Babar Azam has ‘almost overtaken’ his next-door neighbour Virat Kohli, feels former WI pacer

Babar Azam has been in sensational form of late. The Pakistan captain has been on a run-scoring spree in all forms of the game. The 27-year-old has been backed by many former cricketers to be included in the Fab Four, with Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, and Kane Williamson struggling for form (barring Joe Root who is in red-hot form) whereas some feel it should ideally be expanded and renamed Fab Five, including the Pakistani.

While Babar’s form has been unreal, recently he became the first-ever batsman to register nine fifty-plus scores across formats, his next-door neighbour Kohli has struggled to be at his best. The 33-year-old has still scored runs in the white-ball formats, he has failed to convert them into daddy hundreds whereas he averaged only above 25 in Tests last year. Overall, Babar has been scoring hundreds for fun whereas Kohli hasn’t scored a hundred in any format, at any level, since November 2019.

Thus, former West Indies pacer-turned-commentator Ian Bishop lauded Babar and stated that the Pakistani has ‘almost overtaken’ Kohli, especially in ODIs, and is on the cusp of greatness going ahead.

“I want to be clear when I say ‘on the road to…’, in the white-ball cricket at least, and certainly in fifty overs. I don’t use the term ‘great’ loosely. It has to be a bigger sample size to bestow greatness on a player, but his average, as we speak now, (is) on the cusp on 60 with 17 ODI hundreds. He has almost overtaken his next-door neighbour, the great Virat Kohli, in terms of the ultimate fifty-over batsman,” Bishop said during a conversation with cricwick.com.

ALSO READ | PCB unhappy with IPL’s ‘two-and-a-half month window’? Discussion likely in ICC’s board meeting

“His Test cricket is a work in progress. I’m surprised he hasn’t taken to Test cricket numbers a lot earlier. He’s starting to get better at it. Technically, he’s superb. In future, I’m hoping he will be mentioned in the same breath in Test cricket as the top 3-4 players,” Bishop added.

ALSO READ | ‘Is he still playing cricket with same motivation?’ Afridi talks about ‘attitude’ as he dwells on Kohli’s form

Babar has also been on a winning spree as Pakistan’s captain, especially in the 50-over format in recent times. After Pakistan lost the home Tests versus Australia, 1-0, they beat the five-time World Cup winners 2-1 in three ODIs in their own backyard and whitewashed West Indies in an equal number of ODIs, in Multan, which concluded on June 12.

Meanwhile, the wait for Kohli’s 71st international hundred continues. He will next be seen in action for Team India during their rescheduled fifth and final Test versus England, in Edgbaston, on July 01.