Former England captain-turned-commentator Michael Vaughan has heaped praise on Babar Azam, as Pakistan’s run-machine has once again returned to dominant the headlines with his brilliant batting performance in the three-match Test series opener against England at the Old Trafford.
Babar has been getting applauds from all over the cricket community for his exquisite knock of unbeaten 69 runs off 100 balls consisting of 11 boundaries on Day 1 of the ongoing first Test against England in Manchester on Wednesday (August 5).
The right-hander, who is one of the most prolific run-getter in the Test cricket, has yet again got everyone's eyes rolling with his batting, leaving former England captain Nasser Hussain to ask for a brand new 'Fab 5' batting list with Azam included in it.
Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, and Joe Root are currently touted as the top four world-beating batsmen across all the formats of the game.
Following Hussain, Vaughan showered rich praise on Pakistan’s upcoming legend, saying Babar has shifted out England Test skipper Root from the ‘Fab 4’ list with his class and consistency with the bat.
Even, the former England batsman made a big prediction, claiming Azam can replicate Smith's 2019 Ashes performance in England in the ongoing Test series.
Vaughan told Cricbuzz: “The big player Babar Azam strolled out there. Played and missed his first few deliveries and you think can he play the moving ball? Then all of a sudden he just starts to get his form, his balance, puts one down the ground. Played a beautiful back-foot punch of James Anderson.”
He further added, “We saw that glorious cover drive that he got and then he danced down and whacked one over mid-wicket. You keep talking about the ‘Big Four’ and I keep hearing about this, Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson, Steve Smith, Joe Root, they kind of mention him in that top four but I am not too sure about that at this stage. I reckon Babar Azam has totally shifted Joe Root out of the way as we speak because of his record of late.
He is averaging 65 in his last 18 months of Test cricket. No one is averaging higher than him. Babar Azam is at the top of the average tree and I can only see him improving and getting better and better. We saw Steve Smith do to England, one man has never ever done it in my time.”
Vaughan signed off, “He played out a series on his own to win Australia the Ashes. I have got a funny feeling if England doesn’t work out a way to bowl out Babar Azam we can see a similar thing happening in the course of the 3 Test matches. You only need in England to one of your batsmen to go big.”
