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Legendary Sri Lanka batter Mahela Jayawardena believes that Pakistan skipper Babar Azam can dethrone England’s Joe Root at the top of the ICC Test Rankings in the future.
While speaking during the latest episode of The ICC Review, the former Sri Lanka captain said that Azam will hold the top position in all three formats at the same time.
“Tough one!” Jayawardena exclaimed. “I would say Babar Azam has an opportunity. He’s been consistent in all three formats and it shows in his rankings. He’s a naturally gifted player, plays in all conditions, he’s got the game to adapt as well.
“It depends on the amount of cricket, who’s playing when and how much but the Babar might be the guy.
“T20Is and ODIs, it is tough one to hold on to because there are a lot of good players who have to be consistent.
“As long as he can be that, because he has a very good role to play in that Pakistan setup – they have batters to bat around him, so he can play his own game – he should be able to hold on to that and at the same time, push himself to get better.
“I would put my money on him at least for a little while to hold to all three but there are some good quality players around who will keep pushing him.”
Jayawardena also lauded Azam for leading the team from the front, which is a challenging task as the captain of the side.
“Being the captain as well, he has taken responsibility and performed, which is great to see. (It’s) Not an easy thing to do,” he concluded.