Babar Azam is to Pakistan cricket what Virat Kohli is to India. He is easily Pakistan's most talked about cricketer in recent times. His top rankings in ICC charts justifies his popularity. With the World Cup fast approaching, Babar Azam's form will be closely watched. The Pakistan captain is currently featuring in the Lanka Premier League 2023. He has been in great form for Colombo Strikers. He recently hit a match-winning hundred which made him only the second player after Chris Gayle to hit 10 T20 centuries.
Former Pakistan captain and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) head Ramiz Raja was effusive in his praise for Azam during the match. "Fifty in security, class and quality. Calmness. He is your guy in such a situation. He can bat deep in the innings," Raja said on-air.
When his fellow commentator, asked whether he wants to add more objectives, the former Pakistan captain replied: "I absolutely love him… Yeah, want to marry him."
With the World Cup in two months, Pakistan will be one of the closely followed teams. India will take on Pakistan at the Narendra Modi Stadium in the second week of October at marquee event. Former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis has revealed that pressure was never a concern for the high-octane clash against India, adding that the team used to choke against their arch-rivals at ICC events.
"In our times, the pressure wasn't that of a big concern as what it seems right now. The lesser you play against a team, that too against a big team - so whenever you'll play them, especially if it is Pakistan and India, the pressure would be immense and tripled. Pressure is always high, but maybe in our times, it was comparatively lesser because we used to play lots of cricket in my early days. But then again, in World Cup, we used to choke against India. Nonetheless, as I said, players these days are handling the pressure definitely better. These match-winners, which I mentioned earlier, they'll win us the game," Younis told Cricket Pakistan.