Danny Morrison heaps praise on ‘wristy’ Babar Azam

Former New Zealand pacer and now a renowned commentator, Danny Morrison, has heaped praise on Pakistan’s Twenty20 International (T20I) captain Babar Azam, with special emphasis on his elegant wrist work.  

Azam has been prolific run-scorer for Pakistan, across all formats, in the recent past. The right-handed batsman features in the top five of International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings for batsmen in all formats with first, third and fifth position in T20Is, ODIs and Tests respectively.

“The number one batsman in the world for T20 is Babar Azam. I love watching him play because of his beautiful wrist work. I have been fortunate enough to cover a lot of cricket in the UAE for the past 10 years, which is why I have seen his development in the last few years come through,” said Morrison in a YouTube video.

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The 54-year-old was also full of praise for Pakistan’s talented young pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, who has established himself as the Men in Green’s potent bowling weapon, across all formats, in a short span of time.

Afridi has featured in eight Tests, so far, and taken 30 wickets at an average of 27.96. He has also played 19 ODIs and claimed 40 wickets at an average of 21.17. While in T20Is, Afridi has represented Pakistan in 12 matches and bagged 16 wickets at an average of 20.81.

“I was in New Zealand in January, two years ago, for the U19 World Cup and Shaheen was there. Again it’s good to see him developing into this wonderful talent and is only really started his journey. He is very exciting,” he said.  

Morrison also said that “both [Shaheen and Babar] will be around for Pakistan for a long time”.