Hussain Praises Babar Azam’s Cover Drive While Analyzing Dismissals

LONDON: During the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 final between Australia and South Africa at Lord’s, Pakistan’s star batter Babar Azam’s exquisite cover drive became a focal point of discussion.

Renowned English commentator Nasser Hussain referenced Babar’s signature shot while dissecting the technical errors that led to the dismissals of Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne and South Africa’s Ryan Rickelton. Both batsmen were caught out attempting a similar stroke.

“The cover drive is visually one of the most appealing shots. Figures like Ian Bell, Virat Kohli, and Babar Azam immediately come to mind,” Hussain remarked during his commentary.

He further elaborated, using South Africa’s captain, Temba Bavuma, as an example to illustrate that a player’s hands should operate in unison when executing the shot. According to Hussain, this coordination was lacking in both Labuschagne and Rickelton’s attempts.

“Temba Bavuma demonstrated earlier that when you open the bat face effectively, your hands work harmoniously,” Hussain added.

“In Rickelton’s case, his hands worked against each other, causing the bat’s face to close slightly, resulting in a nick. The same occurred with Marnus Labuschagne; observe how he loses control of the bat handle, leading to a slightly closed bat face, which caused him to nick the ball.”

Nasser Hussain has previously expressed his admiration for Babar Azam’s cover drive. In 2022, he mentioned that he would utilize the former Pakistan captain’s trademark shot as a teaching aid for young players.

He stated, “When it comes to playing the cover drive, I have mentioned names like Ian Bell, Meg Lanning and Laura Wolverdet in women’s cricket, KL Rahul, who often plays more white-ball cricket, also executes this shot well, and Kane Williamson is also one of the great exponents of the cover drive.”

“However, with a touch of bias and apologies to Indian fans, I would choose Babar Azam’s cover drive. While I have also discussed Kohli’s version, Babar’s cover drive is truly exceptional.”

“If I were teaching a young girl, I would recommend watching Meg Lanning’s cover drive. And if teaching a young boy, I would definitely encourage him to watch Babar Azam’s cover drive,” he concluded.