When he was a ballboy in 2007, Pakistani captain Babar Azam recalls how Virat Kohli's IPL colleague motivated him. Back when South Africa visited Pakistan fifteen years ago, Babar was astounded by AB de Villiers. AB de Villiers, who retired from international cricket in 2018, was a favourite of Babar's.
“I was very fond of AB de Villiers. I was overwhelmed after seeing him. I used to watch his batting and fielding. I stayed near South Africa’s team to see what De Villiers was doing. I used to get a lot of boost after seeing him,” Babar was quoted as saying in a video uploaded on Pakistan cricket’s Twitter handle.
Babar is still among the finest batters in all formats 15 years later. He recently set the international record for fastest cricketer to reach 11,000 runs.
At the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup in Australia, he will represent Pakistan.
In the meantime, ABD's most recent Indian Premier League team was Royal Challengers Bangalore.