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Former Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Karachi Kings coach Herschelle Gibbs recently expressed the challenges of dealing with star batter Babar Azam ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. The former Proteas opener revealed that there is a language barrier, adding the erstwhile Pakistan captain is reluctant to innovate his game.
The remarks came while he was responding to an X user on Thursday, February 13.
Babar Azam departed for 10 (23) and 23 (19) while playing as an opener in the first two ODIs of the ongoing tri-series against New Zealand and South Africa, respectively. The Lahore batter will be keen to turn things around ahead of the Champions Trophy. Pakistan will begin their campaign against New Zealand in Karachi on February 19. They will meet the same opponent in the ODI tri-series final at the same venue on Friday, February 14.
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Gibbs wrote on X:
"Language is an issue with babar .. as you know his English isn’t great so it’s difficult to get points across to him."
"Was the first time I was working with him so for me it was a more an observation than anything else but what I’ve seen since then is he hasn’t changed his approach and still plays with the same tempo and same shots," he added.
"His strike rate will improve" - When Herschelle Gibbs adviced Babar Azam to add new shots to his game
Back in 2022, Herschelle Gibbs advised Babar Azam to add a couple of attacking shots to overcome his strike rate woes. The 50-year-old wrote on X:
"If Babar adds one or two more attacking options to his game, his strike rate will improve and be even more effective."
Later in 2023, Gibbs called out Azam for playing slowly in a 400-plus chase against New Zealand in the ODI World Cup. He wrote on X:
"Can someone tell babar they chasing 400."
The remarks came when Babar Azam was batting on 66 runs off 63 balls. The right-handed batter was playing an anchor role with Fakhar Zaman playing in aggressive mode. The latter smashed an unbeaten 126 off 81 deliveries as the Men in Green won by 21 runs via the DLS method.
Meanwhile, it’s worth mentioning that Gibbs played a pivotal role as South Africa chased 435 against Australia in an ODI in 2006. The swashbuckling opener smashed 175 runs off 111 deliveries as the Proteas won by one wicket in a last-over thriller.
