AB de Villiers: “Would have loved to bat with you too my man”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Iconic South Africa cricketer AB de Villiers said he would have loved to have the opportunity to bat with Pakistan star Babar Azam.
His comments come after Azam called De Villiers his “dream batting partner” and rued the fact that he only ever got the chance to play against the Proteas icon instead of with him.
Azam has been Pakistan’s most consistent run-scorer in all three formats over the last couple of years, but his form has dipped in the past few months.
Nonetheless, De Villiers echoed Azam’s sentiments about wanting to bat together.
“Would have loved to bat with you too my man,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Azam recently represented Pakistan in their three-match Test series against Australia and scored 126 runs at an average of 21.
The 29-year-old then proceeded to make 213 runs, which included three fifties, at an average of 42.60 and a strike-rate of 142 in the five-match T20I series against New Zealand.
Azam is now captaining the Peshawar Zalmi in the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL) and has posted scores of 68, 72 and 31.
Peshawar Zalmi Squad for PSL 9: Babar Azam (captain), Rovman Powell, Saim Ayub, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Asif Ali, Mohammad Haris, Aamer Jamal, Naveen-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Salman Irshad, Arif Yaqoob, Umair Afridi, Dan Mousley, Haseebullah Khan, Mohammad Zeeshan, Mehran Mumtaz, Luke Wood, Sufiyan Muqeem, Waqar Salamkheil, Arshad Iqbal, Gus Atkinson, Shamar Joseph