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Cricket Players‘The 21st century belongs to him’: Wasim Akram’s big praise for 27-year-old batter, calls him ‘the man’
The 27-year-old cricketer is now the only batsman to feature in the top 10 of the ICC rankings across formats
Former Pakistan captain and a legend of the game, Wasim Akram, was full of praise for incumbent skipper Babar Azam, opining that the 21st century of Pakistan cricket belongs to the 27-year-old batter.
Akram recalled their time at the Karachi Kings where Babar had joined in 2017, a year before the veteran cricketer was named as the President of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise. Akram hailed the youngster's work ethic, his consistency with his batting and his constant aim to better his performance.
"He came through the proper ranks, I have worked with him in Karachi Kings as well from last three years. I love his work ethic, he is focused and he’s never satisfied with his performance and that’s a sign of a good leader. I knew at the time, with this boy, with his work ethic, with his talent, he will definitely perform and be consistent," he told Sport 360.
The veteran cricketer further admitted that Babar is now up there with the Fab Four of the present international cricket where he picked Virat Kohli, David Warner and Joe Root as the other three members.
"And now he’s the part of Fab four. [Virat] Kohli, [David] Warner, [Joe] Root and Babar is now getting high on top. Kohli is up there with Babar," he added.
Akram then compared him to some of the greatest players Pakistan cricket has witnessed before opining that Babar, who is now the only batsman to feature in the top 10 of the ICC rankings across formats, has "still got plenty in him."
"You see if you talk about Pakistan batting, you start with Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Saleem Malik, Inzamam-Ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousaf and then now it’s Babar Azam. The 21st century belongs to Babar Azam, he’s the man. And he’s still got plenty in him," he added.
