Shadab Khan: “The way he [Saim] plays, he is a player of Babar’s category”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Shadab Khan, the Pakistan spinner, rates batsman Saim Ayub so highly that he said the 21-year-old is in the same category as captain Babar Azam.
Azam is one of the most consistent run-scorers right now and many former and current cricketers feel he is right up there when it comes to the best batsmen in the world.
Ayub played alongside the 28-year-old for the Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), where he scored 341 runs in 12 games, which included five half-centuries, at an average of 28.41 and a strike-rate of 165.53.
“The way he [Saim] plays, he is a player of Babar’s category,” Shadab said on the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Podcast as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan will now travel to Sri Lanka for a two-Test series, which will be held in Galle and Colombo from July 16 to 28.
Pakistan Squad for Sri Lanka Test Series:Â Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (vc & wk), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Muhammad Huraira, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood