Babar Azam talks about AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli

Babar Azam has been one of the rising talents in Pakistan cricket. The right-handed batsman showed phenomenal form in the Sri Lankan limited-overs series. He went on to score 2 centuries and a half century as Pakistan whitewashed Sri Lanka.

While Babar was unable to replicate his limited-overs success into the Tests, he has showcased some fine batting finesse. The cricketer spoke to ESPN about his batting heroes, his skills and on comparison with Indian captain Virat Kohli.

Tried replicating him

The Pakistani batsman said that South African legend AB de Villiers is his hero and that he had followed the Protean batsman quite closely. He mentioned that he tried some of his shots in the nets.

“I loved watching AB de Villiers in the early days. I used to follow him closely. I copied him a lot too. In the nets, I used to at least try some of the shots he played in the matches. Those hadn’t been played back then. I still don’t try those shots. I play normally. Nowadays I follow Virat Kohli, Hashim Amla, and of course, de Villiers,” he stated.

Recently coach Mickey Arthur drew comparison between the 23-year-old and Virat. Babar admitted that Kohli was too big a player and lauded him as the No.1 batsman in international cricket.

“He compared me with a very big player. I think it shouldn’t be done. But that is the coach’s thinking. Maybe the stats at the start of our careers are similar, but he is the No. 1 batsman in the world. I want to perform at a high level for Pakistan too,” he said.

Pakistan are all set to tour New Zealand early next year. The Kiwi tour is supposed to commence on the 6th of January with the first One-Day International at Wellington. They will play a practice game against New Zealand XI before the start of the series.