Pakistan captain Babar Azam has been in the form of his life, breaking records at will in recent times. This month, Babar Azam broke a series of world records, including Virat Kohli's long-held record to become the quickest skipper to complete a thousand runs in One-Day Internationals (ODIs). Besides going past the India superstar, Babar Azam became the first cricketer to reach 9 consecutive fifty-plus scores in international cricket and the only batter to score three centuries in a row in the fifty-over format twice. Often Babar Azam has been compared with Virat Kohli with several past cricketers calling him the best all-format player in the world. During the weekend, another yesteryear star, namely New Zealand's Simon Doull labeled Babar Azam as the best player on the planet.
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“Not too many can argue that Babar Azam is probably the best player in the world at the moment. As far as batting in that top order is concerned, he is unbelievable. Joe Root has got an argument for that, but when you talk about the Big-4, at the moment, he is the big one,” Simon Doull said on commentary during Day 3 of the ongoing third Test match between England and New Zealand at Leeds on Saturday.
Earlier, former West Indies star Ian Bishop and seasoned India batter Dinesh Karthik had made massive statements about the Pakistan skipper. While Dinesh Karthik had declared that Babar Azam was on his way to becoming the first batter ever to top ICC's rankings in all three formats of the game, Ian Bishop claimed that the 27-year-old had overtaken India great Virat Kohli as the best batter at least in ODIs.
“Babar Azam is on the road to greatness. I want to be clear when I say ‘on the road to…', in the white-ball cricket at least, and certainly in fifty overs. I don't use the term ‘great’ loosely. It has to be a bigger sample size to bestow greatness on a player, but his average, as we speak now, (is) on the cusp of 60 with 17 ODI hundreds. He has almost overtaken his next-door neighbor, the great Virat Kohli, in terms of the ultimate uber fifty-over batsman,” Ian Bishop had said in an interview with cricwick.com.
Before Ion Bishop and Simon's rave reviews, Babar Azam, who is the No.1 batter in ODIs and T20Is had spoken about his desire to become the first cricketer to achieve the top ranking in all three formats.
“As a player, it's a dream to become the No. 1 in all formats and, for that, you have to focus and put in hard work. It's not like if you are the top player in one or two formats, you go easy,” Babar told the ICC.
“If you are to become No.1 in all three, you have to keep yourself fit and on track. There is back-to-back cricket and the gap is less. For that, you need to be extra fit. It's something I am preparing for. It’s going well in white-ball and hopefully, I will be able to do well in Tests too,” he added.
Babar Azam's comments about making history came after veteran India batter Dinesh Karthik backed him to achieve spectacular success in his career.
“One-hundred percent (he is capable of achieving that),” Karthik told India pacer Jasprit Bumrah’s wife Sanjana Ganesan on The ICC Review. “He is a high-quality player who is at the peak of his batting prowess and he has got some Test matches coming up.
“He has been phenomenal in all three formats of the game and he has done well in different batting positions too.”
“I wish him all the best and think he has the potential. He has got all the following of Pakistan helping him in abundance to go on and do special things for his country,” Karthik concluded.
Praise, however, keeps coming Babar Azam’s way from all quarters.
But nothing comes close to what former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif said about the talismanic batter. Comparing Babar Azam to Australia legend Don Bradman and West Indies icon Brian Lara, Rashid Latif had dubbed the Pakistan captain as the modern-day Bradman.
According to Latif, Babar Azam’s numbers had reached unbelievable heights, and there was no doubt that he was the greatest cricketer on the earth. Babar Azam currently averages just a shade under 60 in ODIs, while he has an average of over 45 in both Tests and T20Is.
“There has not been a batter-like Saeed Anwar. I have seen him from close quarters, and trust me; he was a special player. He (Babar) is the Bradman and Lara of this era. That is the thing,” Latif said.
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