I did, and I stick to what I said. It was a horrible innings in the context of the game. He batted 230+ deliveries for a SR of 30, and simply didn't provide any initiative to Pakistan and ensured that we did not end up with a sizable lead.
Any quality batsman would have scored at least 30-40 more runs after that many deliveries on that pitch against that attack, and that was essentially the difference between the two sides in the end - Sri Lanka won by 20 runs.
Haris Sohail's 76 was a much better innings than Azhar's 85.
That is the problem with Azhar - he is simply too slow to be the premier batsman of the team. Unless he scores a big hundred, most of his runs are counterproductive.
Your best batsman needs to have the ability to score big at a good rate, which is around a SR of 50. It puts the opposition bowlers under pressure and drives the game forward, providing impetus to the team. Your main batsman consistently batting at a SR of 30/40 is not going to help.
Azhar doesn't have the capability to do that, but the other teams do have such batsmen at their disposal. It wouldn't have been a major problem for Pakistan if Azhar wouldn't have been the so-called best batsman in the team. He is good for support cast, but he is not good enough to be the lead man.
Younis Khan's retirement is exposing his shortcomings. As long as Younis was around, Azhar was able to coast alongside him. However, he shoulders more responsibility now and he is not talented enough to do justice to that responsibility. Hence, it is crucial that Babar and Haris fulfill their potential in Test cricket, because they do have the ability to fulfill the role that Azhar is not capable of.
