Ponting advises Babar Azam to 'freshen himself up' like Virat Kohli

Former Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting on Thursday suggested star batter Babar Azam take some rest and freshen himself up in order to regain his form, similar to what India's Virat Kohli did earlier this year and in 2022.

During an interview with the ICC Review podcast, Ponting advised Babar to follow "the Virat Kohli approach" to address his issues and revitalise his career, especially his Test form, where he has averaged a paltry 20.7 since 2023.

Following a bad patch of career, the right-handed batter, along with two leading pacers, was given "rest" from the last two matches of the three-match Test series against England at home in October. The Englishmen defeated the Green Shirts by a big margin in the first Test. Then, Pakistan went on to win the series 2-1.

Interestingly, Babar sits atop in ODI rankings. He displayed vigour with his satisfying knock of 37 in the first ODI against Australia earlier this week as well. However, what concerns Ponting more is the former Pakistan captain’s performance in the longer format game.

“The biggest challenge is how they get Babar back into their side,” Ponting said in the ICC Review. “They've got to find a way to get Babar back into form and back into their [Test] team.”

Ponting said the break freshened Kohli up and sorted out the things in his favour, so will it for Babar as well.

“You know, when you look at (Babar’s) numbers, it's been a bit like the stuff that we were talking about with Virat [Kohli] earlier on,” Ponting said. “Sometimes — and I think Virat was on record saying this — that little bit of a break that he had, he took himself away from the game for a while to freshen up and sort out some things that he needed to sort out.

“This might be exactly what Babar needs. Maybe Babar needs to get away for a while and stop trying too hard. Lock the kit bag away for a while, and think about something else and then hopefully come back recharged, because we know at his best he's as good as anyone going around. Hopefully we get to see that in the back half of his career again.”