Babar Azam was just a newbie in international cricket when he featured in the Bangladesh Premier League for the first time in 2017. The cricketer represented Sylhet Sixers in a total of five matches and could only score one fifty in four innings during his first season in the BPL. After a long six-year gap, Babar is back in BPL again and this time he is playing for Rangpur Riders in the ongoing edition of BPL.

In between these years, he has already established himself as one of the finest cricketers in this current generation. Unlike his first season, the 29-year-old has already made an instant impact as he hit two fifties so far in his team’s winning cause. Babar recently talked to The Daily Sun regarding various topics which included his BPL experience, his playing mindset and sharing the same dressing room with another superstar Shakib Al Hasan.

Here are the excerpts from the interview:

The Daily Sun: How is the BPL going on?

Babar Azam: The BPL is going quite well. There is competitive cricket and I have played a few matches and so far the team is doing well.

The Daily Sun: You are playing the anchor role in the team. How much do you enjoy it?

Babar Azam: Look, I play as per the situation. I play according to what the situation demands and what is required to fulfil. When a lot of runs are needed, I try to play a different game. If a partnership is required, my game changes. I try to adapt to different situations and try to play as deep as possible to cover in the last five overs. It was the case in the match (against Durdanto Dhaka) as we lost back-to-back wickets. You need to bat a bit sensibly and you try to save wickets when a partnership is needed.

The Daily Sun:  Some bowlers are saying that when they bowl to you, they have a mindset that if there is a bad ball, you will hit it. Apart from that, you will not go for your shot unless you are set. Do you feel that mind-set carried by the bowlers that he is tough to crack gives your partner the freedom to express them as they know you will hold on to the wicket? Have you said that you hit and I handle from the other end?

Babar Azam: No, this is not a fact. At times you carry a good form and some other times, your partner carries a good form. So you have to assess that and whoever is carrying the form, he needs to continue. You have to play as per the team’s requirement and at times, even if you are carrying the confidence, still you are unable to hit.

At that point, you have to rotate the strike. I don’t say to my partner that you hit, rather there is communication and it matters a lot (the communication is from both ends). The main thing is to utilize the first six overs. It is only by assessing the condition and what is happening here. In all the matches that you have seen the first six overs are very crucial. If you have wickets in hand, it becomes easy afterwards like the spinners will come into play and there is a possibility of getting some quick runs. In the first six overs, you have to utilize it sensibly.

The Daily Sun: Your biggest strength is having that sense considering in most cases, openers tend to forget that they need to play sensibly even in T20 cricket. Do you agree?

Babar Azam: Look, everyone has a different game plan. Some play a different game and it is not a fact that you change your game because the situation is different. You should play according to your strength. At times, you will fail and there will be times when you will have success. It depends on many things like if the wicket is not allowing playing up or if the ball is not coming to the bat, you have to plan how to score runs. It’s not that the wicket is not suitable. You should have a second plan like how runs can be scored and how the plans can be executed.

The Daily Sun: What is the difference between BPL and other leagues? There are a lot of talks about wickets in Bangladesh and what is your opinion on that?

Babar Azam: I think the wicket should be better here because people don’t have an interest in watching the low-scoring matches. They come here to see runs and enjoy the game. When it is a low-scoring game, it is not enjoyed either by the players or by the fans. There is an art of playing on a good wicket and at times, I feel when the wicket is not good, they are struggling. When they are playing in good wickets and know how to score runs in good wickets, you will have even better players.

The Daily Sun: You have Shakib in the same team. Because of his eye problem, he is playing more as a bowler. How important is Shakib’s presence in the Rangpur camp?

Babar Azam: I think his presence is very important in the Riders’ dressing room. It’s a very proud moment that they are sharing the dressing room with Shakib Al Hasan. I would like to say all the youngsters should learn from him and take his experience because until you talk with him and try to gather his knowledge, there is no benefit. When you are talking with a cricketer and when you are gathering knowledge from an experienced cricketer, it helps you to go into the next step. I hope the young guys speak to him and it will benefit them. I am quite confident that he will also contribute with the bat at some point in the tournament because he is working very hard with it.