Virat Kohli Is Very Far Away In This Race: Aakash Chopra On Babar Azam's Comparison With The Legendary Batsman

Aakash Chopra, former Indian opener-turned commentator, recently delved on the comparisons between the legendary Virat Kohli and the current poster boy of Pakistan cricket Babar Azam.

Babar Azam has impinged himself as one of the modern-day superstars in world cricket and he has done that through consistent performances across all formats of the game, especially limited-overs cricket.

Apart from being the No.1 ranked batsman in T20I cricket, Babar Azam is the only batsman apart from Virat Kohli, in the top-10 rankings across all three formats.

Azam’s consistent run has led to his comparisons with Virat amongst the pundits and media, but Aakash Chopra, during a Youtube session with former Pakistan bowler Tanvir Ahmed, asserted that Kohli, who has 70 international tons [43 in ODIs and 27 in Tests] and over 20000 runs to his name, is far ahead in the race and Babar, who is seven years junior to the Delhi batsman, still has a long way to go.

“Babar is an exciting talent. There is no doubt about that. It is also true that Virat Kohli is very far away in this race. He is older and started cricket before Babar. Virat’s name is already included in the conversation of all-time greats,” Aakash Chopra told Tanvir Ahmed.

Also Read: Here’s Why Aakash Chopra Thinks Virat Kohli Has Not Been A Successful Captain In The IPL

How Babar Azam counters challenges like injury, expectations and age will determine his destination: Aakash Chopra on comparisons with Virat Kohli

The biggest test for any prodigiously talented cricket is whether he or she can emulate his feats year-after-year on a consistent basis. Virat Kohli, courtesy his discipline, relentlessness, character and drive to be the best in the world, has been doing this for a decade now, and Chopra feels this is something that Babar Azam has to prove in upcoming years.

“The real question is whether Babar will be able to reach those heights which depend on many things such as discipline, injuries, form, and many other things which will come along as time goes on. Talent can only take you to a place but you have to have that incredible passion that drives you forward. Virat did not have that from the start but fostered it along the way,” Aakash Chopra added.

Speaking of the numbers that both batsmen have accumulated in their career thus far, Virat Kohli has 21901 runs to his name- third-most by an India proceeded by Sachin Tendulkar [34357 in 664 matches] and Rahul Dravid [24064 in 504 matches]- in 416 games at an average of 56.15 which includes 104 50s, 70 hundreds and 7 double-hundreds.

Babar Azam, meanwhile, has played 138 international games in which he has scored 6680 runs at an average of 50.60, including 41 50s and 16 three-digit scores.

Also Read: Virat Kohli Will Lose Longevity If Split Captaincy Is Not Taken: Tom Moody