Former Pakistan skipper Ramiz Raja has identified a young Pakistan player who is very similar to Virat Kohli and Babar Azam. On his youtube channel, Raja pointed out the positives from the Pakistan Super League 2020 and talked about some of the young talented Pak players who excel during the tournament.
PSL 2020 semifinals and final are yet to be played as they were postponed indefinitely due to deadly coronavirus outbreak in Pakistan.
Apart from some young fast bowlers, Raja also felt that some batsmen have also impressed everyone with their skill with the bat.
"After 4 years of long wait, finally 3 to 4 young exciting batsman were also spotted and they can serve Pakistan cricket if they are nurtured well," said cricketer turned commentator Raja
The former batsman heaped praises on 19-year-old Haider Ali, who played for Peshawar Zalmi in PSL 2020.
"Haider Ali don't need to improvise as he has a lot of quality shots in his kitty and his power-hitting base is also very solid. His best reference point is Virat Kohli or Babar Azam," said Raja.
A file image of Haider Ali
Kohli and Babar are the only players in world cricket at the moment, who are in the top 10 batsman rankings in all three formats of the game. Kohli is no. 1 in ODI, 2nd in Test and 10th in T20I cricket. Meanwhile, Babar is 1st in T20I, 3rd in ODI and 5th in the Test cricket rankings.
Raja further said, Babar and Kohli are such successful batsmen because they didn't improvise much while batting and stick to the traditional shots whatever the format is.
"Haider also has to work on his consistency like Virat and Babar and try to be consistent. He is a batsman who should bat at the number 3 position and few dot balls should not worry him, he should have faith in his capability that he can cover up for the dot balls later and win matches for the team just like Virat Kohli and Babar Azam."
Haider Ali scored 239 runs from his 9 PSL 5 innings, with an astonishing strike-rate of 158. 27.
