Tom Moody has earmarked Babar Azam to be one of the top five batsmen in the next decade, comparing the Pakistan batsman’s grace to that of the Indian captain Virat Kohli.

Featuring on the Pitch Side Experts podcast alongside Ian Bishop and Freddie Wilde, Moody discussed the best Test batsmen in the game currently. Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Kane Williamson were unanimously voted as the top three, with the discussion extended to Joe Root, David Warner and Cheteshwar Pujara.

“I nearly put Babar Azam in the same category,” Moody said. “We talked about how Virat Kohli is so good on the eye as a batsman. If you think Virat Kohli is good to watch, have a look at Babar Azam bat. Gosh, he is something special.”

Babar, the top-ranked T20I batsman in the world, has been raking in plaudits for his white-ball exploits over the past few years, with an average of 54.17 in ODIs after 79 games. In T20Is, he averages 50.72, one of only two batsmen in the world to average 50+ in the format [minimum of 20 innings], Kohli being the other.

Comparatively, his Test credentials fall a tad – an average of 45.12 after 26 Tests, boosted significantly by his aggregate of 614 runs from his last seven Test innings. Moody put that down to Babar playing most games down the order early in his career, something that seems likely to change with the batsman set to assume a more central role.

“Even though he has played 26 [Test] matches, in half of those matches he was not considered even part of the main batting line-up for Pakistan,” said Moody. “He was the after-thought down the order. He has emerged over the last year or so into something that is going to be so special.

“I think in the next five to 10 years, he will definitely be in your top five without a question.”