IND vs PAK: India Players Admire 'World-class' Babar Azam, Claims Shubman Gill

The 24-year-old India National Cricket Team opening batsman Shubman Gill has openly expressed his admiration for the Pakistan National Cricket Team captain Babar Azam. He said that the 28-year-old is a world-class batter and all Indian players admire him.

Babar is currently the No.1 ranked batter in the ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings and is not expected to lose the spot anytime soon. He is at the No.4 position in the Test Rankings and the No.3 position in the T20I Rankings. Also, he recently led Pakistan to the No.1 position in the ICC Men’s ODI Team Rankings after a clean sweep over the Afghanistan National Cricket Team in Sri Lanka.

Babar Azam will be next seen in action when Pakistan face India in the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup 2023 on September 10 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

We definitely follow him – Shubman Gill on Babar Azam

Speaking at a pre-match press conference, Gill expressed his respect for Babar Azam and said that Indian players follow the Pakistan skipper.

“Yes, we definitely follow him. When a player is doing well, everyone watches him to find out why they are doing so well, what their speciality is. The same thing goes for Babar. He is a world-class player and we all do admire him,” Shubman Gill said on Saturday in Colombo.

Gill will be looking forward to a better outing in the second match against Pakistan in the ongoing Asia Cup 2023. In the first match, he looked under pressure and just couldn’t get going. The youngster scored just 10 runs off 32 balls before Haris Rauf rattled his stumps.

Gill further talked about Pakistan pacers – Shaheen and Naseem Shah – and said that both of them have their own area of expertise

“They are different kind of bowlers. Every bowler has their own area of expertise. I think both of them have separate expertise. Shaheen, as we have seen, mostly swings the ball. Naseem uses pace, and if he is getting help from the wicket, he sets the area accordingly. Both of them are different kind of bowlers who impart different challenges in different conditions and different situations on the opposition,” he further added.