Irfan Pathan: “When it comes to scoring runs, he’s in a league of his own”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Irfan Pathan, the former India all-rounder, believes Pakistan captain Babar Azam is “in a league of his own” in regards to scoring runs.
Azam has been Pakistan’s most consistent run-scorer in all three formats over the past couple of years.
His major contributions and match-winning knocks, which come on regular occasions, are among the reasons why he is the reigning ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year.
“When it comes to scoring runs, he’s in a league of his own,” Pathan said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Azam has done well with the bat lately as he scored 76 runs in two Test matches against Sri Lanka at an average of 25.33.
He then proceeded to make 113 runs in three ODIs against Afghanistan, which included two fifties, at an average of 37.66.
Recently, he captained 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 started the tournament on a high note as they battered Nepal by 238 runs before sharing one point apiece with India as their match was rained off.
Going into the Super Four stage, the men in green eased past Bangladesh by seven wickets.
However, this is where things went wrong for them as they lost to India by 228 runs and Sri Lanka by two wickets via the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) method, which led to Pakistan being knocked out of the Asia Cup.
Pakistan will now play in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup in India, which starts on October 5.
Their first game will be against the Netherlands on October 6 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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