Gautam Gambhir defends tall ‘World Cup’ claim on Babar Azam before AUS series: ‘Captaincy hampered his form’

Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir predicts Pakistan superstar Babar Azam’s cricketing future. He believes that Babar Azam has the potential to become the best batter ever produced by Pakistan.

Gambhir makes a sensational claim on Azam in the ICC Men’s World Cup 2023. The 2023 World Cup tournament made an exit of Babar from the captaincy post of Pakistan. Under the leadership of the Pakistani batter, the 1992 championship was crushed by India in the high-voltage clash at the World Cup 2023.

Pakistan team suffered its first-ever ODI World Cup defeat against Afghanistan. With 4 wins and 5 losses out of 9 games, Babar’s finished fifth place in the World Cup 2023 tournament. Pakistan failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the CWC 2023. After Pakistan’s flop show, batter Babar resigns from the captaincy from all game formats.

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Babar has become a batter in Pakistan’s first series after the World Cup against Australia. Speaking to Sportskeeda before the Test series between Pakistan and Australia, Gautam Gambhir recalled his prediction for Babar during the WC season. He explained what went wrong for Babar at the ODI World Cup event.

“You’ll see the best of Babar Azam now. You will see a completely different Babar Azam. Before the World Cup, I picked Babar as the batter of the tournament. But the pressure of captaincy hampered his form with the bat. It’s because when you are the skipper and your team isn’t performing well, you can imagine how much pressure he was under,” Gambhir said.

Expecting Babar to play another 10 years after taking retirement as a captain, the team backed the star batter to become the best player in the history of Pakistan cricket.

“You will see the actual Babar Azam that no one has seen. From now until the day he retires, you will see his actual ability. Babar has so much quality that he can go out and become the best batter Pakistan has ever produced. He has got 10 years with no pressure of captaincy,” Gambhir added.