Ricky Ponting: “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”
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Australia great Ricky Ponting has no doubts in his mind that Pakistan captain and star batsman Babar Azam is the “real deal”.
Ponting said he was particularly impressed with how Azam took on the Australian pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.
He added that the shots Azam played was absolutely outstanding, especially given how tough the pitch was.
“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’,” he said on the The ICC Review with Isa Guha.