Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne And Other Australians Pick Babar Azam In Their ODI World XI

Australian cricketers Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja hailed Pakistan skipper Babar Azam. They drew his comparison with Indian great Virat Kohli and picked him in the ODI World XI.

Babar Azam is rated as one of the best batters of this generation. The Pakistan captain has taken world cricket by storm and is one of the leading batters in World cricket. The right-hander is currently the No.1 ranked batter in the ODIs and is batting like a dream in this format.

Babar Azam is currently in India for the ICC World Cup 2023 and will be a vital cog for his team. The right-hander has reached huge success in his career so far and with the way he’s batting, it’s fair to say that some of the major records will be under danger.

Josh Hazlewood believes that Babar Azam is following in the footsteps of Virat Kohli very quickly and his numbers are unbelievable.

Speaking to Fox Cricket, he explained: “He’s [Babar] probably a little younger than other guys, he’s sort of following the footsteps pretty quickly behind Virat. He’s a few runs behind but again his numbers are unbelievable.”

Usman Khawaja too was in awe of Babar Azam’s innate ability and pointed out how he manufactures shots even on good balls. He believes that Pakistan’s captain has got all the attributes.

He added: “He’s got the innate ability. I’ve seen it where people bowling nice channel bowl and he sort of gets on top of it and smacks you through anywhere from mid-off through cover, through point.

“Alot of people trying to get ones off that ball but he just got these fast hands and smacks it and he finds gaps between the points and extra cover for four.

“Beautiful player of the ball, and an excellent player of spin. He’s got all the attributes too. I couldn’t put him on three because of Kohli so he slips down to four.”

Marnus Labuschagne and Adam Zampa laud Babar Azam

Adam Zampa also lauded Babar Azam, saying that he has a lower bat and tends to play straight shots. Speaking to Fox Cricket, he added:

“He’s [Babar] got a bit of a lower bat. He sort of stands up on top of the ball, a little bit more and he hits quite straight and where you know Kohli and Steve can tend to hit a bit of square up. I think he forces the ball down the ground really well.”

Marnus Labuschagne hailed Babar Azam as a versatile batter and highlighted that he played high-tempo games.

He explained: “He’s so versatile. He plays a high-tempo game naturally and having played against Babar, on wickets that don’t bounce, you know when you are going to India for the World Cup, there may not be too much bounce towards the back end, you almost feel like you don’t hang him and get him out.”

Babar Azam had a great outing in the warmup game against New Zealand. The Pakistan skipper smashed 80 runs.