Pakistan captain Babar Azam has been under the scanner in recent times for his strike rate in white-ball cricket. Azam, who was recently named ICC Cricketer of the Year, had a mixed last year where he scored big runs in ODIs and Test cricket but failed to live up to expectations in T20 multi-nation tournaments – Asia Cup and T20 World Cup.
He led Pakistan to the finals of both the Asia Cup and T20 WC but his personal numbers were quite average with 124 runs in 7 matches in Australia and 68 runs in T20Is in the UAE.
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The premier batter was recently seen practicing some unorthodox shots during the net sessions. He was looking to play the shots over the fine leg in the nets and some felt that he is trying to channelise his inner 360-degree batting which in recent times is associated with India’s Suryakumar Yadav. Several fans started comparing Babar to Suryakumar as the latter was also trolled for copying the Indian batter.
Babar Azam, the new Mr 360#cricket pic.twitter.com/x46cUsLrzy— Cricket Pakistan (@cricketpakcompk) February 3, 2023
WC aur Asia cup meinKitne chhake thhey360° wale ke????????— CricwormAnna (@CricwormA) February 4, 2023
Imitating SKY…But do it in a real match not in nets only.— Tejas Samuel (@Tejas_37) February 4, 2023
The @surya_14kumar effect ????— Vikas Singh (@imvikas21) February 4, 2023
Practice me Har koi Marta he match me marke dikhaye to manage….bt esi ummid &trust to only hamare Surya bhai @surya_14kumar pe hi he????????????????????????????????????????❣️❣️— Pranav Thakkar (@PranavT71959705) February 4, 2023
Suryakumar holds the top spot in ICC T20I batting charts as he has been in terrific form in the shortest format for the past couple of years. In the past 6 months, the Mumbaikar has slammed three T20I centuries.
While on the other hand, Babar is at the top of the batting charts in ICC ODI rankings. The 28-year-old amassed 2598 runs in 44 matches last year across formats at an average of 54.12.
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In Test cricket, he scored 1184 runs from 9 Tests – the most by any batter.
Meanwhile, Suryakumar was named the Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year 2022. The dynamic Indian batter pipped the likes of Sikandar Raza, Sam Curran and Mohammad Rizwan, becoming the first-ever Indian cricketer to be bestowed with the top honour.
“It’s a great feeling. 2022 has been amazing for me. From a personal point of you. I really enjoyed a few knocks I played that year. And If I had to pick one knock which I feel was special and very close to me, was my first 100 for my country. Because 1st hundred is always special. Hopefully, many more knocks to come. Thank you,” Suryakumar told ICC after accepting the Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year award.
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