Ahead of the much-awaited encounter, Australia’s World Cup-winning skipper Ricky Ponting said that Babar Azam could be a threat for Australia as he is a ‘very classy player’.
"We haven't seen the best of him yet," Ponting told cricket.com.au. "Twenty-odd Tests for an average of 35 - he's better than that. He averages 54 in one-day cricket at a strike-rate of about 90. He's a very, very classy player.
"He's a really exciting talent and probably the guy I'm looking forward to seeing the most this summer. I've seen the Aussies a lot and I've seen a lot of the Kiwis, but I'm really excited to see him. He could be anything," he added.
With Pakistan all set to take on the cricketing giants, Babar scored a masterful 157 in the practice game against Australia 'A'.
Earlier, Michael Hussey had also praised the talented batsman and said that Babar will soon be considered among the likes of Smith and Kohli if he continues his fine form in international cricket.
"I honestly believe this guy can be in the same conversation when we start talking about the best players in the world," Hussey was quoted as saying by Fox Sports. "We start talking about (Virat) Kohli, Steve Smith, Kane Williamson, Joe Root gets floated around.
"I think if he can start putting together some big hundreds like this in the Test arena, he's that good ... he's a brilliant, brilliant player," he added.