72 Innings, No Hundred! Former Pakistan Player Slams Babar-Kohli Comparisons

Former Pakistan batter Ahmed Shehzad believes his countryman Babar Azam should never have been compared to a player of Virat Kohli’s calibre. Babar has now gone 72 innings across formats without a century, his last coming in an ODI against Nepal in August 2023. 

The former Pakistan captain, recently dropped from the T20I side, has also endured a prolonged slump in Test cricket - scoring just 590 runs at an average of 23.6 in 25 innings since 2023. Even in ODIs, considered his strongest format, Babar is averaging only 30.36 this year.

“When everything was going well, you were running campaigns comparing players. Now that the performances are not coming, you are saying ‘don’t compare two players’. Why not? Virat Kohli’s comparison cannot be made with anyone in the world. He is a legend of this generation, a role model,” Shehzad said in an interview, as reported by TOI.

“You cannot compare him even with MS Dhoni. Dhoni may have been a great captain, but as a batter, cricketer, and athlete, Kohli stands alone. No one should be compared with anyone because it’s unfair and it adds extra pressure, which we are now seeing on Babar Azam.”

Babar’s struggles were evident in the recent three-match ODI series in West Indies, where he scored only 56 runs at an average of 18.66 and a strike rate of 62.22.