Former legendary Australian captain Ricky Ponting has suggested Babar Azam to follow Virat Kohli's footprint to regain his lost form.

After a thrashing defeat in Multan, Pakistan selection committee showed courage and dropped some of their big names. One if the stalwarts was Babar Azam, who was havinv an extreme lean patch. The ace batter averages only 20.7 since 2023 in Test Cricket.
Ponting, however, is concerned about Babar Azam's return to the Test outfit.

“The biggest challenge is how they get Babar back into their side,” Ponting said in the ICC Review. “They've got to find a way to get Babar back into form and back into their [Test] team.”

Ponting also suggest that Babar should attempt Kohli’s approach to find his form again.

“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.”

Ponting also had his say on the recent Mohammad Rizwan's appointment as the captai of the Pakistan team in white-ball team.

“He's the sort of player that I love watching,” said Ponting. “Aggressive player that takes the game on, and wears his heart on his sleeve a little bit.

“I reckon you can see he gets quite emotional out on the field, out on the ground as well, which I think is a good thing. It tends to show that you really care about what you're doing and what your team's trying to achieve.

“So the proof will be in the pudding. I mean, we won't know (until they) give him a decent run at it. They obviously feel he's the right man for here and now. So I think in a few months time, or maybe in a few weeks time, even here in Australia with the one-dayers, the T20Is coming up, we might have a better idea in three or four weeks time.”