'Cristianal Messi of cricket': Shadab Khan introduces Pakistan captain Babar Azam to Man Utd legend - WATCH
Ajax CEO Edwin van der Sar met Pakistan cricket team captain Babar Azam. |@TheRealPCB |
The Pakistan cricket team visited Dutch football club Ajax's home ground on Saturday (August 20) amid their ongoing tour of the Netherlands for a limited-overs series. The Pakistan players met Ajax CEO and Manchester United legend Edwin van der Sar and the other players and support staff from the club to make the most of their break after the first two ODIs of the series.
Pakistan all-rounder Shadab Khan found a cheeky way to introduce captain Babar Azam to Van der Sar as he called the superstar batter 'Cristianal Messi' of cricket referring to football icons Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. The video of Shadab introducing Babar to Van de Sar has gone viral on social media.
Messi and Ronaldo are regarded as two of the best football players of all time and have dominated world football for a significant period of time. While introducing Pakistan players to Van der Sar, Shadab mentioned Messi and Ronaldo to suggest Babar has similar traits to the legendary duo when it comes to cricket.
Babar, who made his debut for Pakistan in the year 2015 and has since gone on to establish his credentials as one of the best batters in the world at present. The Pakistan skipper has been a consistent run-getter for the Men in Green across all three formats and is currently the number one ODI and T20I batter in ICC rankings.
During his interaction with the Pakistan team, Van der Sar also joked about taking the wicket-keeping gloves for the visitors when he learnt that Babar & Co. were on the tour without their first-choice wicket-keeper Mohammad Rizwan. The former Manchester United goalkeeper also exchanged jerseys and posed for pictures with a bat.
Ajax captain Dusan Tadic also swapped jerseys with Pakistan skipper Babar before posing for pictures. Pakistan have already sealed the three-match series against the Netherlands with back-to-back wins in the first two matches and will be aiming for a 3-0 clean sweep when they lock horns with the hosts in the final ODI on Sunday (August 21).