Pakistani captain Babar Azam has been placed fourth in the recently ended World Test Championship (WTC) 2021-2023, below India’s Virat Kohli and Australia’s Steve Smith.
Azam leads the league with a 69.10 average in 20 innings, due to eight fifties and four hundreds.
Smith, the WTC 21-23 champion, has the second-best average of 55.40 in 30 innings with six fifties and four hundred. Meanwhile, England’s Joe Root is rated third, with an average of 54.20 in 34 innings, including eight fifties and six hundred.
Angelo Mathews of Sri Lanka averaged 48.40 with two fifties and two hundred in 16 innings, whereas Kohli averaged the least among the top five batters, scoring 34.65 runs per match with three fifties and a hundred.
Australia won the World T20 final on Sunday (June 11), defeating India by 209 runs.
India were bowled out for 234 runs in their second innings on the fifth day of the match, chasing a score of 444 runs.
Former Australia cricketer Matthew Hayden had hailed Azam as one of the modern-day great batters.
During a television interview prior to the World T20 final between India and Australia at The Oval, Hayden stated that Babar is one of the modern-day greats.
“Runs on the board are always important in a big game.” “Steve Smith is a maestro for that,” Hayden said when questioned about Australia’s chances in the final match.
“If you think about modern-day greats, Smith, Kohli, and Babar Azam are once-in-a-lifetime players who might be this generation’s cricketers,” he said.
It should be mentioned that Hayden served as a batting coach for the Pakistan team throughout two T20 World Cups. In 2021, he was named batting coach, and Pakistan faced Australia in the semi-finals.
Later on, in 2022, he was once again roped in as the batting mentor and Pakistan played the final against England.
The explosive batter of his time often praised Babar for his batting skills during his stint with the green shirts.
