Ravichandran Ashwin terms Babar Azam a ‘million-dollar player’ in interaction with Inzamam-ul-Haq

Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was all praise for Pakistan captain Babar Azam in a conversation with ex-Pakistan skipper and batting legend Inzamam-ul-Haq on his YouTube channel.

“Babar Azam looks like a million-dollar player. He has scored a hundred in Australia. It is so good to see him bat so well. He is a treat for the eyes. What do you think about Babar Azam?” Ashwin asked Inzamam after showering praises on Babar Azam.

Replying to Ashwin’s query, Inzamam said that while he too likes watching the youngster bat, the Pakistan captain is yet to reach his peak yet, according to him.

“He is simply a great player. The kind of talent he has, he needs to perform even better. He has only played international cricket for five years. A batsman reaches his peak after playing international cricket for seven or eight years, so Babar is yet to reach his peak and he will do even better in coming years,” Inzamam told Ashwin.

Azam is among the top five batsmen in International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings in all three formats of the sport.

Babar Azam: The PSL 2020 star

Azam was the leading run-scorer for Karachi Kings in the recently concluded Pakistan Super League (PSL 2020). In 12 matches, he amassed 473 at an average of 59.12 and a strike rate of 124.14 with five fifties.

Azam was the man of the match in the final against Lahore Qalandars with an unbeaten 63 from 49 balls as Karachi Kings lifted the PSL 2020 title. For his stupendous efforts, Azam was also named the player of the tournament.

The 26-year-old is often compared to Indian captain Virat Kohli owing to the prolific numbers that he has raked up in international cricket across the three formats of the game.

Azam has so far featured in 29 Tests, 77 ODIs and 44 T20Is, and has scored 2045, 3580 and 1681 runs respectively. He has notched up five hundreds in Tests and 12 in One-Dayers.