Zak Crawley: “He’s a class act and we have to be at our best to get him out”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
England opener Zak Crawley has admitted that teams have to be at their very best if they want to get Pakistan batsman Babar Azam out.
Crawley’s praise for the 30-year-old comes at a time when he has gone through a rough patch with the bat.
It also comes shortly after Azam stepped down as limited overs captain, which occurred at the beginning of October.
Describing the Lahore native as a “class act”, Crawley acknowledged how good Azam is and what kind of threat he poses to opposition sides.
“He’s a class act and we have to be at our best to get him out,” the 26-year-old was quoted as saying by A Sports.
Azam was recently involved in Pakistan’s two-Test series against Bangladesh and mustered 64 runs at an average of 16.
He then played for the Stallions in the Champions One-Day Cup, which was a domestic 50-over competition that took place in Faisalabad.
In four games, he accumulated 230 runs, which included a century and a fifty, at an average of 76.66.
Afterwards, Azam was in action in the first Test against England and made scores of 30 and 5.
He was subsequently removed from the team for the second and third Tests, but Pakistan ended up winning 2-1, which was their first Test series win at home since 2021.
Azam is now involved in Pakistan’s white-ball series against Australia, which consists of three ODIs and three T20Is.
He made 80 runs in the three ODIs at an average of 80 as the men in green secured a 2-1 win, which was their first ODI series win in Australia since 2002.
As for the T20Is, Azam made three runs in the first game, which Pakistan lost by 29 runs after it was reduced to a seven-over affair.
Following their tour of Australia, Pakistan will travel to Zimbabwe to play three ODIs and three T20Is from November 24 to December 5.
Pakistan Squad for Australia ODI Series: Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi
Pakistan Squad for Australia T20I Series: Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan, Jahandad Khan, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Omair Bin Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Usman Khan
Pakistan Squad for Zimbabwe ODI Series: Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Irfan Khan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shahnawaz Dahani, Tayyab Tahir
Pakistan Squad for Zimbabwe T20I Series: Ahmed Daniyal, Arafat Minhas, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Jahandad Khan, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Irfan Khan, Omair bin Yousuf, Qasim Akram, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir, Usman Khan