Skip to main content

'Babar Azam as good as Virat Kohli'

Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur has heaped praise on right-handed batsman Babar Azam, saying he is as good as swashbuckling Indian batsman Virat Kohli.

During the recently concluded Hamilton Test against New Zealand which Pakistan lost by eight wickets, Azam scored an unbeaten 90 and Arthur says the former deserves the high praise.

"He's a young gun who will be an exceptional player.I'll go so far as to say, at the same age, I reckon, he's as good as Virat Kohli, which I know that's high praise but he's right up there," the Pakistan coach was quoted as saying by Express Tribune.

The 22-year-old Pakistani batsman averages 46.40 after three Tests and 52.11 in the 18 ODIs he has represented the national team till now. Azam has hit three centuries and five fifties in the ODIs whereas after the same number of matches, Kohli had only one ton and an average of 50 to his name.

Pakistan had to face a 0-2 whitewash in the recently concluded series against the Black Caps, their first series loss after 31 years, but the head coach feels the build-up to the series was not good.

"I think we've become better and better as the series has gone on.We arrived straight from Dubai to five days of rain in Nelson so we didn't get any training or a practice game, which was completely rained out. And there was an earthquake as well," Arthur said.

"We almost went into the first Test match pretty cold, played OK there and we've played a lot better in this [second] Test match. Had this series gone another Test match we would have been better for the conditions. Hopefully, this has put us in good stead for what we can experience in Australia," he added.

Pakistan will next tour Australia for a three-match Test series which begins with a day-night Test in Brisbane on December 15, followed by games at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (Dec 26-30) and the Sydney Cricket Ground (Jan 3-7, 2017).

Stay updated on the go with Sify Live Scores App. Click here to download it for your device



via Sify.com http://ift.tt/2gXvurq
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Virat Kohli and co. leave for West Indies

The Virat Kohli led Indian team left for the West Indies for the four-Test series starting July 21st. The team was accompanied by its newly appointed head coach Anil Kumble and other support staff. The 16-member squad will play a tour game against the West Indies Cricket Board President's XI at Warner Park in Basseterre, St Kitts on July 9 and 10. The journey begins. #TeamIndia leaves for the tour of West Indies. #WIvIND http://pic.twitter.com/ebK1jkoFiN -BCCI (@BCCI) July 5, 2016 That will be followed by a three-day warm-up fixture at the same venue from July 14 to 16. The first Test match will be held at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua from July 21 to 25. The other three Test matches will be held at Sabina Park in Kingston, Jamaica (Jul 30-Aug 3), Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in Gros Islet, St Lucia (Aug 9-13) and Queen's Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad (Aug 18-22). When India last toured West Indies in 2011, the visitors won the series 1-0....
Post a Comment
Read more

India withdraw Smith protest as boards make peace in DRS row

India have withdrawn an official protest about the actions of Australia captain Steve Smith in the second test as the governing bodies of both countries moved to bring an end to the acrimony surrounding the ongoing four-match series. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had earlier registered a complaint to the International Cricket Council (ICC) over Smith looking to the dressing room for guidance on whether to review an lbw decision during the Bengaluru match. Despite the hosts winning the test to level the series at 1-1 on Tuesday, India skipper Virat Kohli alleged the tourists had indulged in the practice throughout the match, sparking a war of words in the media and a robust response from Australia. The boards released a joint statement on Friday saying the chief executives of both bodies had met in Mumbai on Thursday and agreed to try and bring the focus "back to the game" ahead of next week's third test in Ranchi. "India has always cherished a c...
Post a Comment
Read more

AB de Villiers becomes top ranked batsman in ODIs

Dubai: South Africa's star batsman AB de Villiers on Friday regained the top spot in the ICC player rankings for One-Day International batsmen after leading the list of run-scorers in the recent series against New Zealand. De Villiers's 262 runs in the series, including a highest of 85 in the third ODI at Wellington, have helped him overtake Australia opener David Warner at the top of the ladder, reclaiming the top spot within two months of losing it to India captain Virat Kohli, according to the International Cricket Council's (ICC) statement. The 33-year-old batsman is on 875 points, four points ahead of Warner and 23 clear of Kohli. Among other batsmen, England's Joe Root and Alex Hales are major gainers as they have reached career-best rankings. Root has reached fourth spot after scoring 195 runs including 101 in the final match in Bridgetown against West Indies while Hales, who knocked up 110 in the same match, his fifth century in the last 20 ODIs, has gained...
Post a Comment
Read more