwork of any conversation that happens. Once you're honest in your conversation as a coach, everything flows from that; whereas if you are hopping around and not telling the truth as a coach or a captain, it leads to holes a player can jump into. So the nature of the conversation is always really important. For a coach, it's like, 'Listen, these are the numbers. The numbers are suggesting this ... Once the stats are in front of a player, it's pretty difficult to go 'I'm not agreeing with you.'," Du Plessis said on ESPNcricinfo's TimeOut show.
Citing his own example, du Plessis noted that Babar is caught in two minds at the moment, adding that he needs to accept the flaws in his game to be able to work on them.
"Growth happens when you're uncomfortable. The challenge with that is that what you then go through is uncomfortable. Because now you're doing something for the first time that you've never done in your entire career. I had to do that against spin. But it's very easy on the net because there's no consequence. I went to the Hundred, tried to replicate what I did in the nets, and failed. And the guy on my shoulder said, 'Why are you doing this, you're successful?' But the other guy goes 'stick with it'," he added.
Pakistan Cricket Team
Babar Azam
Faf du Plessis