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Salman Butt speaking on his YouTube Channel:
“Why didn’t Babar Azam play a first-class match? What was the reason? Was he caught up in something important? You’re stuck. You’re clearly not in an easy zone right now. So, he needs to reflect a bit on how to get out of this. If we consider ourselves top players, then this is too long a period to keep getting out the same way.”
“From the little bit of practice footage we’ve seen on YouTube, I haven’t seen him preparing for that sweep shot. I’ve seen him hitting big shots, working on bat speed, even playing reverse sweeps—which frankly don’t suit his game at all. But the thing he actually needs to be working on—I haven’t seen him do that. Or maybe he hasn’t uploaded that part to YouTube. It’s possible he’s done the work. It’s not like he’s done nothing. But we don’t know whether he has or hasn’t.”
“Still, it’s too long a period to keep getting out the same way. Getting out in one particular fashion repeatedly—that shows you’re neglecting something. You know what a bad patch looks like? It’s when you’re getting out in all sorts of ways. That’s a bad patch. You’re trying everything, but nothing’s working. But if you’re getting out the same way every time, then something’s wrong. You’re doing something wrong. And you need to stop doing that.”
“So it’s on him now to figure it out—or to speak to someone he trusts, someone who understands batting. He can talk to a senior player. There are plenty of options in Pakistan. Talk to someone. Talk to a senior. Talk to someone in the coaching staff. Imran Farhat is a coach now—ask him what to do. He might be able to guide him. Azhar Mahmood has scored hundreds in Test matches. He played fast bowling really well. Azhar Mahmood scored 200 in South Africa, and a hundred against South Africa in Pakistan too. So, the options are there. Talk to them.”
“But the fact that he’s stuck on this one issue—and stuck so deeply—means it’s a neglected part of his game. We haven’t seen him work on it anywhere. And I can give you many examples of players who got stuck in different ways, and then created specific scenarios to work through those exact issues.”
“Why didn’t Babar Azam play a first-class match? What was the reason? Was he caught up in something important? You’re stuck. You’re clearly not in an easy zone right now. So, he needs to reflect a bit on how to get out of this. If we consider ourselves top players, then this is too long a period to keep getting out the same way.”
“From the little bit of practice footage we’ve seen on YouTube, I haven’t seen him preparing for that sweep shot. I’ve seen him hitting big shots, working on bat speed, even playing reverse sweeps—which frankly don’t suit his game at all. But the thing he actually needs to be working on—I haven’t seen him do that. Or maybe he hasn’t uploaded that part to YouTube. It’s possible he’s done the work. It’s not like he’s done nothing. But we don’t know whether he has or hasn’t.”
“Still, it’s too long a period to keep getting out the same way. Getting out in one particular fashion repeatedly—that shows you’re neglecting something. You know what a bad patch looks like? It’s when you’re getting out in all sorts of ways. That’s a bad patch. You’re trying everything, but nothing’s working. But if you’re getting out the same way every time, then something’s wrong. You’re doing something wrong. And you need to stop doing that.”
“So it’s on him now to figure it out—or to speak to someone he trusts, someone who understands batting. He can talk to a senior player. There are plenty of options in Pakistan. Talk to someone. Talk to a senior. Talk to someone in the coaching staff. Imran Farhat is a coach now—ask him what to do. He might be able to guide him. Azhar Mahmood has scored hundreds in Test matches. He played fast bowling really well. Azhar Mahmood scored 200 in South Africa, and a hundred against South Africa in Pakistan too. So, the options are there. Talk to them.”
“But the fact that he’s stuck on this one issue—and stuck so deeply—means it’s a neglected part of his game. We haven’t seen him work on it anywhere. And I can give you many examples of players who got stuck in different ways, and then created specific scenarios to work through those exact issues.”
