Michael Vaughan: “In T20s, he’s very good. He’s a pure player but he’s not up there with, I would say, the top 15 batters in the world in T20 cricket. I think there are better players at the top of the order who could play fearless cricket and whack it 360 degrees”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former England skipper Michael Vaughan believes Pakistan limited overs captain Babar Azam is not among the top 15 batsmen in T20 cricket.
Azam has long been Pakistan’s go-to run-scorer in all three formats and has repeatedly won the team matches on his own.
While acknowledging that the 29-year-old is “very good” and a “pure player”, Vaughan noted that there are other batsmen who play more “fearless cricket and whack it 360 degrees”.
“In T20s, he’s very good. He’s a pure player but he’s not up there with, I would say, the top 15 batters in the world in T20 cricket. I think there are better players at the top of the order who could play fearless cricket and whack it 360 degrees,” he told Cricbuzz as quoted by Geo Super.
Azam recently captained Pakistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup and was the team’s highest run-scorer with 122 runs in four matches at an average of 40.66 and a strike-rate of 101.66.
The men in green began their campaign with consecutive losses to the United States of America and India before bouncing back to take down Canada and Ireland.
Even though they finished the group stage with a 2-2 record, Pakistan failed to book their spot in the Super Eights.
Pakistan Squad for 2024 T20 World Cup:Â Babar Azam (capt), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan (wk), Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed