Monitoring desk
\nBIRMINGHAM
\nMore often than not, batting has been Pakistan\u2019s Achilles heals over the years. During the last five years a batting collapse is almost always followed by the question, what is Grant Flower doing?
\nIn fact, after back-to-back defeats against Australia and India left Pakistan facing an embarrassing exit from the World Cup, there was a whispering campaign suggesting that among the team officials who were certain to lose their jobs was Flower, the team\u2019s batting coach.
\nBut things have changed for Flower and the Pakistan team.
\nAnd one of the men responsible for a change in the team\u2019s fortunes is Babar Azam.
\nThe 24-year-old\u2019s master class in Pakistan\u2019s six-wicket triumph in a must-win game against New Zealand at Edgbaston on Wednesday allowed Flower to compare him with Indian numero uno \u2013 Virat Kohli.
\n\u201cHe\u2019s got Virat\u2019s hunger,\u201d Flower commented after Wednesday\u2019s game. \u201cI think he could be (at Virat\u2019s level) sometime in the future. He\u2019s definitely got the skill level. So if you practice as hard as he does, and he\u2019s got that hunger and the skills, then I can\u2019t see why not.\u201d
\nFlower, who played 67 Tests and 221 ODIs for Zimbabwe, believes Babar has the talent and skill level to join the pantheon of Pakistani greats.
\n\u201cHe is very special. I believe he\u2019s going to be one of the best batsmen Pakistan have produced. And he\u2019s still very young. As long as he keeps his feet on the ground I think he will.\u201d
\nHe hailed Babar\u2019s unbeaten 101 against New Zealand on a tricky Edgbaston wicket as his best knock yet.
\n\u201cConfidence-wise, this was definitely his best one. I\u2019ve seen him get some hundreds on some very flat wickets. Taking nothing away from those hundreds, but this was a tough wicket, the ball was turning and [Lockie] Ferguson was bowling fast. And there was a lot of pressure because of the context of the tournament,\u201d he said.
\nFlower revealed that Babar played the match-winning innings despite suffering from flu.
\n\u201cTo be honest he\u2019d had flu over the last couple of days, so yesterday was the first time that I\u2019ve ever seen him not hit any balls before a match. He came to the nets, but he didn\u2019t practice. He usually has two hours in the nets hitting balls.
\n\u201cI took him to the indoor nets this morning. He asked specifically as he hadn\u2019t hit any the day before.\u201d
\nFlower has no idea why Pakistan isn\u2019t producing more batsmen like Babar.
\n\u201cI\u2019m surprised there are not more quality batsmen. When I played against Pakistan there were bucket loads coming through. I think it\u2019s the domestic structure. From what they tell me there isn\u2019t too much coaching done domestically. They have to think on their feet at the international level,\u201d he said.
\nFlower defended batsmen like Fakhar Zaman, the hero of Pakistan\u2019s victory in the 2017 Champions Trophy final, who is yet to really fire at the World Cup.
\n\u201cFakhar is a bit different to everyone else, he\u2019s got a different role to play. His technique is a bit different from everyone else\u2019s. We want him to go out and express himself, but we also want him to learn from his mistakes. But you also want that freedom. So you have to find a balance. We have some fairly frank conversations, but you never want to take away the natural flair of Pakistan batsmen. You want to make little strides,\u201d he said.
\nFollowing wins against South Africa and New Zealand, Pakistan can qualify for the last four if they beat Afghanistan and Bangladesh in their remaining two games.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s quite exciting, I think. For the first part of the tournament, it didn\u2019t seem like it was going to be, but now there\u2019s pressure on some of the top teams. It\u2019s good,\u201d Flower said.
\n\u201cAfter today, it definitely puts us in a good position. It\u2019s just our net run-rate, and obviously, those first few games didn\u2019t help us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Monitoring desk BIRMINGHAM More often than not, batting has been Pakistan\u2019s Achilles heals over the years. During the last five years a batting collapse is almost always followed by the question, what is Grant Flower doing? In fact, after back-to-back defeats against Australia and India left Pakistan facing an embarrassing exit from the World Cup, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n