Babar Azam opens up on comparison with Virat Kohli: The Pakistani batsman hinted at putting an end to all unnecessary comparisons.
There is no hiding to the fact that Pakistan batsman Babar Azam is one of the most talent batsmen in his country. Having done well across formats at the highest level, Azam has undoubtedly impressed his countrymen to a major extent.
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Given Pakistan’s fierce rivalry with India, Azam is often compared to India captain Virat Kohli for both of them bat at No. 3 for their respective teams. However, a ramification which Azam has to face about the same is constant and unwanted pressure and expectations from Pakistani fans to match the Indian cricketer.
Having made his national debut in 2015, Azam has scored 4,879 runs in 109 matches at an average of 46.46 and a strike rate of 78.50 across formats including nine centuries and 30 half-centuries. On the other hand, Kohli played his first international match in 2008. In 364 outings for India across formats, Kohli has scored 19,313 runs at an average of 56.14 and a strike rate of 78.77 including 64 centuries and 88 half-centuries.
While Azam’s T20I average (53.72) is better than that of Kohli (49.25), his mediocre Test numbers (1,235 runs in 21 matches at an average of 35.28 and a strike rate of 51.84) put his way behind the Indian cricketer (6,613 runs in 77 matches at an average of 53.76 and a strike rate of 57.26).
Younger than Kohli in both age and experience, Azam was recently vocal about the same during an event in Pakistan. Hailing Kohli as a ‘big player’, Azam mentioned that he is not even close to Kohli and hoped for people stopping these comparisons.
“Whenever you hear, people compare me with Virat Kohli. I think he is a very big player, I am not even close to him. I have just started while he has achieved a lot. I have to achieve and if I perform like that you can compare but not now,” Azam was quoted as saying.
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