Former Pakistan bowler Tanvir Ahmed has urged newly-appointed limited-overs captain Babar Azam to work on his English, as well as improve his personality.

Babar was recently named Pakistan’s ODI captain, after Sarfaraz Ahmed resigned from the post earlier. Babar was already leading the T20I team before being given this responsibility.

“Try to improve your personality,” Tanvir was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan. “By personality, I mean a person can change his dressing sense. Babar Azam also needs to improve his English, which is necessary.

“Whenever someone becomes a captain, he has to talk during the toss and post-match presentation. Plus, he will also give interviews on various channels when he tours different countries.

“A leader needs to be punctual and organised as the players follow the captain. He should also maintain his fitness level, because if the captain himself isn’t fit, then he can’t advise other players on improving their fitness.”

Babar has been highly spoken of ever since his international debut and has often earned comparisons to Virat Kohli. Having shown much promise as a limited-overs performer, Babar has also slowly started finding his feet as a Test batsman, but Tanvir warned that leadership comes with an altogether different level of demands.

“It remains to be seen how Babar leads the team. He needs to be mentally strong as even a slight dip in performance as captain will invite a lot criticism from media,” Tanvir said. “So he will have to tolerate the criticism and not react to it. If he reacts, then things will get very difficult for him.

“Captaincy isn’t an easy job. However, I am happy for Babar as he has become captain after only five years since making his debut in 2015. If any player becomes a captain in such a short period of time, then it is an extra-ordinary achievement for him.”