Babar Azam is very close to being in same league as Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, says Pakistan coach Misbah-ul-Haq1Video© sports.ndtv.com

Babar Azam is very close to being in same league as Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, says Pakistan coach Misbah-ul-Haq

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Pakistan's head coach Misbah-ul-Haq has claimed that Babar Azam has shown his batting prowess in the recent past to close in on the same class as the best of world batsmen Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Joe Root. Misbah added that the Pakistan Cricket Board made Babar Azam the T20 captain to test how he responded to this challenge. Misbah-ul-Haq believes that Babar Azam came out of the challenge with flying colours, adding that he knows the areas of improvement to better India captain Virat Kohli.

"I don't like comparisons but Babar is currently very close to being in the same class as Virat Kohli, Steve Smith or Joe Root," Misbah said on a YouTube show 'Cricket Baaz'.

"He believes in the work ethic that if you want to better Kohli you have to work harder than him at your skills, fitness and game awareness," he added.