Sarfraz Ahmed calls his teammate Chhote Cheeku

Virat Kohli is not just the batting star in India but has an enormous fan following across the world. Most of his opponents always appreciate his game and the ability to take the game away and dictate terms. Though India and Pakistan are not in best terms – cricketing and otherwise, Kohli’s stature sustains and often top cricketers from the neighbouring country have been equated to him. The likes of Ahmed Shehzad and Babar Azam have time and again been compared to the modern-day great.

During Pakistan’s tour of New Zealand, the team lost the ODI series 5-0 but made quite a comeback in the T20Is to claim the series 2-1. During the course of the second T20I at the Eden Park in Auckland skipper, Sarfraz Ahmed poked fun at Azam calling him ‘Chhote Cheeku’.

It was during their bowling innings, the captain was on a high as his team was on top of the game having posted 201 runs on the board they claimed Kiwi wickets at regular intervals to choke out any life out of their effort. And while keeping wickets, Sarfraz called Azam and this cheeky nickname was caught on the stump microphone.

Since the 23-year-old has been compared to the Indian captain who has a popular nickname ‘Cheeku’ Ahmed called him Choote Cheeku which means a younger version of the former.

Watch the video here:

Sarfraz to Babar Azam “Chotay Cheeku”

?? #NZvPAK pic.twitter.com/E2GuD850ek

— I (@Ahmadfied19) January 25, 2018

It all started when Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur compared the two cricketers in 2017 talking about the style of play.

“He [Azam] is a young gun who will be an exceptional player. I’ll go so far as to say, at the same age, I reckon he’s as good as Virat Kohli, which I know that’s high praise but he’s right up there,” coach Mickey Arthur was quoted as saying by Perth’s 6PR radio.

The comparison got so popular that the hashtag #ViratKohliofPakistan was trending on Twitter. It wasn’t just restricted to that, when Babar Azam hosted a Q&A session on the social media platform, one of the fans asked him “#AskBabarAzam ager Apko #viratkholi off Pakistan kaha jai to apko kaisa lage g @babarazam258”

#AskBabarAzam ager Apko #viratkholi off Pakistan kaha jai to apko kaisa lage g @babarazam258

— Soomrowaqar99 (@soomrowaqar99) August 6, 2017

Azam replied saying, “there is no comparison. @imVkohli is a great batsman and I am just a beginner. But I would like to be recalled as Babar Azam of Pakistan :)”

there is no comparison. @imVkohli is a great batsman and I am just a beginner. But I would like to be recalled as Babar Azam of Pakistan 🙂 https://t.co/fqiF6ZKJ2J

— Babar Azam (@babarazam258) August 6, 2017