If initial days are compared, Babar Azam is ahead of Virat Kohli: Inzamam-ul-Haq

Inzamam-ul-Haq, the former Pakistan cricketer, reckons that Babar Azam has an edge over Virat Kohli, taking into account their initial days on the field. The 25-year-old Babar is currently the ICC’s fifth, third and top-ranked batsman in Tests, ODIs and T20Is respectively. Virat, on the other hand, is ranked first and second in ODIs and Tests even as in T20Is, he is 10th in the rankings.

Inzamam, also the former Pakistan chief selector, said that Babar has grown leaps and bounds since his debut back in May 2015 as a 20-year-old. In ODI and T20I cricket, the Lahore, Punjab-born averages over 50 while in Test cricket, he has five centuries and 13 fifties from 26 matches.

Inzamam heaps praises on Babar Azam

Inzamam thinks that Babar has the potential to put forth stronger performances going into the future. “In just a few years he has achieved a lot and I know he can do even better than what he has done so far,” Inzamam was quoted as saying to Geo Super.

“Kohli has been playing for 10 years while Babar’s been here for three, four years but if you compare the initial days of Babar and Kohli, you’ll see Babar is ahead,” Inzamam added.

In the last few months or so, Babar has turned out to be the bedrock of Pakistan’s batting in Test cricket. In the World Test Championship, the youngster has notched 615 runs at an average of 102.50. He had scores of 104, 102* and 143 against Australia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. He also got a 97 versus the Aussies in the first innings of the Adelaide Test.

Quite often Babar has been compared to Virat, but the former has repeatedly said that he has a long way to go to reach Kohli’s record. Babar is currently in England for a bilateral Test and T20I series. Babar was also appointed as the T20I and ODI skipper of the Pakistan team after Sarfaraz Ahmed was sacked.

As far as Virat is concerned, he is the only batsman in the world with an average over 50 in all three formats of international cricket. He is also the all-time leading run-scorer in T20I cricket with nearly 2,800 runs with 24 half-centuries.