Ricky Ponting: “He plays spin bowling very well”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Iconic Australia batsman Ricky Ponting said Pakistan captain Babar Azam is a great player of spin.
Many batsmen possess some sort of weakness to spin bowling, but the 28-year-old is one of the elite few who excel in this category.
Azam has been in outstanding form lately as he most recently scored 522 runs while captaining the Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), which made him the second-highest run-scorer in the tournament.
“He plays spin bowling very well,” Ponting said while speaking on The ICC Review.
The Pakistan team recently suffered a 2-1 T20I loss to Afghanistan in Sharjah, but Azam was not selected for that series as he was rested.
He is now leading the side in their white-ball series against New Zealand, where he has amassed 111 runs in three T20Is, which includes a century, at an average of 55.50 and a strike-rate of 156.33.
Pakistan are 2-1 up in the five-match T20I series and will be looking to claim an unassailable 3-1 lead in the fourth game on Thursday in Rawalpindi.
Pakistan squad for T20I series against New Zealand:Â Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Ihsanullah, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood and Zaman Khan
Pakistan squad for ODI series against New Zealand:Â Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Haris Sohail, Ihsanullah, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood and Usama Mir