Former India opener Aakash Chopra gave his opinion on the social media debate among fans about Babar Azam and Virat Kohli. Chopra reckons Babat Azam is nowhere near the status, achievements, and legacy of ‘KING’ Virat Kohli.
Babar Azam is getting dragged on social media mercilessly following his failure in the run-chase against Australia in their World Cup 2023 encounter at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium. At a venue where 210 got chased down during the IPL 2023, Pakistan flopped in their run-chase of 368 runs with Babar scoring only 18 runs.
No doubt Babar is a talented and classy batsman, but he simply hasn’t won as many matches, as many times against tough opponents, and especially in ICC and Asia Cup events as Virat Kohli has in his career.
The 29-year-old Babar Azam is the number 1 ranked ICC ODI batsman currently and is at the peak of his game. However, over the past few weeks, the hype just hasn’t translated into runs.
Babar now has only 83 runs in 4 innings at this World Cup 2023. Since September, after his 151 vs Nepal, in his last 7 innings, Babar averages only 19 with a highest score of 50. This latest failure in a run-chase led to a huge criticism.
Babar’s journey has just started; Virat Kohli has already reached there: Chopra
Chopra emphasized the fact that Babar and Virat Kohli are on two different planes, two different levels, and there is simply no comparison of Babar with Kohli yet.
“The world rates Babar. Pakistan calls him ‘king’. They say a lot of times that he is better than King Kohli or at par with him. At this point, he is not. He is not close to the king,” he said as quoted by Cricket Addictor.
“I am telling you the truth because Babar’s journey has just started, and Virat Kohli has already reached there.”
While Babar has 19 ODI centuries, Virat Kohli has 48, just one less than Sachin Tendulkar.
“It’s not only about the centuries because Babar has also scored a lot of centuries but think about the games in which he (Kohli) scores runs. He scores hundreds against Pakistan. When a total of 150-odd is required for a win, he scores a century in that,” Chopra added.
