Babar Azam
Former England captain and presently a commentator and analyst, Nasser Hussain, feels that given the "phenomenal player" that Babar Azam is, he should be part of the Indian Premier League.
IPL, in its rich 12 years of history, has embraced Pakistan cricketers for the only season, back in the inaugural season of 2008. But with the rise in political tension between India and Pakistan, neither have the players been involved in bilateral competition nor in IPLs.
"I don't want to get into the politics of it but India and Pakistan not playing each other is like the Premier League with Manchester City not playing Manchester United, or Everton-Liverpool or Spurs and Arsenal," Hussain had said during the broadcast of day one of Pakistan's opening Test against England. "It's the iconic fixture of world cricket."
Nasser feels that the political tensions have deprived Pakistan players of an IPL experience while naming Babar, the present No.1 ranked T20I batsman.
"Secondly, it's the Pakistani players not being in the IPL. The IPL will start soon and Babar Azam won't be there. He's a phenomenal player and he should be there," he said.
IPL 2020 begins in the UAE from September 19.
Earlier during the same tour, Nasser expressed his awe of Pakistan's young prince Babar following his half-century in the first innings of the opener in Manchester.
"I think it is a real shame and it is in part a consequence of Pakistan playing away from home, playing in the UAE all the time in front of no-one, Pakistan hiding in the shadow of Indian cricket, not going over and playing IPL cricket, not playing India," said Nasser on Sky Sports commentary.
"If this lad was Virat Kohli, everyone would be talking about it but because it is Babar Azam, no one is talking about it. He averages 68 since 2018 and 55 in white-ball cricket. He's young, he's elegant, he's got all the swagger. They keep going on about the fab four, it's the fab five and Babar Azam is in that."
