Former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis has been one of the finest bowlers that the cricket fraternity has ever seen. He was known as the King of Reverse Swing, and his toe-crushing yorkers in the late 1980s and 1990s were unplayable. In a recent interview, the former head coach of Pakistan compared Babar Azam with Sachin Tendulkar in a different aspect.

Pakistan cricket is not at its best, but despite that, the team has qualified for the tri-series final it hosted at home, with Sri Lanka and England also participating. They will face the Island Nation in the final and will look to win the tri-series and build momentum in white-ball cricket.

Waqar Younis names current Pakistan superstars

Waqar Younis, while speaking on Shubhankar Mishra’s YouTube channel, was asked about the last superstar of Pakistan cricket; he surprisingly replied by naming some of the current players: Shaheen Afridi and Babar. Notably, both Shaheen and Babar are nowhere near their best in current times despite leading the sides in two different formats.

"Babar Azam is a superstar; Shaheen (Afridi) is a superstar," said Waqar Younis while naming the latest superstar cricketer from Pakistan on Shubhankar Mishra's YouTube Channel.

Waqar Younis compares Babar Azam with Sachin Tendulkar

Waqar further emphasized the fact that Babar would have been equal to Sachin Tendulkar if he had got some support from the other end. There are no big names compared to what Sachin had during his time with likes of Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag. He also believed that Pakistan batting in the 90s had match-winners till No. 6, which is not there now.

"The sad part with Babar Azam is that he doesn't have anyone (support) from the other end. The story would be different if he had four big names alongside him," he added.

"In the 90s, we in Pakistan had six match-winners in our top six. But now, we have just one: Babar Azam. Even Sachin Tendulkar had support during his time. In the beginning, he had Sanjay Manjrekar, and later there were Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag," Waqar Younis concluded.

Babar Azam recent ODI form

Babar Azam has been struggling for form as he has just scored 118 runs in the ongoing tri-series with an average of 29.50, with a best score of 45. This portrays a lot about Babar’s form, as he was the leading scorer with 29 runs when the team was bowled out for 110 runs against Sri Lanka in the last game.

Babar has been in poor form in the ODIs in the last five innings; in this format, he has not scored a single half-century. The Test captain’s last half-century came against Australia back in May.

He has played 12 innings in the 2025/26 season before the 29-run innings, scoring 424 runs at an average of 35.33, with a highest score of 102 not out, which is not good for a quality batter like him.