Aakash Chopra: “There is no Fab Four now in Test Cricket. Virat Kohli is out of it. Babar Azam has scored runs and he can be part of it but not yet. For now, it is Fab Three with Kane [Williamson], [Joe] Root and [Steve] Smith”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Aakash Chopra, the former India batsman, believes Pakistan captain Babar Azam isn’t quite at the level required to be in Test cricket’s Fab Four.
The Fab Four consists of the top four batsmen in the world and is an elite club that usually includes players like Azam, India’s Virat Kohli, England’s Joe Root, Australia’s Steve Smith and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson.
However, even though Azam has scored 3,772 runs in 49 Tests, which includes nine centuries and 26 fifties, at an average of 47.74, Chopra still didn’t include him in the Fab Four.
Instead, he believes it is a Fab Three right now, comprising Root, Williamson and Smith. He also surprisingly said that Kohli “is out of it.”
“There is no Fab Four now in Test Cricket. Virat Kohli is out of it. Babar Azam has scored runs and he can be part of it but not yet. For now, it is Fab Three with Kane [Williamson], [Joe] Root and [Steve] Smith,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam has been in good form lately as he scored 76 runs in a two-Test series against Sri Lanka at an average of 25.33.
In Pakistan’s three-match ODI series against Afghanistan, he finished with 113 runs, which included two fifties, at an average of 37.66.
Recently, he led Pakistan in the Asia Cup and amassed 207 runs in five matches, which included a top score of 151, at an average of 51.75.
Pakistan did well early on in the tournament as they beat Nepal by 238 runs and shared one point apiece with India as their match was rained off.
Heading into the Super Four stage, they continued to look dangerous as they registered a convincing seven-wicket win over Bangladesh.
However, their campaign completely fell apart after this as they lost to India by 228 runs.
Still in with a chance to make it to the Asia Cup final, the men in green blew it as they lost to Sri Lanka by two wickets via the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) method.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 Asia Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Shahnawaz Dahani, Zaman Khan.
Travelling reserve: Tayyab Tahir