Salman Butt: “Babar Azam is not at par with Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Steve Smith or Kane Williamson”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt believes Babar Azam is not as good as India’s Virat Kohli, England’s Joe Root, Australia’s Steve Smith and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson.
The quartet Salman mentioned are usually referred to as the Fab Four, while Azam has been considered the fifth member of the club at times.
However, given the 29-year-old’s poor performances as of late, Salman feels he is not at the same level as Kohli, Root, Smith and Williamson.
“Babar Azam is not at par with Virat Kohli, Joe Root, Steve Smith or Kane Williamson,” he was quoted as saying by journalist Farid Khan on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Azam recently featured in Pakistan’s two-Test series against Bangladesh and mustered 64 runs at an average of 16.
He is now representing the Stallions in the Champions One-Day Cup, which is a domestic 50-over tournament going on in Faisalabad.
In four games, he amassed 230 runs, which included a century and a fifty, at an average of 76.66.
Pakistan’s next assignment will be a three-Test series against England, which will be played from October 7 to 28 in Multan and Rawalpindi.
Pakistan Squad for 1st Test against England: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Mir Hamza, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi.
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