Babar Azam needs to perform consistently without worrying about comparisons with Virat Kohli: Javed Miandad

It is fair to say that Babar Azam have taken giant strides as an all-format cricketer in the past 12-18 months. The No.1 ranked T20I batsman in the world seems to have finally cracked the code as far as Test cricket is concerned. Since the start of January 2018, the Pakistani batting spearhead has racked up 1132 runs in 24 innings [14 Tests] at an average of 56.60 with the help of nine half-centuries and three hundred; two of which have come in his last five Test innings.

And, as is the case with every young batsman who is in the form of his life, Babar Azam is now being compared with the best batsmen in the world currently- Virat Kohli. Both Babar and Virat are the only batsmen who are in the top-ten rankings across all formats of the game, and Pakistani fans, as well as their media, have already talked up comparisons with the Indian superstar.

However, former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad feels that Azam should not be worried about the comparisons and focus on just performing day-in-and-day-out for his country.

“Babar is a phenomenal batsman but he has to continue performing for his country. From my experience, I can say that I would never worry about comparisons with any other player but continue performing well for my country. My bat would do the talking and I suggest Babar do the same,” said Miandad as quoted by pakpassion.net.

The champion former cricketer added, “The only time to compare oneself to another is after you have scored enough runs and you can look back at your career with pride. There is no point talking about comparisons ahead of time. My advice to Babar Azam is, don’t worry about comparisons, just put your head down, score heavily and work hard,”

Babar shouldn’t have been made the captain of T20I side, feels Javed Miandad

Miandad also feels that elevating Babar Azam to the captaincy slot in the T20I set-up is a mistake, and was of the view that the right-hander should have been made vice-captain; something that would have allowed him to learn the “trick of the trade”.

“Babar should have been made vice-captain which would have given him breathing space to learn the tricks of the trade. By making him T20I captain, we may have added too much pressure on his batting which could backfire on Pakistan,” he said.

Earlier, Babar Azam had downplayed all the comparisons with Virat. Azam had hailed Kohli as a “legend” and said he needs to get more runs in red-ball cricket for him to be ranked among the top players in the world.

“Look he (Kohli) has already achieved a lot. He is a legend in his country. Honestly, there is no comparison with me right now but eventually, I also want to get [to] where he is today. The media and people have drawn comparisons between me and Virat Kohli but I realise that I still need to get more runs in red-ball cricket to be ranked among the top players. That is why in recent months I have been focusing a lot on getting consistent scores in Test matches.” Azam had said.