KARACHI: Former West Indies cricketer and commentator Ian Bishop has claimed that Babar Azam has nearly overtaken Indian star batsman Virat Kohli as “the best fifty-and-over batsman”.
Bishop praised the Pakistan national team captain for his consistent performance and unprecedented form in limited cricket as he currently leads the ODI and T20I batsman rankings.
“Babar Azam is on his way to greatness, (…) in cue-ball cricket and certainly in the fifties,” Bishop said during a conversation with Cricwick.com.
Bishop further compared Babar’s brilliance in ODIs to former Indian captain and eminent batsman Kohli, while stating that the Pakistan captain has almost surpassed the latter’s greatness in ODI cricket.
“His average, as we speak now, (is) on the cusp of 60 with 17 hundred ODIs.
He has almost surpassed his next door neighbor, the great Virat Kohli, in terms of the best batsman over 50 years old,” he stated.
The former West Indies bowler also weighed in on Babar’s performance in Test cricket and hoped he would soon excel in the longer format as well.
“Your test cricket is a work in progress.
I’m surprised he hasn’t given much to try cricket numbers much sooner. He is starting to get better at it. Technically, he’s superb,” Bishop said.
“In the future, I hope he will be mentioned at the same time in Test cricket as the best 3-4 players,” he concluded.
Bishop had also included Babar Azam in his recently announced All-Time Pakistan XI.
It is pertinent to mention here that top ranked ODI batsman Babar was named ICC ODI Men’s Player of the Year 2021 following his incredible run in the limited overs format. He also became the first batsman to score three consecutive ODI centuries twice.
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