Rana Naved-ul-Hasan: “Whenever we compare Babar Azam with Virat Kohli, I always say Babar is more technically sound than Kohli, and this is why he fails less”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan pace bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan believes former captain Babar Azam “fails less” than India batting superstar Virat Kohli since he is “more technically sound.”
Azam and Kohli have constantly been compared to each other as they are their respective teams’ batting spearheads.
While many give the edge to the former India captain due to the fact that he has accomplished more and played international cricket for much longer than Azam, Naved-ul-Hasan reiterated that there is one area where the 29-year-old reigns supreme – his technique.
“Whenever we compare Babar Azam with Virat Kohli, I always say Babar is more technically sound than Kohli, and this is why he fails less,” he said on the Nadir Ali podcast as quoted by NDTV.
“Babar is technically more sound and plays in his limits, though he doesn’t have as many shots as Kohli has.”
Azam stepped down as captain after the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, where he scored 320 runs in nine matches, which included four fifties, at an average of 40.
The men in green began with victories over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before succumbing to defeats at the hands of India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Even though they bounced back to beat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they were unable to book their spot in the semi-finals.
To add insult to injury, they lost their final group stage game against England by 93 runs.
Pakistan’s next assignment will be a three-match Test series against Australia, which will begin on December 14 in Perth.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi