Babar Azam speaks after ending his 2-year century drought, says that ‘You work out who your true allies are’.
As Friday night gave way to Saturday morning, a thankful Babar Azam showed up for the news conference. His fans, of which there is a legion in Pakistan, received a large portion of that appreciation. A sizable portion of the crowd endured the terrible cold of the Rawalpindi night to watch him score the last few runs to reach his 20th ODI century, which ties him with Saeed Anwar at the top of Pakistan’s ODI hundreds history after more than 800 days and 83 innings of waiting.
“The amount of support I got from my fans, not just in Islamabad but everywhere, was great,” Babar said after Pakistan beat Sri Lanka to clinch the series. “I got support everywhere in Pakistan and it gave me a huge boost. The fans, they never deserted me in my hard times. It’s in those hard times that you work out who your true allies are.”
After the openers got Pakistan off to a great start, Babar arrived at the crease in a rather comfortable position, which helped. Although Babar’s scores had started to rise recently—he scored two half-centuries against South Africa and received other starts—he had developed a habit of wasting them.
“I got starts in the previous series but I couldn’t convert them into big runs,” he said. “When our innings began, we wanted to build a partnership. When Fakhar [Zaman] and I were playing, I was giving Fakhar the strike as much as possible, because he’s a player who can change a game. The longer he’s out there, the other team’s in pressure.
“Then Rizi [Mohammad Rizwan] and I were planning on playing according to the situation and doing what was required. We played according to that and built our partnership. I was backing my strengths and had confidence in myself.”
“It was a tough time,” he said. “But I backed myself, worked on what I needed to improve, as well as my fitness. In the end, it’s about belief. These things will go on in your life and you can get stuck in a negative thought process, asking why it’s all happening to me. But you need to stick to your plan and believe that you’ll get your reward.”