'He is great for this format'- Adam Zampa on Babar Azam

Australian wrist-spinner Adam Zampa has hailed Pakistan skipper Babar Azam as a 'great' ODI batsman, stating that his wicket is as crucial as getting the legendary Virat Kohli out.

Azam, on Tuesday, notched up yet another record against his name as he leapfrogged the likes of Virat Kohli, Sir Vivian Richards, Sachin Tendulkar to become the second-fastest to score 4000 runs in 50-over cricket.

The 27-year-old, averaging in excess of 55 in ODIs, has taken just 82 innings to rack up 4000+ runs, and he is only behind former Proteas opener Hashim Amla.

Amla achieved the feat in one innings less than Babar.

However, despite scoring another half-century in the first game, Babar played a knock that ultimately proved detrimental to the teams' cause.

The stylish batsman managed just 57 runs off 72 deliveries during a sedate 96-run-stand with opener Imam-ul-Haq.

He was ultimately trapped plumb in front by leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson after he failed to nail the sweep shot, which triggered a fatal collapse for the home side.

Ahead of the 2nd ODI, Zampa, who claimed four wickets in Australia's 88-run victory on Tuesday, underlined the importance of dismissing Babar cheaply.

He said, "It's obviously a huge challenge, (Babar Azam) has an excellent tempo for ODI cricket. In particular, he broke a record tonight, (scored) 4000 runs pretty quickly, so he is great for this format. He is a big wicket, same as Virat Kohli is for India," Zampa said.  

The build-up to the ODI series wasn't ideal for Australia. Apart from not having their first-choice pace attack- Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, their experienced opener (David Warner) and middle-order basher Glenn Maxwell for different reasons, they were hamstrung with injuries to Steve Smith, Mitch Marsh, Ashton Agar, Kane Richardson.

Josh Inglis getting ruled out due to Covid didn't help either.

However, Australia easily brought their A-game to the table and hammered Pakistan in a one-sided contest.

On the current situation in the Aussie touring party, Zampa said, "It's not ideal when a couple of guys go down, especially two guys that we are going to play, Ashton Agar and Josh Inglis, were looking forward to playing competitive cricket, but this is how the world is at this moment. The guys who have come in have all contributed,"

The second ODI of the three-match series will take place in Lahore on March 31.