If you idolise Virat Kohli, learn to bat like him: Shoaib Akhtar advises Babar Azam

Pakistan made a strong comeback to their World Cup campaign after it was dented badly in the game against arch-rivals India at Old Trafford on June 16. Under overcast conditions at Lord’s, Sarfaraz Ahmed’s team came up with a much-improved show both with the bat and ball to thump a hapless South Africa by 59 runs. In response to Pakistan’s 308 for 7, the Proteas could manage just 259 for 9 in their allotted 50 overs.

The highest point in Pakistan’s batting was Haris Sohail who slammed 89 off 59 balls to power his team to a strong total. Babar Azam, too, joined the party scoring 69 off 80 balls to continue with his good form minus a century in the World Cup so far.

Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar on Monday raised once again the issue of 24-year-old Azam not being able to convert his knocks into big centuries despite having the potential. He had said the same about Azam after he got bowled by Kuldeep Yadav at Old Trafford while batting on 48. His dismissal opened the floodgates and Pakistan slumped from 117 for 1 to 166 for 6 to lose the match.

Akhtar, who had slammed Azam for not learning from his idol Virat Kohli on the matter, touched upon the same point on Monday as well.

‘Learn to take singles like Virat’

“I would like to tell Babar Azam that when you consider Virat Kohli your idol then you should also learn to play like him. Virat gas scored runs in very difficult situations. Babar should learn to take singles like Virat, learn to improvise like him,” Akhtar said on his YouTube channel video. The former pacer had also advised the Pakistani batsman to stress on singles after the defeat to India.

Kohli has 41 ODI hundreds and has one of the best conversion rates in the game. Azam said in the recent past that he watched videos of Kohli’s batting as a preparation for the clash with India. Akhtar further added that players like Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Kane Williamson and others accelerate their scoring after reaching the 50-run mark. He advised Azam to learn from them and have more shots in his arsenal.

Azam has scored two fifties so far in the tournament although he hit a century in the warm-up match against Afghanistan before the tournament began and also against England in the ODI series before that. Akhtar also backed Sohail’s inclusion in the XI, saying he always felt the need as he sees a compact player in Sohail.