Pakistani skipper Babar Azam has won the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year and also the ODI Cricketer of the Year award for the second consecutive year on Thursday. The 28-year-old batsman, who has crushed 17 tons and 24 half-centuries in 95 ODI matches, led Pakistan to the finals of Asia Cup and T20 World Cup 2022. Many fans and pundits often compare Babar to Indian star Virat Kohli. , who was also awarded the ODI Cricketer of the Year in 2017 and 2018.
However, former Pakistani skipper Misbah-ul-Haq completely rejected all comparisons stating that both players are at different stages of their careers and that comparing them “doesn’t make sense”.
“There should be no comparison between the two. Kohli has played a lot of cricket, Babar has just started. When Babar starts playing the same amount of cricket, you can make a comparison. Kohli has played more cricket and at the moment no one can match him,” Misbah told Paktv.tv.
“Yes, Babar is a class player and he could achieve the same things as Kohli in the future, but at the moment there is no point in comparing the two as it is only a beginning for Babar,” he added.
In particular, Kohli, who had not scored a ton for more than three years, ended his century of drought in the Asia Cup against Afghanistan last year, his first hundred in T20Is.
Since then, the 35-year-old has not looked back, breaking three centuries in his last seven ODI outings.
He is just three ODI tons away from tying former India batsman Sachin Tendulkar (49) of scoring most tons in the format.
Speaking of Babar, he had an amazing year with the bat in 2021, scoring 679 runs from nine ODI matches at an average of 84.87 with three centuries in 2022. Babar is also the best batsman in the ODI rankings, a title which he has been holding firmly since July 2021. Under his leadership, Pakistan notably lost only one ODI in 2022.
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