'You won't realise how good Babar Azam is until he's gone': ENG great saves ultimate praise for under fire PAK skipper

Pakistan endured a tough 0-3 defeat in the home Test series against England, denting their hopes to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC).

Pakistan endured a tough 0-3 defeat in the home Test series against England, denting their hopes to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC). Pakistan, who stand seventh in the WTC standings, are almost out of the race, with leaders Australia, India and South Africa being in fray for the top two berth.

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam (AFP)

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam had a decent outing with the bat in the three encounters and finished as the highest run-scorer from his team. Babar accumulated 348 runs from six innings, as he smashed a ton and three half-centuries. However, it was his captaincy that fans were critical of, forcing his teammate Shaheen Afridi, who was not part of the series, to come out on his support.

While Babar faces flak after Pakistan's deplorable show against Ben Stokes and Co., former England captain Nasser Hussain hailed the under fire skipper with an ultimate praise in a recent interview. He predicted Babar to finish as “Pakistan's all time great”, and gave a detailed explanation behind his choice.

"I think he'll end up as Pakistan's all time great. Not just the runs he gets, but the way he gets his runs. In an era where some of batting, not all of batting, is about hitting the ball hard, hitting the ball a long way, I look at (Joe) Root and Babar (Azam) as multi-format players. I look at (Virat) Kohli, (Steve) Smith, (Marnus) Labuschagne, I still look at people who could stroke a cricket ball.

“When they play a shot you sit there and go WOW, whether it be a Babar coverdrive, or Root slog sweep, even a Labuschagne forward defence. Call me boring but I'm an old school of stroking a cricket ball,” noted Hussain during an interaction with Cricwick, the video of which is available on their YouTube channel.

He feels the Pakistan captain has been delivering despite being under pressure and urged fans to cut him a bit of slack.

“So I love watching Babar play, and he's under immense pressure. He's carrying a batting line-up, in the World T20 I think it was the first I've ever since Babar looked out of nick. I think he'll end up in all-time great, I wish people will cut him a little bit of slack because he'll go through periods when he doesn't get runs, and in this part of the world (subcontinent) you get absolutely vilified. But you won't realise how good Babar Azam is until he's gone because he is that much of a special talent,” he added.