'It's only a matter of time before he becomes No.1-ranked Test batter,' Ricky Ponting talks about Babar Azam's playing style

In a situation like this, former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting has opened up on this issue. While talking about Azam and his batting, Ponting said that “it's only a matter of time” before Azam becomes No. 1 Test batter.

Ponitng's words

"I think I said then that for this guy, the sky is the limit. It's only a matter of time I felt before he was going to be either the No.1-ranked Test batter in the world or certainly challenging for it. He's probably challenging for that position right now and probably if he had played a few more Test matches through the last couple of years he'd be knocking the door down for that," said Ponting on ICC's Review Show.

"He (Babar Azam) has been great in T20I cricket in the past as well, hasn't he? His white-ball cricket has been nothing short of breathtakingly good for the last four-five years. He's the same as Shaheen. I don't get to see a lot of these guys outside of when they tour Australia, but when I saw Babar in the second innings in Brisbane in the first Test against Australia, some of the shots that I saw him play on a fast bouncy Brisbane pitch - both on the front and back foot - against Hazlewood, Starc and Cummins - it was like, I have heard a lot about him and I have seen a fair bit of his while-ball stuff, but this guy is the real deal," he added. 

Azam's recent form

Azam recently received the award of ICC Men's ODI Cricketer of the Year, last month and while talking about his playing style Ponting said that “he's a beautiful player.” 

"He's a beautiful player, simple as that. The thing I always look for with these younger type of batters is if they can play well off the back foot in Australia, and particularly through the off-side with a straight bat - which is probably an area that Joe Root hasn't quite got on top of just yet and why he hasn't made those big scores in Australia," said Ponting.