Coming back to Pakistan's playing tactics in the yesterday match. I tend to agree that Babar Azam is following a set template and his bowling changings need more sharpness. He capatained well, but the feedback is constructive for future games. Babar needs to have more game awareness as a captain and be more pro-active in his approach. As a captain, you have to smell what is coming for you if two really good batsmen are on crease and building up the momentum with 2s and 3s gradually, that was the time to have a bit of out of box thinking and bring in one of your in-form pacers and try to break the momentum or put a pause on it. As spectators, trust me, we knew that Nawaz will go for beatings in his 3rd over and it was not something unexpected what happened to him in the 3rd over. I would say that a bowling change was needed there and then rather than waiting for Pandya and Virat to take a charge against Nawaz in the 3rd over.
Even if you did not want to bring in a pacer, giving three overs continuously to Nawaz was still a gamble, you could have brought Iftikhar in for 1 over either before or after that expensive over from Nawaz, in the middle. This is the difference between a proactive and a reactive captain. Proactive captains are always rare while every other ones are reactives.
I'd like to give an example of MSD here. When his set-template bowlers or plan used to collapse, he used to bring in Yuraj or any other part-timer to give a surprise to the opposition and often time those part-timers gives him a very crucial breakthrough. Same what Yuraj did with Umar Akmal back in 2011 World Cup and in lot of other occasions.
Proactive captains are always risk-takers. See you cant avoid risk. An out of the box or bold decision is always Risk-heavy but you have go to trust your choices and your available resources to best utilize them and rest leave up to the nature how things turn for you. Fortune favors the brave as well.
That is my brief feedback on one of on-field decisions by Babar Azam yesterday. I wish he learns this but I doubt he will. The captain is surrounded with coaches in our dug-out and they are following a set-template/plan unlikely to change based on dynamic situations.