Pakistan Test captain Azhar Ali, during a recent interaction, was made to choose between the batting genius of Virat Kohli and Babar Azam.
The cricketing fraternity, especially in Pakistan, have huge expectations from their top-order batsman.
For many seasons now, Babar has been at the summit of T20I rankings among batsmen. Slowly but steadily, Azam is transcending his consistency in all formats of the game.
Many cricketing pundits have included the graceful stroke maker in their Fab four of modern batsmen in all formats, ahead of the likes of Joe Root and Steve Smith.
However, Azam still has a mountain to climb to reach Virat’s stature in international cricket, as mentioned by Azhar.
“At the moment, Babar is on the rise. Maybe he doesn’t have any many opportunities as Virat Kohli. However, at the moment you have to say that Kohli is still better in terms of his achievements,” Ali stated during an interview with Cricingif.
Since receiving his first international cap in 2015, Azam has notched up 16 tons in all formats, along with 41 half-centuries.
“Talking about skills, Babar is not less than any cricketer at the moment. But if we talk from the perspective of records, or match-winning knocks or achievements, Kohli has got more opportunities and Kohli’s status also as a player is big,” added Pakistan’s number three in Tests.
Pakistan's Test captain @AzharAli_ believes @babarazam258 has a bright future ahead of him and is as good as any batsman in the world 👏
He had a thing or say to say about the @imVkohli comparisons too 💭
Full episode ➡️ https://t.co/yLLfTQLtXO#WednesdayWisdom #CricketForAll pic.twitter.com/01QXmpZD3M
— Cricingif (@_cricingif) April 15, 2020
Talking about the lull in the cricketing world currently, the 35-year old anticipated a pay cut in the future.
“It is not a good situation for any country, and we know that if this lockdown situation continued for a few months, the Board might ask us to take pay cuts in the old or new central contacts. If such a situation arises that we are asked to take pay cuts we are mentally prepared for it, and we will sit down with the Board and make the best decisions,” concluded Ali.
