‘Comparison with him makes no sense’ – Former Pakistan skipper on Virat Kohli Vs Babar Azam debate

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam, earlier this week, earned two Apex Cricket Council awards. He was named the Men’s Player of the Year and the Men’s ODI Player for 2022. Babar amassed nearly 2,600 runs in all formats of international cricket last year, including eight fifty-plus scores in nine ODI innings. The Pakistan captain also guided his team to victories in the Asia Cup and took his team to the 20-20 World Cup finals.

Babar has now won the ODI Player of the Year title twice in a row, matching Indian great Virat Kohli’s record set in 2017–18. Many have compared Babar’s batting prowess to that of Virat Kohli, but former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq thinks it’s too soon to draw such parallels.

Misbah claimed that Kohli had played more cricket than Babar, who is “just started,” during a media interview. “There shouldn’t be a comparison between the two. Kohli has played a lot of cricket, and Babar is just starting. When Babar will play the same amount of cricket, then you can make a comparison,” Misbah said in a video posted by paktv.tv.

Kohli has played more cricket, and no one can match him at the moment: Misbah-Ul-Haq

“Kohli has played more cricket, and no one can match him at the moment. Yes, Babar is a class player and he might achieve the same things as Kohli in the future, but at the moment, a comparison between the two doesn’t make sense because it’s just a start for Babar,” the former Pakistan skipper added.

Salman Butt, a former Pakistani player, has already asserted that it is too soon to render a judgment, saying that to compare the two would be like comparing “Wasim Akram with Shaheen Afridi.”

To date, Babar has played for Pakistan in 47 Tests, 95 ODIs, and 99 T20Is. He owns a remarkable fifty-over average of 59.4 and is now the fourth-highest run-getter in T20Is (3,355). In contrast, Kohli leads the list of run scorers in the shortest format (4,008) and has amassed 74 international hundreds.