Babar Azam Has All Desired Qualities, Can Become Number One Test Batter, Says Ricky Ponting

Melbourne, February 5: Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has mentioned that Babar Azam will quickly turn into the primary ranked Test batter on the planet as he has all the specified qualities. Pakistan will subsequent lock horns in opposition to Australia in a three-match Test series, starting March 4 in Rawalpindi. Babar Azam had gained the ICC Men's ODI Cricketer of the Year Award in January, beating off competitors from Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, South Africa batter Janneman Malan and Ireland opener Paul Stirling. "He (Babar Azam) has been great in T20I cricket in the past as well, hasn't he? His white-ball cricket has been nothing short of breathtakingly good for the last four-five years. He's the same as Shaheen. I don't get to see a lot of these guys outside of when they tour Australia, but when I saw Babar in the second innings in Brisbane in the first Test against Australia, some of the shots that I saw him play on a fast bouncy Brisbane pitch - both on the front and back foot - against Hazlewood, Starc and Cummins - it was like, I have heard a lot about him and I have seen a fair bit of his while-ball stuff, but this guy is the real deal," mentioned Ponting on ICC's Review Show. Justin Langer Resigns As Australia's Head Coach, Andrew McDonald Appointed As Interim Coach. "I think I said then that for this guy, the sky is the limit. It's only a matter of time I felt before he was going to be either the No.1-ranked Test batter in the world or certainly challenging for it. He's probably challenging for that position right now and probably if he had played a few more Test matches through the last couple of years he'd be knocking the door down for that," he added. Azam completed 2021 with 405 runs that got here at a mean of 67.50. His knock of 158, although coming in a dropping trigger, was a lesson in constructing an ODI innings. Taking 72 balls to convey up his fifty, he put his foot on the accelerator within the second half of the innings, ending with a career-best rating that got here in simply 139 balls. "He's a beautiful player, simple as that. The thing I always look for with these younger type of batters is if they can play well off the back foot in Australia, and particularly through the off-side with a straight bat - which is probably an area that Joe Root hasn't quite got on top of just yet and why he hasn't made those big scores in Australia," mentioned Ponting. "Babar did that and hit on the front foot back down the ground as well. These are just things that I look for as markers and indicators in touring batters when they come to Australia and Babar he ticked both those boxes," he added. (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, SociallyKeeda Staff might not have modified or edited the content material physique)