Long-time coaches who have guided Babar Azam through his rise believe the Pakistan captain’s extended drought without a century was driven more by mental fatigue than any technical flaw. And now that he has finally ended the wait, they say it is the perfect moment for him to rebuild confidence and remind the world of his class.
Babar struck an unbeaten 102, his 20th ODI hundred, to end a drought that stretched across 83 innings and 807 days. His previous ODI century came against Nepal in Multan on August 30, 2023, while his last Test hundred was against New Zealand in Karachi on December 26, 2022.
During that period, he played 33 ODI innings, 24 Test innings and 26 T20I innings without reaching three figures, a rarity for a batter used to dominating from a young age.
“He Is an Asset… He Needs to Build on It”
His academy coach, Shahid Aslam, believes the innings should mark the start of a new chapter.
He (Babar) is an asset for Pakistan, and we all need him. He needs to build on it and I am sure he would build on that.
For Aslam, who has served as a coach at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore and worked as assistant coach under Misbah-ul-Haq, mentoring Babar has always been special.
Everybody has got eyes, but everybody sees different. My philosophy is simple: working should not be shared and should be secret. It is a great honour to have coached Babar.
A First Real Struggle
Aslam feels Babar’s slump was psychological, intensified by shifting dynamics around him. “The main thing that disturbed him was more of a psychological thing. People changed around him, the environment changed and after all he is human.”
According to Aslam, this was the first time Babar had felt true failure.
This was his first bad patch since his Under-15. He had not seen a failure. This will be great learning for him, and he needed to go through this. He must have learnt his lessons on how to go about failure. Now he knows what to do in such a journey. He has worked on mental areas more than changing technically.
He added that instability around the coaching setup may also have affected the batter. “The technical thing may get disturbed due to mental state. Your technique may also get disturbed due to the environment and the person himself doesn’t know what wrong he has been doing.”
Rana: “He Was Trying to Be Someone Else”
Former Pakistan batter Mansoor Rana, who first spotted Babar at Under-15 level, also believes the star batter drifted away from his natural style during the slump.
He is our student and we all want him to do well. He has been loved by many, and this is the first time he has gone through this rut.
Rana said Babar attempted changes that worked against his strengths. “He was standing with an open stance with power hitting in his mind and trying to hit a sweep. That is not his style, so we had a few sessions and then tried to tell him to focus more and avoid thinking too much.”
A Relationship Built Over Years
Babar has often thanked both Aslam and Rana for their steady guidance throughout his career. Rana was the first to identify his talent during Under-15 trials and later helped shape his development through two Under-19 World Cups in 2010 and 2012 — crucial steps in his journey to international cricket.
