Babar Azam finds Pakistan rankings 'unacceptable' after calling it 'greatest cricket team'

Pakistan limited-overs captain Babar Azam is surely one of the rising stars of modern-day cricket. In a very short time, he has impressed many cricket pundits and fans with his impeccable batting. The Pakistan international has been in tremendous form since making his international debut.

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Pakistan's position in ICC rankings not acceptable: Babar Azam

Babar Azam is currently in the top five of the ICC rankings across all three formats and is the only player with this honour at the moment in world cricket. Recently, he was appointed as the captain of the Pakistan cricket team in the ODIs. He was also appointed as the captain in T20Is last year.

Recently, Babar Azam expressed his disappointment on Pakistan's position in ICC rankings. Pakistan are ranked seventh, sixth, and fourth in Tests, ODIs, and T20Is respectively. Earlier this month, Pakistan, who were at the top spot in T20Is for 27 months, were dethroned from the spot by Australia. 

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In an interview with Cricket Pakistan, Babar Azam said that Pakistan’s rankings in Test, ODIs and T20Is is not acceptable and added that they will try their best to improve that. He also said that they need to focus on making a good team rather than just relying on individuals. Babar Azam also spoke about the lockdown situation in different countries due to COVID-19 which has put an end to cricketing action.

Babar Azam said that when one is playing cricket regularly, it becomes disheartening to stop all of a sudden. He added that they are doing whatever they can to maintain fitness and practice at home. Babar Azam further said that they miss playing cricket and he is sure the fans do as well. Babar Azam went on to say that it’s disappointing that they have been in lockdown for the past couple of months because they were looking forward to the cricket planned during the year as they had important Test matches as well as the T20 World Cup.

Recently, Babar Azam had made a sensational claim that Pakistan is the 'greatest cricket nation in the world' for having played away from home for a decade between 2009-2019 and yet managing to win a lot of games despite controversies and odds being against them often. 

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Babar Azam chooses Imran Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq as captains he wishes to emulate

When it comes to idolizing his country's players as captains, Babar Azam named 1992 World Cup-winning captain and the country's current Prime Minister Imran Khan as well as current head coach Misbah-ul-Haq. Azam feels that he needs to trust and back his players completely like Imran Khan was renowned for, back in his day and be attacking like him as well. He also says that he learns and take leadership advice from Misbah-ul-Haq as well.

Babar Azam, who is in his fifth year of international cricket, has shown that he has a long way to go and his future is certainly bright. Babar Azam averages a staggering 54.18 in the ODIs after playing 74 matches and has amassed 3359 runs so far with 11 centuries and 15 fifties. His consistency in the shortest format of the game leaves many in awe.

He has mustered 1471 runs in just 38 innings in the T20Is with as many as 13 half-centuries. However, when it comes to the Test format, he is getting better. Currently, he averages 45.12 after 26 Tests and was easily Pakistan's top performer on their tour of Australia in the 2019-20 summer.

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IMAGE COURTESY: ICC-CRICKET.COM