His performance against Australia earned him a comparison against Virat Kohli, Steve Smith.
Babar Azam has a great talent when it comes to cricket. So much so that he was compared to the likes of Virat Kohli and Steve Smith. His arrival on the international stage came with a ‘Bang!’ and his performance in T20s and ODIs just cemented that.
The comparisons, though far-fetched, do seem fair at first. But just because he was compared to one of the best batsmen in the world doesn’t necessarily mean that he is one. According to cricket traditions, a great batsman is one who performs well in all formats of the game. Hence, his name not being included in talks regarding 'the best batsmen' is not surprising.
However, these things look to be changing. The Pakistani T20 captain proved that he has the ability to be one of the best batsmen. In their match against Australia, he had an excellent performance, being one of the few players who had performed well despite the one-sided victory.
In the past years, he would have a horrible performance when playing against Australia. This time, however, he looked as if he was a threat to the Aussies. In two Tests, he scored 210 runs while the rest failed to impress. He scored a century at the Gabba and missed another at the Adelaide Oval by just three runs.
With those numbers, comparisons to Kohli and Smith once again began buzzing. And, just like before, Azam would downplay those. He stated that those comparisons are invalid since he hasn’t played as many games.
‘I don’t think the comparison is valid at this stage. I haven’t played much, while the other players have played quite a lot. I have only played 23 Tests and (74) ODIs’, said Azam in an interview. ‘When I started cricket, my goal was to compete with the best. I wanted to do well for my country and to be among the top five batsmen in the world. My mindset was to complete with the 4-5 best batsmen in the world. You can produce good performances, but to maintain consistency you need lot of hard work’.
Pakistan will face Sri Lanka in two Tests before facing the Netherlands in three ODIs. To find out more about Pakistan’s upcoming matches, visit Betwala’s page.
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