Ponting on Pakistan’s major Babar Azam concern

In 2022, Kohli had taken a similar break from the game after a barren streak with the bat. After his return, he scored his first international hundred since 2019, and delivered breathtaking performances across the formats over the next 12 months, including a match-winning knock against Pakistan in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, and a golden run in the 2023 Men’s Cricket World Cup at home - where he scored a record 765 runs, and was named Player of the Tournament.

“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.”

After the ODI World Cup in 2023, Babar resigned from leadership positions across all formats. Pakistan then switched leaders multiple times, including going back to Babar as the skipper ahead of the Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, before recently settling on Mohammad Rizwan.

To Ponting, the decision-making indicated that Pakistan were pushing all buttons till they made the right call.

“They're continually changing leaders, (Shaheen) Afridi one day, Babar one day, Rizwan another day.

“Lots of changes going on around their white-ball stuff. You don't like to see that instability, but I guess they're trying to find something that works and they're willing to make changes until they find something that works and they start getting the right outcomes.”

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