South African former skipper Faf du Plessis highlighted the similarities between Indian skipper Virat Kohli and Pakistan’s Babar Azam. Faf du Plessis has drawn the similarities as he played with both the high-quality players.
Du Plessis Comapres Kohli and Babar Azam
Du Plessis played for CSK in IPL raises his bat for Peshawar Zalmi in PSL. Faf Du Plessis scored 31 runs in a losing cause for Peshawar Zalmi against Lahore Qalandars in Eliminator 1. He added that Babar Azam has surprised everyone with his abilities in T20 cricket.
“I do [see the similarity between Kohli and Babar]. They are extremely high-quality players. Babar, over the last year or so, has taken another step towards becoming one of the greats of the game so he has got an exciting future,” Faf du Plessis told Cricket Pakistan.
“I think he surprised a lot of people with his T20 cricket. People would have originally boxed him as a guy that hasn’t got a lot of power but certainly of late his T20 game has been remarkable,” he added.
Watch du Plessis talks on Babar Azam
Babar and Virat Batting Ranking
Virat Kohli and Babar Azam are the two players who have been spoken a lot among the cricket experts. While many suggest that Virat Kohli would break Sachin’s record Australian former skipper Ricky Ponting throws his view on comparing Sachin and Kohli.
Pakistan’s limited over skipper Babar Azam has recently been given the leadership role in the game’s longest format as well. The 26-year-old holds the second position in the T20I format while holding third and fifth in ODI and Test format.
Virat Kohli on the other hand is the number one ranked ODI batsman. In Test cricket, he is placed at the second spot, while in T20I format he finds himself at the ninth spot. Virat Kohli also holds the rare record of averaging over fifty in all the three formats of the game.
Virat Kohli vs Babar Azam Test Comparison
After 27 Test matches
Babar Azam is closing-in on the 2,000-run mark, having amassed 1,919 runs from 27 Tests at 45.69. Azam also has 14 fifties and 5 tons to his name in the format. His highest score of 143 came against Bangladesh in the Rawalpindi Test (2019).
Kohli managed to aggregate 1,822 runs at an average of 42.37. He had slammed 9 half-centuries and 6 hundred until then. Notably, Kohli struggled to attain consistency and didn’t get the desired results in Test cricket initially. However, he turned the tables after the 2015 season.
