Chaminda Vaas: “If you take Babar Azam, we all know that he’s the number one batsman in the world [currently], and the way he performs and contributes to the team is amazing”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Chaminda Vaas, the legendary Sri Lanka fast bowler, has ranked Pakistan captain Babar Azam as the “number one batsman in the world”.
Vaas admitted that it is nothing short of “amazing” to see how the 28-year-old keeps on performing and “contributes to the team.”
Azam has built a reputation for doing this, which has cemented his status as one of the elite batsmen in all three formats of the game.
“If you take Babar Azam, we all know that he’s the number one batsman in the world [currently], and the way he performs and contributes to the team is amazing,” Vaas told the Hindustan Times.
Azam recently scored 76 runs in two Tests against Sri Lanka at an average of 25.33.
He then featured in the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan and accumulated 113 runs, which included two fifties, at an average of 37.66.
Most recently, he played 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 kicked off their campaign with a convincing 238-run win over Nepal before sharing one point apiece with India after their match was rained off.
Despite this, the men in green advanced to the Super Four stage and continued to impress as they demolished Bangladesh by seven wickets.
However, everything fell apart for them from here 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 them missing out on a spot in the final and being eliminated from the Asia Cup.
Azam will now captain Pakistan in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, which will take place in India and start on October 5.
The men in green will kick off their campaign 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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