Pakistan cricketer Azam Khan believes that Babar Azam has had a similar impact on Pakistan batting to that off Virat Kohli on the Indian batting. The 27-year-old also said Pakistan was famous for its fast bowlers before Babar came in, but after his rise batting side of things has improved.
“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.
Former Pakistan batter Mohsin Khan believes that Babar remains a great batter, but he needs to have better support from the rest of the batting lineup, the way India’s great Virat Kohli had over the course of his glittering career.
“Babar isn’t a bad batter,” Mohsin is quoted as saying by PTI after Babar’s omission from the Asia Cup 2025 squad. “But you need a clutch of quality players around him to support him. Look at Virat Kohli — in Tests, he had Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, and KL Rahul. In ODIs, he had Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. A great player is made even greater when surrounded by other strong players.”
Mohsin also said that the never-ending pressure on Babar and Rizwan won’t help the players. “If you are always put under pressure that you have to score centuries every time you step out, they are humans too — hence at times you aren’t able to play the game the team requires you to play,” he said.
“During our time, there was Majid Khan, Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas, and later Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, and Younis Khan. Teams are built on numbers — you need a group of players who are more or less of the same quality. Right now, there is a big gulf between Babar and the rest.”
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