Babar Azam earned praise from Shoaib Akhtar, involving whom he had recalled an amusing incident from his teens. On 'Cricbuzz in Conversation' with Harsha Bhogle, the outstanding young batsman took us back to a junior camp where he got the chance to face Akhtar, the quickest of Pakistani fast bowlers in his prime, and ended up in trouble because of his compulsive nature to drive the cricket ball. 

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"I was always keen on batting. I was a ball boy during a series between Pakistan and South Africa. That was the first time I saw Shoaib Akhtar in action. The run-up, the pace, it was quite something," Babar was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz. 

"I remember, there was a camp for the emerging players or Pakistan A. That time, they would even call some of us from the Under-15 team to practice with them. Mudassar Nazar, who was there, would call us to bat first. We were asked to bat first so that the bowlers could warm up and understand their paces."

Akhtar, on his arrival at the camp, asked for a batsman to bowl at from Mudassar, who picked Babar to face the dangerous right-arm quick. 

"Shoaib Akhtar would come there at times, towards the end of the camp to bowl for a bit," reminisced Babar. "One day, he asked for a batsman to bowl at and Mudassar bhai asked him to take me along with him. So I got ready and was quite excited. Shoaib told me, 'Kid, I will pitch the ball full, just block it, don't drive'. I said okay. I blocked the first two balls but drove the third one."

"I kept doing that - block two balls and drive the third one. He was like, 'Get me a new ball, I will show him'. Immediately, Mudassar bhai told me, 'get out of the nets or he will kill you'. He took me out of the nets," he added. 

"However, whenever he would come to the nets thereafter, he would ask me to come and face him. He would bowl full but once, by mistake, he bowled a bouncer and luckily the ball went over my head."

Akhtar, also seeing the funny side of it, ended up lauding Babar. 

"He was talented then, he is talented now. @babarazam258 faced me quite bravely in nets," he tweeted.