Former England cricketer Michael Vaughan is all praise for Pakistan cricketer Babar Azam. He opined that Babar is the best all-round batter in the world currently. The Pakistan skipper once again displayed his mettle at the International level in the second test against Australia.
Babar slammed 196 runs off 425 balls, including 21 boundaries and a six in Karachi. Unfortunately, he fell four runs short of his maiden double-century. Babar’s knock helped Pakistan to draw the test match on Wednesday.
Praising the Pakistan skipper, Michael Vaughan termed him as “brilliant” across all formats of the game. He tweeted:
“Without question I think @babarazam258 is the best all round Batter in the World right now .. Brilliant across all the formats .. #PAKvAUS ..”,
Without question I think @babarazam258 is the best all round Batter in the World right now .. Brilliant across all the formats .. #PAKvAUS ..
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) March 16, 2022
The Pakistan skipper came out to bat in a tricky situation, having lost their top two for 21 runs on the board. Pakistan needed 485 more runs to win the test or play out over 140 overs in the fourth innings for a draw.
Babar Azam’s third-wicket stand with Abdullah Shafique helped Pakistan to steady the ship. Pakistan ended day five on 443 runs, having lost seven batters. Babar was also supported well by Mohammad Rizwan who slammed 104 runs, and Shafique, who fall short of his century by four runs.
Tried to bat as long as I could: Babar Azam
Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Babar expressed that the emphasis was on building partnerships and taking the game session-by-session. He lauded Mohammad Rizwan’s unbeaten knock to help Pakistan draw the match.
“The plan was to bat session-by-session and build partnerships. It was a team effort, as others (Shafique and Rizwan) chipped in with useful contributions too. We took the onus and the main focus was to build partnerships right throughout the day. Rizwan was outstanding as he saved the Test for us eventually.”
“We wanted to continue to bat in the same way (after the tea break) and we tried to be positive and play our shots. The team needed this knock, so I tried to bat for as long as I could,” Babar further added.
Pakistan will take on Australia in the third and final Test match of the series starting on March 21 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
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