Babar Azam ranked among Sodhi's 'Fab Five'

ISLAMABAD – New Zealand leg-spinner Ish Sodhi has ranked Pakistani Skipper Babar Azam on the top among his ‘Fab Five’ batsmen, saying he has always struggled to bowl against the Lahore-born cricketer.

Sodhi believes Babar Azam was the toughest to bowl to among the ‘fab five’ batsmen, which also includes India’s Virat Kohli, Australia’s Steve Smith, Black Caps captain Kane Williamson and England’s Joe Root.

Sodhi, in an Instagram live session with CricTracker as quoted by cricketpakistan.com.pk ranked his ‘fab five’ in order, where he placed Babar at the top.

“I’ll go with Babar at first and Steve Smith at second. Then Kane Williamson, Virat [Kohli] and Joe Root in the end,” said Sodhi. “Babar Azam is the toughest to bowl among the fab five. He is really a great player.”

When asked by the host about the reason why he placed Kohli below Babar, Sodhi reiterated that he always struggled against the 25-year-old batsman.

“I always find Babar really hard to bowl to. We have played against Babar Azam on some really hot days in UAE and he has played really well,” he said.

In Wednesday, while awarding central contracts to players, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) named the prolific batsman and Twenty20 skipper Babar Azam as the new ODI captain in place of Sarfraz Ahmed. Babar, had scored 1,850 runs in 26 Tests while 3,359 runs in 74 ODIs and 1,471 runs in 38 T20s.