Babar Azam named Pak ODI captain

LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board on Wednesday named ace batsman Babar Azam as their ODI skipper, making him the country’s white-ball captain.

The right-handed Azam who has been one of the world’s leading batsmen across formats over the last year replaced Sarfraz Ahmed as the skipper. Meanwhile, Azhar Ali will continue to lead the side in the longest format of the game while Azam will be the skipper in both limited-overs fixtures.

In the forthcoming season, Pakistan is scheduled to play two T20Is in Ireland (July), three Tests and three T20Is in England (July-September), three ODIs and three T20Is in South Africa (October), three ODIs and three T20Is at home against Zimbabwe (November).

The team will also lock horns in two tests and three T20Is in New Zealand (December), two Tests and three T20Is at home against South Africa (January 2021) and two Tests and three T20Is in Zimbabwe (April 2021). In addition to bilateral series, Pakistan will also feature in the Asia Cup T20 tournament and the ICC T20 Men’s World Cup 2020 in Australia.

Babar leads the list of batsmen with hook shots: Pakistan’s Babar Azam leads the list of batsmen with the highest scoring average when playing the hook or pull shots in Test cricket. The batsman, who is the only one in the world to be ranked among the top five across all three formats, leads the table with an average of 152 having been dismissed just once while playing the two shots. Australians Usman Khawaja (112) and Steve Smith (102.4) are at second and third position respectively while South Africa’s Faf du Plessis comes in at fourth with scoring average 96.6.

Former New Zealand cricketer Brendon McCullum and Kusal Mendis of Sri Lanka round off the top six with their averages of 78 each.