Babar Azam can easily surpass Virat Kohli: Imran Khan

Legendary Pakistan captain Imran Khan has once again ignited comparisons between star India batter Virat Kohli and Pakistan captain Babar Azam. Ever since Babar’s debut in international cricket, Pakistan fans and former cricketers have often said that Babar has the ability to match Kohli’s level.

Recently, the 1992 World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan has gone a step ahead and said that Babar can easily surpass Kohli. Notably, Kohli has scored 25,385 runs in his international career so far in 498 matches, including 75 tons. On the other hand, Babar, who is six years younger than Kohli, has so far scored 12,270 runs in 251 games, including 30 centuries.

“I haven't recently seen cricket, but I believe that Virat Kohli and Babar Azam belong to the same class. Babar Azam can easily surpass Virat Kohli. He is that good, from what I have seen,” Khan was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.

Babar recently surpassed Kohli to become the fastest player to score 5,000 runs in ODIs. He completed the milestone in just 97 innings and left behind the former India captain who had achieved the landmark in 114 innings. After achieving the feat, Babar also left behind the likes of Hashim Amla (101) and Vivian Richards (114).

The Pakistan captain also equalled another Kohli’s record for becoming the fastest batter to complete 3,000 runs in T20Is, reaching the landmark in 81 innings.

Babar has been on a roll in his career

While Babar is far behind Kohli in ODI and Tests, in T20Is he’s just 523 runs behind him (4,008) to become the batter with the most number of runs in T20Is. In 2022, the Pakistan captain also broke Kohli’s record for the most number of days spent as the no. 1 T20I batter (1013) and set a new record for 1155 days. 

Babar has been on a roll in his career as he was bestowed with the prestigious ODI Cricketer of the Year and Cricketer of the Year awards in 2022. It will be interesting to see if he manages to continue his form in the upcoming series.