When Babar Azam made his worldwide debut in Could 2015, Virat Kohli had already turn into a family title in world cricket, having received marquee occasions just like the ODI World Cup and the Champions Trophy. He was additionally named Participant of the Match within the 2014 T20 World Cup. As Babar started to attain runs persistently for Pakistan, a piece of the cricket fraternity began evaluating him to Kohli.
Former Pakistan opener Ahmed Shehzad believes that this comparability has been detrimental to Babar because it has put him underneath extra stress to carry out regularly. Shehzad acknowledged that Kohli cannot be in comparison with every other cricketer. In response to the cricketer-turned-expert, even the enduring MS Dhoni is not nearly as good a batter or an athlete as Kohli.
“When every little thing was going effectively, you have been operating campaigns evaluating gamers. Now that the performances are usually not coming, you might be saying ‘don’t evaluate two gamers’. Why not? Virat Kohli’s comparability can’t be made with anybody on this planet. He’s a legend of this technology, a task mannequin. You can’t evaluate him even with MS Dhoni. Dhoni could have been a fantastic captain, however as a batter, cricketer, and athlete, Kohli stands alone. Nobody needs to be in contrast with anybody as a result of it’s unfair and it provides further stress, which we are actually seeing on Babar Azam,” Shehzad was quoted as saying by GeoSuper.
Babar has been going by a somewhat lengthy lean patch in worldwide cricket. The dismal performances have seen him shedding his place within the Check and T20I sides. Whereas he did handle to make a comeback to the Check setup throughout the residence sequence in opposition to the West Indies in January 2025, he hasn’t performed T20I cricket since December 2024.
Within the recently-concluded ODI sequence in opposition to the West Indies within the Caribbean, the 30-year-old might solely register scores of 47 (64), 0 (3), and 9 (23) in three matches, respectively. Babar has been drawing extreme criticism from Pakistan followers for his abysmal performances.