Table of Contents

Virat Kohli and Babar Azam will square off against each other in the Asia Cup 2022 but Saba Karim doesn’t feel the tournament is big enough to establish who is better between the two. He said that the judgment should be reserved till the 2022 T20 World Cup.

The 2022 Asia Cup is only a couple of days away from its start and the tournament is already being hyped up as a Virat Kohli vs Babar Azam battle. While Virat Kohli has been an outright superstar, Babar Azam does seem to have taken the lead in the last year or so.

Virat Kohli And Babar Azam Can’t Be Compared By Asia Cup Performances: Saba Karim

Ex-Indian skipper Virat Kohli hasn’t had the best of form of late, with his struggles for runs not hidden from anyone in world cricket. Babar Azam, on the other hand, has been in a free-scoring form despite taking up the role of Pakistan’s captaincy as well.

Coming into the Asia Cup on the back of a long break, Virat Kohli is expected to be rejuvenated as he takes the crease in an attempt to toil with the bowlers. Babar Azam, on the other hand, would be looking to get the better of the Indian talisman just as he did in the 2021 T20 World Cup.

Saba Karim. – File photo of former wicketkeeper - The Hindu — Saba Karim. – File photo of former wicketkeeper – The Hindu

Ahead of the start of the tournament, Saba Karim said that a bigger stage like T20 World Cup 2022 is required to compare Virat Kohli and Babar Azam. Asia Cup, as per him, won’t be enough to establish who is better between the two.

“Asia Cup won’t decide who is the better among the two (Kohli and Babar). I feel the bigger stage will be the T20 World Cup where they have a chance to perform against the bigger teams and help their team win silverware,” Saba Karim said.

Former India cricketer and selector Saba Karim doesn’t think the continental tournament will decide who is better among the two.

Rajkumar Sharma : Virat Kohli Relishes Opportunity To Play Against Pakistan While Babar Azam Has A Good Record Against India

Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma also expressed his opinion on the subject.

“Virat always relishes the opportunity to play against Pakistan because he is always keen on winning big games for his team. When he prepares accordingly, it reflects in his performances,” he said.

“The same goes with Babar, who has a good record against India. So both teams will know that if they want to win the game. Getting these two out early will be crucial,” Sharma concluded.

Rajkumar Sharma with Virat Kohli(Getty Images)

While Virat Kohli has been active in international cricket since 2008, Babar Azam only made his debut in 2015. Between August 2017 to April 2021, former Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli dominated the ODI circuit to an extent that no other player managed to dethrone the batter from his number 1 ODI ranking.

On April 19, 2021, though, all that changed when Babar Azam ended Virat Kohli’s reign of 1,258 days on top of the ODI rankings for batters. By the time Babar Azam played his first international match for Pakistan, Virat Kohli had already appeared in more than 150 One-Day Internationals, hitting 20-plus tons. Fast forward to 2022, and it is Babar Azam who is now the fastest player to score 2,000 ODI runs as it only took him 47 matches to do so.

In T20Is, the Indian batter has so far played 99 games while Babar Azam has played 74. In these outings, the former has scored 3,308 runs, batting at an average of 50.12. Babar Azam, on the other hand, has accumulated 2,686 runs at an average of 45.52.