Pakistan's Star Cricketer Makes Surprising Claim On Virat Kohli vs Babar Azam Debate: 'There's Huge Difference...'

Pakistan's young wicketkeeper-batter Azam Khan has come up with his take on the Virat Kohli vs Babar Azam debate that once surfaced all around, highlighting the greatness of two batting prodigies. While Virat has probably been the best batter of this generation, Babar did well to keep himself on the same path for a long period of time.

However, things haven't been easy for Babar over the past couple of years. Amid the massive dip in his batting form across formats, Babar lost his captaincy and continues to face massive criticism. On the other hand, Virat is heading towards the end of his stellar career, having already retired from the Test and T20I formats. He was recently seen in the away ODI series against Australia and produced a match-winning effort in the last match.

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Azam recalled that the Pakistan team always produced incredible fast bowlers, but it was Babar Azam who made batting one of the big features of the country's cricket. He compared it to Virat Kohli's contribution to Indian cricket.

"Pakistan cricket was famous because of fast bowling. But this guy made it famous because of his batting. There is a huge difference. Like what Virat Kohli did for India," Azam said while speaking on the Crickwick podcast.

"Virat Kohli had someone around him who was a legend at that time. In the era he started playing in, he had VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and MS Dhoni. So many big batters. But who was there with Babar? There was no one," Azam added.

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Notably, Babar remains active in all formats and recently made his return to the T20I side. However, he hasn't created any impact in the ongoing ODI series against South Africa at home. When it comes to comparing stats, Kohli reached his first 1,000 ODI runs in 24 innings, while Babar achieved the feat three innings quicker. It took the former one year and 291 days to get there, whereas Babar did it in just one year and 233 days.

Babar enjoyed a prolific run three years ago, recording the most 50-plus scores across formats in a single year. In comparison, Kohli has not crossed six such innings in recent times, a feat he last achieved back in 2012.

By the time Babar stepped down as Pakistan’s T20I skipper, he had led the team in 85 games. In contrast, Kohli announced his decision to relinquish India’s T20I leadership after the 2021 T20 World Cup, having led the team in 50 matches.