If Ruben Amorim thinks he has a tough task on his hands at Manchester United, he should spare a thought for Babar Azam on the eve of the Champions Trophy.
It is over 29 years since Pakistan last hosted a major tournament and even though Indian intransigence has turned this competition into a hybrid affair split between Babar’s home country and the United Arab Emirates, the weight of expectation sitting on his shoulders would be too much for some.
For Babar, though, it’s just par for one of world sport’s hardest to navigate courses.
“For Babar, it’s bizarre,” says Mickey Arthur, the former Pakistan coach who handed him his Test debut in 2016.
“Every time he bats it’s there. He’s a demi-god, he’s almost like Sachin [Tendulkar] and Virat [Kohli] are in India.”
The pressure will be ratcheted up another notch as soon as Pakistan take to the field for their tournament opener against New Zealand in Karachi on Wednesday.
The whole of the country, and particularly his home city of Lahore, will come to a virtual standstill as soon as he walks to the wicket.
It is nothing new.
According to Andy Hurry, director of cricket at Somerset, where Babar spent two separate spells in his early 20s, he deals with the burden by keeping things as simple as possible.
“Here’s a guy who has a zillion people watching him play no matter where he is in the world but when he walks over that white line it’s just bat against ball – him against the bowler,” Hurry tells The i Paper.
“It really is that straightforward. He’s quite unassuming, very professional and absolutely ruthless in his practice. But the one thing that was incredibly clear is just how much he loves the competition.
“He loves looking at ways he can put the pressure back on the bowler.
“When we brought him to Taunton, he was on the cusp of establishing himself in the Pakistan side. I suppose you could say it was a bit of a punt from us, really.
“But I remember him practising for the first time and you knew someone special was there because none of the boys went into the changing room – they all just stood there watching him in the nets. That doesn’t happen very often.”
Babar has known his fair share of ups and downs.
The sheer weight of cricket he has played in recent has appeared to take a toll.
On England’s recent Test tour of Pakistan, the former captain was dropped after an opening Test defeat in Multan, despite his side scoring 556 in their first innings.
He had stepped down as skipper across all formats following Pakistan’s disappointing showing at the 2023 World Cup.
Things were so bad that his side even fell to an imploding England side in Kolkata, just weeks after being soundly thrashed by India in Lucknow.
It is a measure of his durability and bloody-mindedness, that his will still be the wicket that opposition sides covet above all others in this Pakistan side.
“It’s sometimes easier for him playing away from home,” Arthur says.
“When cricket returned to Pakistan after so many years of the country playing in the UAE, he was really the poster boy. But he has been good enough to handle that throughout his career.
“He has great hands. He also had an insatiable hunger to develop and get better. But you also have to remember just how much cricket he has played.
“He has led that batting line-up. It has been an OK batting line-up, but with him in it, you always feel like Pakistan have a chance.”
Pakistan would be a left-field winner of the Champions Trophy but then aren’t they always? When they won the World Cup in 1992, it was a case of cornered tigers striking back. Who really believed they would beat India to be crowned Champions Trophy winners in 2017 too?
Apart, that is, from the 235 million fans who refuse to believe that, with Babar in the side, any other outcome is possible.
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