'No One Can Match Him At This Moment'- Misbah Ul-Haq On Virat Kohli vs Babar Azam After The Latter Wins ICC Cricketer Of The Year Award

Babar Azam recently won two ICC accolades as he was named the men’s player of the year as well as the men’s ODI player for 2022. The Pakistan skipper had a scintillating year as he scored over 2,600 runs in international cricket across all formats last year, and scored 8 fifty-plus scores in nine ODI innings. In addition, the Pakistan skipper also led the side to finals in the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup.

Virat Kohli, on the other hand, also found form in the home ODI series against Sri Lanka. He scored two ODI centuries in the series and had at one point three centuries in his last four ODI innings. The former Indian skipper played the ODI series against the Kiwis and is rested for the T20I series. 

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Babar Azam Won The 2022 Men’s ODI Cricketer Of The Year In 2022

Babar after winning the twin ICC titles equalled Virat Kohli’s feat, who achieved the accolades in 2017-18. His recent feat has once again fulled debates of comparisons between him and Kohli. However, former Pakistan skipper Mishah Ul-Haq has played down the comparisons saying Kohli has played way more cricket than Babar who is just starting. 

“There shouldn’t be a comparison between the two. Kohli has played a lot of cricket, Babar is just starting. When Babar will play the same amount of cricket, then you can make a comparison. Kohli has played more cricket, and no one can match him at the moment. Yes, Babar is a class player and he might achieve the same things as Kohli in the future, but at the moment, comparison between the two doesn’t make sense because it’s just a start for Babar,” Misbah said in a video posted by paktv.tv.

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Virat Kohli & Babar Azam in Numbers

 Babar has represented Pakistan in 47 Tests, 95 ODIs, and 99 T20Is so far. He boasts of an incredible average of 59.4 in the fifty-over format and is currently the fourth-highest run-getter in T20Is (3,355). Kohli, meanwhile, tops the chart among run-scorers in the shortest format (4,008) and has 74 international centuries to his name so far. He has also scored over 12000 ODI runs and over 8000 Test runs as well. 

Kohli and Babar have met each other a few times in international cricket, especially in T20Is. Babar Azam’s Pakistan defeated Virat Kohli’s India by 10 wickets in the 2021 T20 World Cup. A year later, the former Indian skipper played the innings of a lifetime in Melbourne to give India one of their most memorable wins against Pakistan. 

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