Asia Cup 2018: Babar Azam Believes Virat Kohli's Absence is an 'Advantage' for Pakistan

Pakistan right-hand batsman, Babar Azam is said to be Pakistan’s Virat Kohli in the making ahead of the Asia Cup 2018. However, Azam got injured by Ben Stokes, but it was entirely Azam’s faulty. He took his eyes off a bouncer from Stokes and got hit on the left wrist. It happened at Lord’s in May this year when Pakistan toured England.

Moreover, the Pakistan batsman suffered a fracture, and he was ruled out for the rest of the series. Meanwhile, Azam returned after six weeks and scored an unbeaten knock of 106 runs against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo. He came to bat at No. 3, and he regained his energy for the 14th edition of the Asia Cup.

Moreover, in the last year, during an interview with The Indian Express, Zaheer Abbas said that Babar Azam is the future of Pakistan batting line up.

Pakistan had been going through a tough time after the retirements of Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq from the Test cricket. However, Abbas has picked up Azam as the nation’s next batting star across formats.

Meanwhile, Babar Azam is yet to advocate himself in the longer format.

Now, Azam is being compared with Virat Kohli. However, Azam is the only batsman in international cricket as of now, to have a 50-plus average in both the One-day Internationals and T20Is. He has scored  1,973 runs at 54.80 and eight hundred in 46 ODIs, and he is averaging 53.00 in T20Is.

Furthermore, the Indian captain has scored 58 centuries including that of Tests and ODIs. He also has 50-plus averages in Tests, and ODIs.

However, it can be said that Azam could be Pakistan’s Kohli-in-the-making.

However, Babar Azam said that Kohli is a match winner and he is also in a great form. He also added that Kohli’s absence could give Pakistan an advantage in the Asia Cup 2018.

Well, it will also be challenging for Pakistan as they dont play often with the Indian team. Babar is keen to play the match against India in Asia Cup 2018 and will try to put up some good show.

“It will make a difference, for Virat Kohli is a huge match-winner. Also, he is in great form. I think his absence can give us an advantage.” “It’s a challenge. We don’t play against each other pretty often. So it becomes challenging, when the two sides meet in important tournaments,” Azam stated.

As Babar Azam holds the key, Pakistan will face off with Hong Kong in the second game of Asia Cup 2018 on September 16, 2018.