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If you think Kohli is good to watch, have a look at Babar Azam bat: Tom Moody

Former Australia all-rounder believes Pakistan top-order batsman is a special talent

If you think Kohli is good to watch, have a look at Babar Azam bat: Tom Moody PHOTO: AFP/IPL

Former Australian cricketer Tom Moody believes Pakistan top-order batsman Babar Azam is a special talent, who is pleasing to the eye when batting in full flow.

While speaking in The Pitch Side Experts Podcast, the former all-rounder said that Azam is going to be in the top five Test batsmen in the next decade.

“He [Babar] has emerged over the last year or so into something that is going to be so special. We talked about how Virat Kohli is so good on the eye as a batsman. If you think Virat Kohli is good to watch, have a look at Babar Azam bat. My gosh, he is something special,” said Moody. “I think, in the next five to ten years, he will definitely be in your top five [batsmen of the decade] without a question.”

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However, while selecting the top five Test batsmen of the last decade, Moody said that it would be too early to put Babar in the same category as Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson.

“Even though he [Babar] has played 26 matches but in half of those matches he was not considered even part of the main batting line-up for Pakistan. He was the after-thought down the order,” he said. “I think at the moment, it is very hard to justify him at that position given his statistics. Away from home he is only averaging 37 and at home he is averaging 67. But we have to consider that he has hardly played away from home and a lot of those games away were during the early part of his career.”

Azam has recently broken into the top five in ICC Test batsmen rankings, after a prolific last season, in which he scored four centuries in his previous five Tests.