Virat Kohli and Babar Azam are the only two batsmen in the world whose styles are being copied: Zaheer Abbas

Since his debut for Pakistan in 2015, Babar Azam has been in a blistering form and has managed to impress the who’s who of the cricket fraternity with his grit and character. The batsman is now counted in the same league as Indian skipper Virat Kohli, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson, England Test skipper Joe Root and Australian cricketer Steve Smith.

Former Pakistan skipper Zaheer Abbas was all praises for Babar Azam and Virat Kohli as he hailed them as the top two batters in the modern era. Speaking about the two batters, Zaheer reckoned that Kohli is one of the batsmen in the world and Azam has also shown his class. 

When the veteran was asked to pick the top three batters globally right now, he answered as quoted by Cricket Pakistan, “Captain of the Indian team, Virat Kohli is up there. There is no doubt that he is one of the best batsmen in the world. Then there’s our hero, Babar Azam, and may God give him a long career and get more good performances out of him. 

“He’s really good. You’ve asked me a tough question but I believe these (Virat Kohli and Babar Azam) are the only two batsmen in the world whose styles are being copied.”

In the IPL there were batsmen playing the cut shot through slips and gully: Zaheer Abbas

Elaborating his stance, Zaheer Abbas said that Babar and Kohli are the only two players whose batting style is being copied by other young rookies as they aspire to become like them somewhere in the near future. Further, Abbas added that he has watched a couple of games from the Indian Premier League (IPL) and found many players copying the cut shot through slips and gully.

Notably, Virat and Babar are the only two batsmen in the world to feature in the top 10 of the batters rankings by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in all formats. “I have seen a few batsmen doing it. In the IPL, I watched a couple of games, and there were batsmen playing the cut shot through slips and gully. So such shots have become common and so many batsmen are playing them,” Abbas added.