Peshawar Zalmi skipper, Babar Azam appreciated a ball-picker for grabbing a catch of Alex Hales outside the boundary during Islamabad United’s inning on Thursday in HBL PSL 8.

The ball-picker was happy after receiving acknowledgement from the Zalmi skipper and passed a smile.

The social media users appreciated Babar Azam’s gesture towards the ball-picker, despite his bowlers being hit all around the park by Alex Hales.

Interestingly, Babar’s inspirational cricketing journey also started as a ball-picker during the South Africa’s 2007 tour of Pakistan.

“My cricket journey started back in 2007,” he said. “I had passion for the game but I really wanted to see international stars playing in front of me. At the time, South African team was here so I asked someone to help me become a ball picker. I used to go daily from Gulberg to Gaddafi Stadium.

“I used to enjoy picking up balls. I remember watching Inzamam-ul-Haq’s farewell innings where he got out before breaking the record of great Javed Miandad. I witnessed it live the way he went back to the dressing room and took his anger out. This journey has been long and tough but I feel blessed to be making my Test captaincy debut against the same team,” Babar told PCB Digital in 2021.