Serious-Looking Babar Azam Snapped At Canberra Airport After Pakistan Team Reaches Australia For Test Series; See PIC

Pakistan's men's cricket team reached Australia on Friday morning to play Test series against Pat Cummins and Co. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) shared the pics of team's arrival at the Canberra airport. In the photos, one can see former captain Safaraz Ahmed speaking to the players while Babar Azam stands alone in a corner. Saim Ayub can also be seen wearing a tired look as it takes a long time to reach Australia from Pakistan and the travel must have taken a toll on the body.

Former Pakistan captain Babar is snapped as he wears a pair of shades and looks all serious. The whole team is wearing the Green shirts or track-suits. Earlier, the whole squad was photographed before leaving for Australia from Pakistan. 

Also Read | 'Shaadi To Ho Gai...', Babar Azam & Imam-ul-Haq's Heartwarming Reunion Ahead Of AUS vs PAK Test Series

Take a look at pics of Pakistan players in Australia upon arrival:

_ Pakistan team arrives in Canberra from Sydney __#AUSvPAK | #BackTheBoysInGreen pic.twitter.com/WYOectczGa — Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) December 1, 2023

Pakistan's tour of Australia starts on December 14 with Shan Masood's team playing 1st Test vs hosts at Perth. The second Test will be played from December 26 to 30 in Melbourne while the third match will be played from January 3 to 7 in Sydney. There are no white-ball matches scheduled on this tour.

Masood was named the captain of the Test side after Babar stepped down from captaincy last month post the poor show in the ODI World Cup. Pakistan Cricket has undergone massive changes since arriving from India after the World Cup. Mohammad Hafeez has come in as Director of Cricket and will also serve as the head coach on the tour of Australia. At the same time, Wahab Riaz has been named as the chief selector while Umar Gul is the fast bowling coach and Saeed Ajmal as the spin bowling coach.

Babar's poor record vs Aussies in Australia

Babar has a lot of catching up to do in Tests while playing in Australia. He has played only 5 Tests between 2016 and 2019 in Australia and the numbers are not very encouraging. In 5 Tests played Down Under, Babar has scored just 278 runs with one hundred and 1 fifty vs Australia in Australia. He averages a poor 27.80 while his batting strike rate of 60.17. 

The good thing is that Babar will no more have the burden of captaincy on his shoulders as he goes to Australia to bat in potentially 6 innings. With some luck and good batting, Babar can increase  the number of centuries he has in Australia in this format.