Babar Azam is the toughest to bowl among the 'Fab five' batsmen: Ish Sodhi

The COVID-19 outbreak has compelled the cricketers to stay away from the sport and spend their quarantine period on social media. Amid the pandemic, many cricketers have notched up their activity on Instagram and Twitter. While some players have conducted Twitter Q&A sessions, some have resorted to Instagram live to provide fans with some entertainment.

New Zealand’s Ish Sodhi, on Wednesday, was also involved in an Instagram live session with CricTracker where he discussed over several topics. The leg-spinner also opined on the much-debated ‘Fab Five’ in international cricket and revealed bowling against which player is the toughest job.

The never-ending debate over ‘Fab Five’ fails to come to a conclusion. Over the years, many players have proved their dominance on the international stage and have etched their name as contenders of ‘Fab five’ list.

Many prolific batsmen including Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Joe Root, Kane Williamson, David Warner, and Rohit Sharma have emerged as candidates of the elite list of ‘Fab Five’. One more name– Babar Azam– has also tasted success in recent times as the Pakistani stalwart has been delivering consistently across all formats for the Men in Gren.

Ish Sodhi, while reflecting on Babar’s batting, said that bowling against him is the toughest among the ‘Fab five’. According to the New Zealand international, bowling against Babar becomes a tedious task, especially in UAE conditions.

“Babar Azam is the toughest to bowl among the fab five. It’s tough to bowl against him especially in UAE conditions,” said Sodhi during the Instagram live session with CricTracker.

Sodhi also ranked his ‘Fab five’ in order where he put Babar at the first place, followed by Steve Smith and Kane Williamson. Sodhi ranked Kohli at the No.4 spot and Root at the last position.

Babar Azam is currently the No.1 batsman in ICC T20I rankings

25-year-old Babar has already proved his mettle in all formats of the game. Due to his run-scoring spree and consistency, the right-hander has been hailed as Pakistan’s ‘modern-day great’ by many cricket experts. In a career spanning over 74 ODIs and 38 T20Is, Babar has gathered 3359 and 1471 runs respectively at a staggering average of over 50 in both the formats.

Babar also put up an impressive show in PSL 2020 and hogged limelight for his batting performances for Karachi Kings. With the red ball, the Lahore-born batsman has amassed 1850 runs in 26 Tests and has 5 tons and 13 half-centuries under his belt. If runs keep flowing off Babar’s willow at a consistent rate, he is anticipated to break many batting records in the near future. Babar is currently ranked No.1 in ICC T20I rankings, third in ODI rankings and fifth in Test rankings.