He will prove himself as captain: Yousuf backs Babar

New Delhi: Former Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Yousuf on Wednesday backed newly appointed ODI skipper Babar Azam saying that the latter will definitely prove his mettle in captaincy.

Earlier in the day, the Pakistan Cricket Board named Azam as their ODI skipper, making him the country’s white-ball captain.

The right-handed Azam who has been one of the world’s leading batsmen across formats over the last year replaced Sarfaraz Ahmed as the skipper.

Best of luck @babarazam258 for new ODI captain. He will prove himself as a captain just like he has improved himself as a world-class player,” Yousuf tweeted.

Earlier in May, during a Twitter interaction with fans, Yousuf had termed Azam as a class player.

Azam has so far played 26 Tests, 74 ODIs and 38 T20Is for Pakistan in which he has scored 1,850, 3,359, and 1,471 runs, respectively.

The 25-year-old cricketer made his One Day International debut against Zimbabwe in 2015 while his Test debut came in 2016 against West Indies.

The right-handed batsman, who made his T20I debut in September 2016 is currently the number one ranked cricketer in the shortest format of the game. In ODIs, Azam is at the third spot only after Indian skipper Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

Yousuf, the former Pakistan player was himself an excellent batsman. He had represented the Green Army in 90 Tests, 288 ODIs and three T20Is.