Watch Babar Azam deliver a masterclass in batting against Australia A

It is modern cricket’s open secret that when Babar Azam is at the crease, scores and competitions take a back seat.

When Babar bats, only the joy of batting matters. It supersedes everything, just as it did on Monday when he hit an unbeaten 157 in what was merely a tour match against an Australia A side.

But the sheer majesty of Babar’s stroke play and finesse was enough to make cricket fans all over the world ogle.

By stumps on day 1 of the three-way match, fans, not for the first time this year, were waxing lyrical about the Lahore native.

It was truly a princely knock as someone pointed out.

While there may be more effective batsmen out there, Azam is the most stylish as another Twitter user pointed out.

While Babar was making everyone weak in their knees, Asad Shafiq was also hard at work.

The 33-year-old was unbeaten at 119 off 245 balls when play ended but his cameo was completely overshadowed by the masterclass of his partner.