The Pakistan skipper has 17 centuries in 89 ODIs to his name.
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has produced several match-winning knocks in recent times. He hammered a stunning century in the opening ODI of the recently concluded series against the West Indies, setting a new record for hitting three consecutive ODI hundreds on two separate occasions.
In ODIs, Babar has an incredible average of 59.22, with 17 hundred and 19 half-centuries to his name in just 89 games. His performances have drawn comparisons to some of the game's best batters, including the star India batter Virat Kohli.
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Babar's brilliance has also been praised by West Indies legend Ian Bishop, who believes that the Pakistan captain has "almost overtaken" the former India captain as the ultimate ODI batter.
“Babar Azam is on the road to greatness. I want to be clear when I say 'on the road to...', in the white-ball cricket at least, and certainly in fifty overs. I don't use the term ‘great’ loosely. It has to be a bigger sample size to bestow greatness on a player, but his average, as we speak now, (is) on the cusp of 60 with 17 ODI hundreds. He has almost overtaken his next-door neighbour, the great Virat Kohli, in terms of the ultimate uber fifty-over batsman,” said Bishop during a conversation with cricwick.com.
The 27-year-old’s batting in Test cricket, according to the former West Indies bowler, is still a "work in progress."
“His Test cricket is a work in progress. I'm surprised he hasn't taken to Test cricket numbers a lot earlier. He's starting to get better at it. Technically, he's superb. In future, I'm hoping he will be mentioned in the same breath in Test cricket as the top 3-4 players,” said Bishop.
The right-hander led Pakistan to a 3-0 series sweep against the West Indies in the ODI series, that concluded on June 12. The ‘Men in Green’ is scheduled to return to action on August 12 when the side takes on the Netherlands in a three-match ODI series.
(Crickwick.com)