Dimuth Karunaratne: “He [is] in the top five rankings in all the formats”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Dimuth Karunaratne, the Sri Lanka Test captain, admitted that Pakistan skipper Babar Azam is always a threat since he is ranked among the top five batsmen in all three formats of the game.
Azam is currently in fourth place on the Test batsmen rankings, first in ODIs, and joint-third in T20Is.
Karunaratne noted this shows how good the 28-year-old is when it comes to scoring runs regularly.
“He [is] in the top five rankings in all the formats,” the 35-year-old from Colombo was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam has been in solid form lately as he made 76 runs in two Test matches against Sri Lanka at an average of 25.33.
He then proceeded to accumulate 113 runs in three ODIs against Afghanistan, which included two fifties, at an average of 37.66.
Most recently, he led Pakistan in the Asia Cup and scored 207 runs in five matches, which included a top score of 151, at an average of 51.75.
Pakistan began their campaign with a 238-run win over Nepal before sharing one point apiece with India after their match was abandoned due to rain.
Having made it through to the Super Four stage, the men in green maintained their momentum with a seven-wicket win over Bangladesh.
Following this, things went downhill for them as India crushed them by 228 runs.
Pakistan still had a chance to progress to the Asia Cup final when they faced Sri Lanka on September 14 in Colombo, but they ended up losing by two wickets via the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) method.
The men in green will now play in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup in India, which will get underway on October 5.
Pakistan will begin their campaign on October 6 when they face the Netherlands in Hyderabad.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Hasan Ali
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