Former Australia allrounder Tom Moody believes that Pakistan top-order batsman Babar Azam is a special talent and is a pleasure to watch while batting. Speaking on The Pitch Side Experts Podcast alongside former West Indies cricketer Ian Bishop and cricket analyst Freddie Wilde, Moody opined that Babar will grow into top five Test batsmen over the next decade.
“He [Babar] has emerged over the last year or so into something that is going to be so special. We talked about how Virat Kohli is so good on the eye as a batsman. If you think Virat Kohli is good to watch, have a look at Babar Azam bat. My gosh, he is something special,” said Moody.
“I think in the next five to ten years, he will definitely be in your top five [batsmen of the decade] without a question,” the Sunrisers Hyderabad coach added.
The former Australian, though, admitted that Azam’s statistics at the moment make it difficult to put him in the top five current batsmen. “I think, in the next 5-10 years, he will be on your top five position. Even though he [Babar] has played 26 matches but in half of those matches he was not considered even part of the main batting line-up for Pakistan. He was the after-thought down the order,” he said.
“I think at the moment, it is very hard to justify him at that position given his statistics. Away from home he is only averaging 37 and at home he is averaging 67. But we have to consider that he has hardly played away from home and a lot of those games away were during the early part of his career,” Moody added.
Azam is currently at the fiveth position in ICC Test batting rankings, below Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Marnus Labuschagne, and Kane Williamson.
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