Like Saeed Ajmal before him, Zulfiqar Babar was in his thirties before he finally received his chance in international cricket. And, like Ajmal, he is making selectors look silly for making him wait so long. A veteran of 69 first-class matches, the left-arm spinner from Okara, Punjab finally got his chance to play for Pakistan last July at the age of 34 in a pair of Twenty20 Internationals against the West Indies in Kingston. He took five wickets in that series, but that success was not enough to make him a regular in a squad already rich in spin-bowling.
He played in just two of Pakistan’s next nine T20Is, picking up a further three wickets against Zimbabwe and Afghanistan but looking like an outside bet to play a meaningful role in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20.
Yet he did end up making the trip to Bangladesh, and in Pakistan’s second match the 35-year-old was surprisingly tabbed to not only make his first appearance of the tournament but also open the bowling against Australia in a must-win affair. He responded with two wickets in his first over to put the batting side on the back-foot.
‘Every big game has pressure, but the captain [Mohammad Hafeez] gave me confidence,’ Babar said of his performance on the big stage, ‘Australia [are] not good on spin so I tried to put pressure on them.’
With 10 wickets in five career T20Is, Babar, is gaining a reputation as a prolific wicket-taker, but the son of a former professional footballer said that his approach in T20 cricket is geared more towards containment.
‘If you will go for wickets you can get hit,’ he reasoned.
His performance against Australia helped level Pakistan’s record in the Super 10s at 1-1, with two matches remaining; their next game against hosts Bangladesh and an April 1 date with an opponent Babar knows well – the West Indies.
‘My debut was against West Indies so I know their batting and they will be under pressure.’
-With New Age input