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Former Indian cricketer names Babar Azam in his fab-five across all formats

Pakistan T20I captain is the only player to be among the top five in ICC rankings across all formats

Former Indian cricketer names Babar Azam in his fab-five across all formats PHOTO: AFP

India’s former cricketer Wasim Jaffer, in an Instagram live session on Wednesday, revealed his list of fab-five batsmen, keeping in mind the performances across all three formats of the game.

Jaffer played 31 Tests and two ODIs for India. He featured in the national side as a right-handed top-order batsman and has a highest score of 212 runs in Test match cricket.

The 42-year-old decided to name Pakistan’s prolific batsman Babar Azam alongside the current fab four, which includes Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson and Joe Root.

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Babar is currently ranked number one in Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is), while also being the only player to be among the top five in ICC rankings across all formats.

Earlier this year, former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra also claimed that Babar stood shoulder-to-shoulder with India’s batting maestro Kohli in terms of performances and could no longer be ignored in the fab-four list.

“I would keep Pakistan’s Babar Azam in the fab four. He stands shoulder to shoulder with India’s Virat Kohli. He is the number one batsman in T20Is, number-three in ODIs and number five in Test cricket. If you are in the top five in all three formats than how can you not be in the fab four of world cricket? He should be included in the fab four a 120 per cent,” said Chopra.