Former Australian captain and number-one ranked Test batsman Steve Smith has picked Babar Azam as his favourite Pakistani cricketer, saying he enjoyed watching the Lahore-born batsman play his shots.
The Australian cricketer revealed that he enjoyed watching Pakistan’s all-format captain bat, when he was asked to name his favourite Pakistani player during an Instagram question-answer session as quoted by cricketpakistan.com.pk. “I like watching Babar Azam bat,” Smith said.
This is not the first time Smith has heaped praise on Babar Azam as he was asked about
his thoughts on the 26-year-old’s batting earlier this year as well. “Babar is a very good player. Has a lot of time when he’s batting,” Smith observed.
Earlier this week, Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin also revealed his admiration for
Babar Azam in a conversation with former Pakistani skipper Inzamamul Haq on his YouTube channel.
“Babar Azam looks like a million-dollar player. He has scored a hundred in Australia. It is so good to see him bat so well. He is a treat for the eyes,” Ashwin said.
Babar Azam features in the top five of International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings for batsmen in all formats with second, third and fifth position in T20s, ODIs and Tests respectively.