New Delhi, Sep 23 (IANS): Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir believes that Pakistan captain Babar Azam carries the potential to be the standout batter in the World Cup 2023.

The right-handed batter performed extremely well in the opening games of Asia Cup 2023 and played a handful of innings of 151 runs against Nepal.

However, he failed to continue the momentum forward in the other matches but stood out as the lone batter for Pakistan. It was one of the biggest reasons for Pakistan not make it to the final of the Asia Cup. India beat both Pakistan and Sri Lanka to advance to the final and then beat Sri Lanka again to lift the trophy for a record 8th time.

Talking to Star Sports, Gambhir stated, “Babar Azam”, when he was asked to name the player he is most looking forward to seeing at the World Cup.

“Babar Azam can set this World Cup on fire. I have seen a lot of players with so much time to bat. I think that Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson, and Joe Root are there, but Babar Azam has a different level of capability," said Gambhir.

Ranked No. 1 in the ODI format of cricket, in 2023, Babar has scored 745 runs in 15 innings with a marvelous average of 49.66 comprising 2 Hundreds, and 6 Fifties.

He is ranked 3 in T20Is behind India's Suryakumar Yadav and teammate Mohammad Rizwan while he attains the fourth spot in the Test rankings led by New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson.

Pakistan will play two warm-up matches against New Zealand and Australia before starting off their World Cup campaign against the Netherlands on October 6. The tournament begins with last year's finalists England and New Zealand squaring off against each other a day earlier in Ahmedabad.