Rabada Acknowledges Babar’s Prowess as the Backbone of Pakistan Team

South Africa’s star pacer Kagiso Rabada has praised the batting brilliance of Babar Azam. He said that the star Pakistani batter is like a rock for his team. It should be noted that Babar Azam is rated highly in the international circuit by many renowned stars. He has produced many magical performances for Pakistan over the years, which is why cricket pundits around the world have always shown massive respect for him.

Kagiso Rabada recently appeared in a podcast called ‘Beard Before Podcast’. In a conversation with England’s Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, Rabada heaped praise on Babar, stating that the batter is like a rock in the Pakistan batting lineup.

“Babar Azam is a rock, especially in Pakistan. It’s like, ‘man, how do you get this guy out?’” said Kagiso Rabada.

As per the stats, Rabada has dismissed Babar Azam only four times in international matches. Three of those dismissals have come in tests, while one has been done in ODIs.

This exhibits the fact that Babar Azam has enjoyed an upper hand over Kagiso Rabada in international cricket.

Meanwhile, Rabada also spoke on the podcast about other batters who are equally tough to bowl to. He specifically mentioned the Australian great David Warner in the discussion, stating that he is the hardest one because of his unique batting style.

“I actually found David Warner quite tough to bowl to. I think he’s the hardest because he was so unorthodox. He used to cut a lot of balls, and whenever I dropped my length short, he would just latch onto it and cut,” said Kagiso Rabada.

David Warner has indeed put on a show against Rabada in various international matches. It is also the key reason why he always played a big role in Australia’s victory over South Africa in different tests, ODIs and T20I matches.

“He was the only guy who could do that against me. He was very hard. As much as I had a lot of success against him, I thought he was very tough to bowl to,” Rabada remarked.

Interestingly, Kagiso Rabada is now set to feature in South Africa’s test tour of Pakistan in October. He will once again face Babar Azam in the test matches, so it would be a great contest to watch, as both stars are considered vital to deliver match-winning performances for their respective teams.