Usman Khawaja: “Beautiful player of the ball, excellent player of spin, he’s got all the attributes too”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Usman Khawaja, the Australia opener, admitted that Pakistan captain Babar Azam is such a good batsman since he has “got all the attributes.”
He pointed out that the 29-year-old is exceptional when coming up against spinners as he doesn’t get bogged down and knows how to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Couple all this with his consistency in scoring runs and it is easy to see why Azam is one of the top batsmen in international cricket right now.
“Beautiful player of the ball, excellent player of spin, he’s got all the attributes too,” Khawaja said in a Fox Cricket YouTube video where the Australian team picked their current ODI World XI.
Azam is currently leading the men in green in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup and has amassed 216 runs in seven matches, which includes three fifties, at an average of 30.85.
Pakistan started their campaign with back-to-back wins over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before suffering four straight losses to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
They managed to end their losing streak when they defeated Bangladesh by seven wickets in Kolkata.
Since Pakistan still have a chance of reaching the World Cup semi-finals, they will be looking to secure another win when they take on New Zealand on November 4 in Bengaluru.
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