Misbah Ul Haq, the current Pakistan head coach and chief selector, reckons young Babar Azam is destined to be a great player and join the league of Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Joe Root.
Babar, only 25, has quickly become Pakistans' best batsman across all forms of the game and is being widely compared with modern-day giants such as Indian captain Kohli and Australian veteran Smith.
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"I don’t like comparisons but Babar is currently very close to being in the same class as Virat Kohli, Steve Smith or Joe Root," Misbah said in an interview on Youtube channel 'Cricket Baaz'.
"He believes in the work ethic that if you want to better Kohli you have to work harder than him at your skills, fitness and game awareness."
Babar was late last year appointed Pakistan's T20I captain and recently took over in ODIs as well, which shows the level of trust the team management and selectors have on him.
"Making him the T20 captain was a tester. We wanted to see how he will respond to this challenge. All of us agree that he has done a very good job and his biggest plus is that being among the worlds top players he leads by example," Misbah said.
“If you are a performer like Babar then it becomes easier for you to motivate the rest of the team and get things done. Even when I was made captain in 2010 my performances were here and there and I was in and out. But captaincy changed my game and mindset and I became a more hard-working and motivated cricketer."
Temperament is something that also stands-out with Babar, with his solid approach at the crease quite reflective of his mindset.
"He is in a zone of his own," said Misbah. "He just doesn’t want to be in the team. He just doesn’t want to play for money. He wants to be the top performer for Pakistan. He is always pitting himself against other top batsmen like Kohli or Smith."
“He loves challenges in the nets and on the field. He has really matured as a player and in time he will get better as a captain with experience."
Last season was a special one for Babar, considering he finally nailed it in Test cricket as well, first on a difficult tour of Australia and then when Sri Lanka, Bangladesh arrived on Pakistani shores.
"Before that, he was getting runs in tests but not consistently. In Australia and in the following tests against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh he changed," said Misbah, whose strenuous job is made slightly easier by the people like Babar.
“Having captained, it has helped me a lot. As captain I had to manage everything and also having played under top coaches … I have seen closely their work ethics and how they managed things," he said on his experience with the team so far.
"It is a learning process. Having remained captain it is a big advantage for coaching because you know the players and their mood swings. You know which player will respond in a given situation,which player is feeling pressure in a scenario."
"Most important thing as a coach is mentally and psychologically how you handle a group of players," added the former skipper, who re-joined the set-up in his current role in the aftermath of Pakistan's unsuccessful 2019 World Cup campaign.
(Inputs from PTI)
