Babar Azam names Imran Khan among 2 Pakistan cricket captains he would like to emulate

Pakistan limited-overs captain Babar Azam is surely one of the rising stars of modern-day cricket. In a very short time, he has impressed cricket pundits and fans with his impeccable batting. The Pakistan international has been in tremendous form since making his international debut. Babar Azam is currently in the top five of the ICC rankings across all three formats and is the only player to do so.

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Babar Azam chooses Imran Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq as captains he wishes to emulate

Babar Azam was recently appointed as Pakistan's ODI and T20I captain on a full-time basis. In his first YouTube video since the announcement, Azam chose to firstly hit back at former Pakistan cricketer Tanvir Ahmed, who had suggested the right-hander to work on his English, dressing sense and personality. Azam made it clear that he was here to play cricket for Pakistan and is not an Englishman to be obsessed with improving his English, as it would come gradually to him. Ahmed's comments might have occurred from the way Inzamam-ul-Haq was often laughed at for his post-match comments after every game as Pakistan captain.

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When it comes to idolizing his country's players as captains, Babar Azam named 1992 World Cup-winning captain and the country's current Prime Minister Imran Khan as well as current head coach Misbah-ul-Haq. Azam feels that he needs to trust and back his players completely like Imran Khan was renowned for back in his day and be attacking like him as well. He also says that he learns and take leadership advice from Misbah as well.

Azam also was worried about the growth of cricket, predicting that the game will change forever post COVID-19 in terms of playing and watching it. He compared the prospects of playing behind closed doors to Pakistan having to play in UAE from 2009-2019 due to the country blacklisted from hosting international cricket matches due to the 2009 terrorist attacks in Lahore.

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Babar Azam, who is in his fifth year of international cricket, has shown that he has a long way to go and his future is certainly bright. Babar Azam averages a staggering 54.18 in the ODIs after playing 74 matches and has amassed 3359 runs so far with 11 centuries and 15 fifties. His consistency in the shortest format of the game leaves many in awe.

He has mustered 1471 runs in just 38 innings in the T20Is with as many as 13 half-centuries. However, when it comes to the Test format, he is getting better. Currently, he averages 45.12 after 26 Tests and was easily Pakistan's top performer on their tour of Australia in the 2019-20 summer.

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IMAGE COURTESY: ICC-CRICKET.COM