It's Difficult To Bowl To Babar Azam Than Virat Kohli: Mohammad Amir

Pakistan pacer, Mohammad Amir has opined that planning to dismiss Babar Azam is difficult compared to Virat Kohli. Comparisons of Babar Azam with Virat Kohli are bound to happen, as the former not only is one of the most technically gifted batsmen but has also converted that potential to statistics in the past couple of years.

While Azam himself has said that he is far behind his Indian counterpart, this hasn’t stopped people from making comparisons between the two batting maestros. Azam averages 45 in Test cricket, and over 50 in ODIs and T20Is each. In the ICC Men’s rankings, he is at the fifth position in Test cricket, third in ODIs, and second in T20Is.

The 26-year-old was recently appointed as the Test captain of the team replacing Azhar Ali. Babar was made the limited-overs skipper last year as Sarfaraz Ahmed was axed after Pakistan failed to qualify for the semis in the World Cup.

Technique wise, Babar is a difficult batsman to bowl than Kohli: Mohammad Amir

During a chat show for the YouTube channel of ‘Cricket Pakistan’, Mohammad Amir stated his views that Babar Azam is difficult to bow at than the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli. Amir, who recently won the PSL 2020 title with Karachi Kings, feels that technique-wise, dismissing the Pakistani captain is a more strenuous task than taking the wicket of Kohli.

Since Mohammad Amir has bowled to Kohli in international cricket and to Azam in the nets, he made his opinions. In ODIs, the left-arm seamer has dismissed the Indian captain twice – including one in the Champions Trophy final – and given away 40 runs from 41 balls. In T20Is, Kohli has scored 16 runs off 19 deliveries from Amir.

On the show, ‘Inside Out’ hosted by Yousaf Anjum, The 28-year-old pacer said that Babar has a stance which makes it a hard job for a bowler to get rid of him. Amir observed that if the bowler bowls outside off, Babar will cut and drive him, it bring in, the right-hander will flick the ball.

In the YouTube video, Mohammad Amir said, “If you compare Babar with Kohli, I find it difficult bowling to Babar because of his stance because if I take the ball away from him he plays the drive [through off-side] and if I bring the ball back in, he flicks it [through on-side].” 

Babar Azam will lead Pakistan in all three formats in New Zealand for 3 T20Is starting 18th December followed by a 2-match Test series. Meanwhile, Mohammad Amir and Shoaib Malik are snubbed from a 35-member squad to tour New Zealand. Both the players were part of the T20I team which travelled to England earlier in the year when cricket resumed in the pandemic era.

Also Read: My Family Struggled Financially, Used To Play With A Single Bat For 2-3 Years, Says Babar Azam