Babar Azam looked ‘super classy’ during England Tests: Isa Guha

Former England cricketer Isa Guha has heaped praise on Pakistan’s prolific batsman Babar Azam, after the recently concluded Test series against England.

Although, Pakistan lost the Test series one-nil but Babar showed glimpses of his class over the course of the three matches.  

Isa Guha played eight Tests, 83 ODIs and 22 T20Is for England and also won the ICC Women’s World Cup 2009.

“When it came to batting, Babar Azam looked super classy, as ever, and Azhar Ali showed tremendous character in the final Test match with a Test match on the line and the chance to get championship points and some pressure off his shoulders,” Guha was quoted as saying in a press release by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

Babar was Pakistan’s second highest run-scorer in the series with 195 runs from five innings.  

Guha was also impressed with wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan, who was named Pakistan’s player of the series for his all-round performance.

“I thought he (Mohammad Rizwan) played beautifully. He was simply outstanding, I know it ended up being a drawn second Test, but he was superb in that game,” she said.

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She also believes that Pakistan should have won the first Test in Manchester, while praising the Men in Green bowlers.

“Pakistan showed a lot of character. It would have been disappointing in that first Test match when they probably felt they were in a winning position, but I think (Chris) Woakes and (Jos) Buttler played beautifully,” she said. “The way rain and bad light affected that second game.”

“I was really impressed by the bowlers. Shaheen Shah Afridi outstanding, Mohammad Abbas outstanding and it was so good to see the young Naseem Shah, he will keep learning and he has got some amazing people around him to keep learning from as well. Hopefully, he enjoyed his time over here,” she added. “Yasir Shah, well he is a lovely bubbly, feisty character and we love to see him play.”