Babar Azam recalls how Virat Kohli's advice helped him improve his game

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has displaced his Indian counterpart, Virat Kohli, in the latest ICC ODI rankings released on 14th April 2021. With that, Kohli’s record streak of 1258 days at the top has come to an end.

Notably, Kohli has not been too active in the 50-over format in the recent past, and his last series, which was at home against England, did not turn out to be as fruitful by his standards. On the other hand, Babar Azam has been in brilliant ODI form in the away series of South Africa that Pakistan won 2-1. The Pakistan skipper was in fine form in the ODIs, where his scores read 103, 31, and 94 to finish with 228 runs at a massive average of 76.

After displacing Kohli, Azam joined an elite list of Pakistan batsmen, which includes the likes of Zaheer Abbas (1983-84), Javed Miandad (1988-89), and Mohammad Yousuf (2003), the only three batsmen from the nation who reached to the number one spot in the ICC ODI rankings.

Kohli’s advice helped me: Babar Azam

Soon after Babar gained the No. 1 spot in ODIs, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) released a video of his conversation with teammate Imam-ul-Haq, where he recalls how Virat Kohli’s advice helped him as a batsman.

“Previously, I used to play at nets with a casual mind but slowly I overcame this. I understood that if I am not taking my sessions seriously, how I can perform in matches?” said Babar.

“In this regard, I once talked to Virat Kohli and he told me to take net sessions as seriously as matches. If you get out and play rash shots in nets, subsequently you will do the same in a match. His advice helped me and now I don’t get satisfied with my batting at nets. If my net session doesn’t go well, I am disturbed throughout the day,” he added.

Azam is currently a part of the team participating in a four-match T20I series against South Africa. He had entered the ODI series with 837 points and moved to 865 after his match-winning knock in the third ODI.