'He's pretty darn good' - Dale Steyn names Babar Azam as best batter across formats
Apart from Steyn, Babar has received acknowledgment from Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Watson recently.
Veteran South African pacer Dale Steyn has named Pakistan skipper Babar Azam the world’s best batter. The right-arm pacer was involved in a Question and Answer (Q&A) session on the micro-blogging site Twitter on April 14 (Thursday). Steyn answered a number of fan questions who asked him a variety of things.
One of the questions asked, which took Steyn’s attention, was regarding who is the best batsman across all formats at present. The former South African pacer named Pakistan captain Babar Azam. To note, Babar Azam has been a prolific performer for Pakistan, since he made his debut in 2015. He is currently the skipper of his side, across all formats of the game.
He is pretty darn good: Dale Steyn on Babar
In a similar development, former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson was asked about the top five batters in the current era, and Babar was named second on the list behind Indian run-machine, Virat Kohli, and ahead of Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, and Joe Root.
Even legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar applauded the Pakistan skipper for his amazing display of batting across all formats during the recently concluded home series against Australia. However, Pakistan could only manage to win the ODI series, with the visitors winning the Test series and the one-off T20I.
Talking about Babar’s numbers in T20I cricket, the right-handed batter has played 74 matches in which he has amassed 2686 runs at an excellent average of 45.53. The 27-year-old plays with a strike rate of almost 130 and has stroked 26 half-centuries and one century in the 20-over format.
Meanwhile, Pakistan recently hosted West Indies and Australia, apart from organizing the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The Men in Green are scheduled to play several international matches in the second half of the year as well. Pakistan will take on West Indies, the Netherlands, and Sri Lanka in the upcoming months. Pakistan will like to do well in the upcoming series against the above-mentioned countries, as they would want to prepare well for the all-important ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
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