Pakistan cricket team’s captain Babar Azam has showered praise on his team’s 22-year-old batter Abdullah Shafique. The rising star has done well in domestic cricket, and in the ICC World Test Championship series against the Australian cricket team, he scored his maiden Test century in the second innings of the first Test at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.
Speaking of his numbers in Test cricket, Shafique has aggregated 547 runs in nine innings at an average of 68.37. His batting strike rate is around 40, while he has registered one century and four fifties in the longest format of the game so far.
Babar Azam participated in an interview with a local newspaper recently, where he shared his views on Abdullah Shafique. He said that he always enjoys the stylish batting shots from Abdullah and added that his teammates often compare him to Kane Williamson and Rahul Dravid. Here’s what he was quoted as saying by CricTracker:
“I watch and definitely enjoy Abdullah’s stylish batting. He plays very clean. Usually, we compare him to Kane Williamson and Rahul Dravid. We call him Dravid. In the presence of Abdullah, the place of opener Shan Masood, another polished batter, may be in doubt, but our main aim in selecting an individual is the team’s interest.”
Babar Azam and Abdullah Shafique will have to score big runs for Pakistan in the upcoming Test matches
The Pakistan cricket team had a relatively easier draw in the new ICC World Test Championship cycle, but the Babar Azam-led outfit have not performed well so far. They recently lost a home series against the Australian cricket team by 0-1.
To ensure that the Pakistan cricket team make it to the World Test Championship Final in 2023, the duo of Babar Azam and Abdullah Shafique will have to score heaps of runs for the team.
