Babar has made heads turn with his stellar run in international cricket and consistency in all formats. 138 internationals, the right-hander has scored 1850 runs (at 45.12) in Tests, 3359 runs (at 54.17) in the 50-over format and has accumulated 1471 runs (at 50.72) in T20Is so far. The Pakistani has been lauded worldwide for his talent with the bat, a steady approach in churning out runs and is now being looked upon as the right candidate to take Men in Green forward.
Former Pakistan spinner Saqlain Mushtaq told Dawn News, “In the past we have had some great batsmen who played for Pakistan such as Hanif Mohammad, Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Saeed Anwar and Inzamam-ul-Haq. All these great players had their unique and signature styles.
Similarly, I also rate Babar [Azam] very highly and he can well become Pakistan’s best-ever batsman. He is a complete package; he has great timing, application, fitness and also have match awareness too. He is very focussed on his game and it will help him to become a great player,” believes the former great.
Saqlain further opined, “The captaincy duties will put more responsibility on Babar and he seems to be someone who will enjoy leading the team. He is a world-class player, technically very sound and has already proved himself in international cricket. I am very optimistic that Babar can be a very good captain and because of his abilities in batting, he will lead from the front.”
Only time will tell whether Babar will be the right choice as captain or not. As of now, he is widely regarded as one of the best batsmen of the current era, along the likes of Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Kane Williamson and Joe Root.
