Misbah ul Haq: Babar Azam has all the ingredients to become Pakistan cricket great

Misbah ul Haq believes Pakistan captain Babar Azam has all the attributes to become a record-breaking cricketer for his country.

Babar is Pakistan's T20, ODI and Test captain and has established himself as a world-class batter in all three formats.

In the recent one-day series against New Zealand he became the fastest player to reach 5,000 ODI runs, in 97 innings, surpassing South African Hashim Amla’s record of 101.

Misbah remains Pakistan's most successful Test captain with 26 wins from 56 matches and he expects Azam – currently on eight victories in 18 matches – to better that record and break a few more along the way in all formats of the game.

“Baber can break all the records as a captain and as a cricketer,” Misbah told The National when he attended the Workers Challenge Cup organised by the Ministry of Human Resources at Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi last week.

“It has been such a long time we have had a player who is quite outstanding in all three formats. He is one of the all-time best batters in Pakistan after Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam ul Haq, Saeed Anwar and Zaheer Abbas.

“The technique and elegance in his batting, and the runs he has scored makes him one of the best in the world.

“He’s got excellent work ethic. He’s a hard worker, analysing the game and handling the pressure. He takes his practicing and perfecting his skills to a new level. He’s got all the ingredients to become a Pakistani cricketing great.”

Babar's record across the format is already very impressive. He has scored 3,696 runs in 47 Tests at an average of 48.63, 5,089 in ODI’s at 59.17 and 3,485 in T20I’s at 41.48.

And Misbah believes he has the potential to go on and make a similar impact to another batting great still making his mark in