Yousuf flags Babar's shoulder flaw as Smith backs batters

Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf has pointed to a technical flaw in Babar Azam's batting, saying the batter's open right shoulder is preventing him from judging the line and swing of deliveries, while Pakistan's batting coach Mike Smith has publicly backed Babar and Fakhar Zaman during a difficult ODI tri-series for the team.

Babar has made 45, 34 and 10 in his three innings of the ongoing tri-series involving Pakistan, England and Sri Lanka, the Express Tribune reported, another sequence of starts he did not convert into a substantial score.

In a post on his X account, Yousuf said Babar was not keeping his left shoulder aligned with the line of the ball and was instead playing with his right shoulder open. "As a result, he struggles to judge the line and swing of the delivery," the former captain wrote, according to the Express Tribune. He described the situation as "really unfortunate" for a player of Babar's standard, recalling that the batter once hit those shots through extra cover, and asked what had become of "the Babar Azam we all once knew and admired".

Yousuf, one of Pakistan's leading Test and one-day batsmen during his playing career, is the latest former international to question the batter's output. Babar, widely regarded as Pakistan's foremost limited-overs batsman, has come under repeated scrutiny over his failure to turn promising starts into match-defining innings.

Dawn reported that Smith, the Pakistan batting coach, had backed both Babar and Fakhar amid the team's tri-series troubles. The Express Tribune reported that the tri-series gives Babar an opportunity to regain form before future international assignments, and that the ODI World Cup in South Africa will demand heavier contributions from him on surfaces where batting is expected to be more testing.

Neither outlet reported any change to Pakistan's squad or batting order, and there was no public comment from Babar himself on Yousuf's remarks in the reports available to this newspaper. Pakistan's team management has not issued a statement on the technical points raised.

The tri-series is being played as part of Pakistan's preparation for the World Cup, and Babar's returns in it have drawn attention less for the total than for the manner of the dismissals, with three innings producing a combined 89 runs. Yousuf's intervention puts further pressure on the batter to settle his stance before the tournament, where Pakistan's top order will face stronger bowling attacks.