Babar Azam looks a million dollars in modern-day cricket: Waqar Younis

Legendary former Pakistan pacer Waqar Younis has heaped praise on Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, saying that the right-handed batter looks like a “million dollars” in modern-day cricket and is as good as all the big names in the game. The former fast bowler also believes that Pakistan stand a good chance of doing well in the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia.

Younis feels that the wickets in Australia are good for batting and Pakistan batters could perform well in those conditions. He added that Babar could be the key for the team in the top order, along with wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan. He also opined that Pakistan have one of the best bowling lineups in the world.

“We stand a really good chance of doing well at this World Cup,” Waqar told ICC Digital in Melbourne. “The pitches in Australia are generally very good batting pitches and Pakistan do have good batters who can really play well in these conditions,” he added. 

Babar is still very young and has plenty of cricket ahead of him: Younis

“Babar is definitely going to be the key batter at the top of the order,” said the former Pakistan captain. “I think he (Babar) will have the impact that he has always had and then, of course, Rizwan is playing very well and the bowling attack they have got it one of the best in the world,” he added further. 

Younis mentioned that Pakistan have tried six or seven different fast bowlers in the last year or so. He reckons that Haris Rauf and Shaheen Afridi will be “pivotal”, while he also reminded that Hasan Ali has been “decent”. “Pakistan’s fast bowling attack is very good and they can mix it up with Shadab (Khan) and (Mohammad) Nawaz as they are good spinners also,” added Younis.

“Babar Azam in modern-day cricket looks a million dollars and he is definitely as good as all the big names. But all those greats have their own strengths and their own class and all of them played in different eras and we should not forget that,” opined Younis. Babar is currently ranked fourth in Tests, first in ODIs and T20Is, in the ICC Rankings for batting.