Babar Azam Should Be Compared With Virat Kohli After Five Years, Not Now: Younis Khan

Babar Azam has been the talk of the town for some time now. The right-handed Pakistani batsmen have impinged himself as one of the potential modern-day greats thanks to his sumptuous stroke-play [Read: Cover-drive] and an insatiable appetite to score truckloads of runs on a consistent basis.

Azam averages over 50 in One-day International cricket and is the current No.1 ranked batsman in the world as far as T20Is are concerned. In Test cricket too, the current Pakistan white-ball captain, has grown by leaps and bounds in the past 12 months, smashing four hundreds and a 90+ score in his last five Test matches.

Such has been the consistency of Babar that the 25-year-old is now being compared with superstar Virat Kohli. And, this is where former Pakistan captain Younis Khan has a word of caution.

Also Read: Babar Azam Needs To Work On His English And Overall Personality: Tanvir Ahmed

“Compare Babar Azam with Virat Kohli after five years”- Younis Khan

According to Younis, it is extremely unfair to compare Virat and Babar at this point in time, considering the former has proved himself in every condition and has racked up 70 international 100s during the course of his decade-old career while Babar, on the other hand, made his debut in only 2015 and still has a long way to go in proving himself as an all-format and all-conditions batsman.

“You see, Kohli – who is now 31 and at the peak of his career – has been in international cricket for over a decade now and has proved himself in all conditions. The 70 international centuries that he has scored is a testimony to his class and abilities,” Younis Khan told Gulf News.

“Babar, on the other hand, has made his international debut barely five years back. He already has 16 centuries under his belt and shows very good averages in both Tests and ODIs, but it will be unfair to start comparing the two right now. If you have to, compare Babar five years hence with the dominance that Kohli is showing in his game today,’’ added Younis.

Younis also went on to hail Babar for his humility, adding that it was the first thing that struck him about the 25-year-old when he first came into the Pakistani dressing room.

“Babar made his debut during the last two to three years of my career and I was really impressed by his humility. I have always felt that the more humble you are, you can achieve bigger goals in your life,’’ he revealed.

Babar Azam was recently appointed captain of the Pakistan ODI team and with the added weight of responsibility on his shoulders, it will be interesting to see how he fares with the bat in upcoming years.

Also Read: Virat Kohli Is A Gym Freak; His Body Transformation Has Been Unbelievable: Yuzvendra Chahal