South African batting great AB de Villiers and Pakistan’s superstar Babar Azam made the headlines recently after the duo was involved in a candid interaction on the former’s YouTube channel “AB de Villiers 360”. The interaction happened just a couple of days ago, on July 20.
During the interaction, the former South African cricketer asked Babar Azam to disclose the toughest bowler he has ever faced in his cricketing career. Babar Azam who garnered 13,772 runs in international cricket, quickly revealed that Pat Cummins is the toughest bowler he has faced.
Pat Cummins carved out a reputation as one of the best bowlers in the world. The senior cricketer is best known for his sheer pace, control and ability to generate bounce. The right-arm pacer has been a force to be reckoned with across all three formats of the game.
The 31-year-old has troubled both left-handed and right-handed batters by bowling at right line and length, often hitting the deck hard, extracting bounce from the pitch and thus, making it uncomfortable for batters to even play their shots. Cummins has taken 476 wickets in international cricket.
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AB de Villiers agrees with Babar Azam’s pick
The former South African batter was a consummate surgeon at the crease during the heydays of his cricketing career. Even he agreed with Babar Azam’s assessment and reserved the highest respect for Pat Cummins. The Pretoria-born stated that Pat Cummins is one of the toughest bowlers he has faced in his career.
When asked to reveal the name of the toughest bowler he has ever faced, Babar responded, “Pat Cummins.” Meanwhile, AB de Villiers replied, “Yeah, I agree with that. He’s very close. He’s one of the toughest bowlers I have ever faced.”
Overall, Pat Cummins took 269 wickets in the purest format of the game including 12 fifers. On the other hand, he took 141 wickets in the 50-over format including a fifer whereas he took 66 wickets in T20Is.
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