Watch: Azhar Ali superbly imitates Inzamam and Steve Smith’s batting styles

Watch: A video of Pakistan batsman Azhar Ali is doing the rounds on social media, where he is seen superbly imitating the playing styles of past and present batsmen.

Azhar, a guest on Geo Super’s talk show ‘Jashan e Cricket’, gets first asked to imitate Javed Miandad but says he hasn’t mimicked him in quite a while, instead offering to replicate another Pakistan captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq’s style. He describes ‘Inzy bhai‘s’ style as “lazy” and goes on to take an imaginary leg-stump guard. He goes into extreme details: including Inzamam’s helmet adjustment, before executing a near-perfect whip off the pads.

The anchor asks him to mimic Steve Smith next, and Azhar instantly starts copying the now-famous fidgeting style, complete with pats on his thighs and hands, and a perfect impersonation of his backlift and foot movement.

After that, the timeline shifts back a little, with Ijaz Ahmed’s mimicry next in the queue, who, Azhar recalls, lent him tremendous moral support during his academy days. After taking the leg stump guard, he slouches and taps his bat, and executes a shifty waft, typical of the former Pakistan batsman.

Fans of Azhar would already be aware of his imitation skills; in April last year, when the pandemic had forced several to be locked at home, Azhar perfectly enacted Younis Khan in his backyard and posted the video on social media. The exaggerated leaves and the high backlift were truly on point.

Watch the brilliant imitation here: