ISLAMABAD: While terming Pakistan’s limited-overs skipper Babar Azam a brilliant performer, veteran all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez feels the prolific batsman is yet to reach his full potential.

Hafeez advised Babar to work harder on improving his batting, which would take his game to another level.

“He [Babar] is a brilliant performer for Pakistan. In his five-year career for the country so far, he has played some amazing cricket. However, he is yet to reach his full potential, considering his talent,” Hafeez said in a YouTube show Cricast as quoted by cricketpakistan.com.pk.

“He is like my younger brother and I tell him to his face that a talent like him is not there yet where I want to see him. He is trying to push those barriers and I am confident that he will serve Pakistan for a long time,” he added.

The 39-year-old, who scored 6,614 runs in 218 ODIs, said he wants to see Babar lead the national side in more matches before passing any judgement on his captaincy.

“I haven’t seen him a lot as captain. I played only two matches under his captaincy. I can’t evaluate his captaincy until I see his personal tactics as a captain in different match situations,” he said.

Hafeez, who scored 1,992 runs in 91 Twenty20s, said he had best wishes for Babar that he leads Pakistan for a long period of time and joins the list of successful Pakistan captains.

“It will be beneficial for him as well as Pakistan because when our top-level performer starts winning as captain, his confidence [as batsman] will be even higher,” Hafeez remarked.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2020