Pakistan captain Babar Azam: “I started being interested in it by watching AB de Villiers and I really liked his cover drive. At that time I used to copy the way he played those cover drives”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Pakistan captain Babar Azam is known for having one of the most eye-catching cover drives in the game today, but he revealed that he actually copied the way legendary South Africa batsman AB de Villiers played it.
Azam has featured in 31 Tests and scored 2,167 runs, which includes five centuries and 16 fifties, at an average of 44.22.
He has also played 80 ODIs and accumulated 3,808 runs, which includes 13 hundreds and 17 half-centuries, at an average of 55.93.
As for his T20 International career, Azam has amassed 1,940 runs in 51 games, which includes a century and 17 fifties, at an average of 48.50.
The 26-year-old made scores of 103, 31 and 94 in the three-match ODI series against South Africa, giving him a total of 228 runs at an average of 76.
As for the T20 series, he made 14 and 50 in the first two matches before hammering a career-best 122, which came off 59 balls and included 15 boundaries and four sixes, in the third T20 International.
In the fourth game, he was dismissed for 24 and thus finished with 210 runs in four matches at an average of 52.50 and a strike-rate of 143.83.
“I have worked really hard at this from the start. I was interested in it right from the start. I started being interested in it by watching AB de Villiers and I really liked his cover drive. At that time I used to copy the way he played those cover drives,” Azam told Pakistan opener Imam-ul-Haq in a video for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan won the ODI series 2-1 and the T20 series 3-1.
They will now play three T20 Internationals and two Tests against Zimbabwe, with the T20 series beginning on Wednesday.