Islamabad [Pakistan], April 15 (ANI): After Babar Azam's flop show with the bat continued in the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL), former cricketer Basit Ali has urged Pakistan's premier to learn from India's stalwart Virat Kohli

Babar, who is leading Peshawar Zalmi in PSL, has continued to labour for runs after his dry spell in international cricket. Since his 151-run blitzkrieg against Nepal in 2023, Babar is yet to score a century for Pakistan. Even his lack of form has started to affect his captaincy. With Babar at the helm, Zalmi have endured two emphatic defeats on the trot.

With Zalmi struggling as a unit, Babar's individual struggle has added to their increasing woes. During Zalmi's recent 102-run hammering at the hands of Islamabad United, Babar was a no-show in their pursuit of a mammoth 244-run target.

Basit launched a scathing tirade on Babar for his captaincy debacle in the ongoing PSL. He urged Babar to drop captaincy and focus on his game. To make his case, he even cited Virat's example, who retired from T20Is last year and has taken a step back from Royal Challengers Bengaluru captaincy in the IPL to focus on his cricket.

The 54-year-old urged Babar to learn from the Indian batting maestro and said on his YouTube channel, 'Babar should leave captaincy and focus on his cricket. While chasing a 240-plus target, he gave away a catch to slip and got out. He is not focused. Zalmi management should remove him from captaincy and play him as a batter. He is harming himself. Babar is not doing anything; he just keeps playing.'

'I will give the example of Virat Kohli. He retired from T20Is, and he is not even the captain of RCB. If you follow him, then learn something from him. You should play as a batter,' he added.

Babar kicked off the PSL campaign with a two-ball duck against Quetta Gladiators. He was outfoxed by former Pakistan speedster Mohammad Amir, who lured him to commit to a cover drive, which went straight into the hand of Rilee Rossouw.

In their second fixture against the defending champions Islamabad, Ben Dwarshuis forced out an edge from Babar, which flew straight to Jason Holder, stationed at the first slip.

With Babar and Zalmi searching for form and winning momentum, Peshawar will square off against Multan Sultan in Rawalpindi on Saturday. (ANI)