Mickey Arthur: “What impressed me most were his hands, the speed of his hands. When Grant Bradburn first told me [to] look at this guy in the nets, I was amazed. I had never seen such hand speed and a talent like him”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Mickey Arthur, the Pakistan team director, said captain Babar Azam has the fastest hand speed he has ever seen and admitted that he was amazed by it when he first saw the 28-year-old in action.
Arthur recalled witnessing Azam in action when Grant Bradburn, who is Pakistan’s current head coach, told him to watch the Lahore native bat in the nets.
Azam has been Pakistan’s most consistent run-scorer across all three formats and has broken numerous records along the way.
“What impressed me most were his hands, the speed of his hands. When Grant Bradburn first told me [to] look at this guy in the nets, I was amazed. I had never seen such hand speed and a talent like him,” Arthur was quoted as saying by News18 according to Cricwick.
The Pakistan skipper is currently leading the national team in their two-Test series against Sri Lanka.
He made scores of 13 and 24 in the first Test in Galle, which Pakistan won by four wickets.
The second Test will start on July 24 in Colombo.
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