Matthew Hayden: “As Chris Gayle says ‘everyone wants to put him in his pocket'”
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Former Australia opener Matthew Hayden said West Indies big-hitter Chris Gayle pointed out that teams want Pakistan captain Babar Azam in their pockets.
Azam is widely regarded as one of the best batsmen in the world in all three formats, and all teams see him as one of the most prized wickets when bowling.
In the T20 World Cup, Azam broke the record for the most runs scored by a batsman in their maiden T20 World Cup appearance.
The 27-year-old scored 303 runs in six games, which included four fifties, at an average of 60.60 and a strike-rate of 126.25.
“As Chris Gayle says ‘everyone wants to put him in his pocket’,” Hayden was quoted as saying by Geo Super.
Pakistan are currently touring Bangladesh and are 2-0 up in the T20 series.Â
Azam scored 7 and 1 in the first two matches.
Pakistan will play one more T20 International on Monday before the two-Test series begins on November 26.
Pakistan’s Squad for Bangladesh T20 Series: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Shoaib Malik, Usman Qadir
Pakistan squad for Bangladesh Test series: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Abdullah Shafique, Abid Ali, Azhar Ali, Bilal Asif, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Afridi, Zahid Mahmood