Michael Vaughan: “Babar Azam is a wonderful and world-class player”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former England captain Michael Vaughan has hailed Pakistan batsman Babar Azam as a “wonderful and world-class player.”
Vaughan’s comments come after Azam stepped down as captain in all three formats following Pakistan’s elimination from the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
The 29-year-old has also come under fire for his batting, even though he showed some consistency during the tournament, where he amassed 320 runs in nine matches, which included four fifties, at an average of 40.
Considering how big of an asset Azam is to Pakistan, Vaughan defended the Lahore-born cricketer and feels he is still an elite player.
“Babar Azam is a wonderful and world-class player,” he told Cricbuzz as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan won their first two World Cup matches against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Even though they bounced back to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they were unable to progress to the semi-finals.
To add insult to injury, the men in green lost their final group stage game against England by 93 runs.
Azam will now feature in Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia, which will begin on December 14 in Perth.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi
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