'Once-in-a-generation cricketer': Former Pakistan bowler places Babar Azam on the same level of greatness as Virat Kohli
Babar Azam's comparisons with former India captain Virat Kohli are not new and with each fine knock, the noise only grows.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam has climbed to the fifth position on the ICC Test rankings for batters. Babar scored a career-best 196 in the second Test against Australia in Karachi, and as a result of his marathon innings, the 27-year-old jump three places and left behind the likes of Rohit Sharma, Travis Head and Dimuth Karunaratne to enter the top five. (Also Read: Babar Azam storms into top 5 of ICC Test rankings after record knock in Karachi Test)
Babar's sublime form has often triggered a debate as to whether the star Pakistan batter deserves to be part of the Fab 4. His comparisons with former India captain Virat Kohli are not new and with each impressive knock, the noise only grows. While Babar has gone from strength to strength, Kohli's dip in form has seen the India star struggle to score a century in more than two years.
Babar is a lot younger to Kohli in terms of age and career, and many feel that comparing the two is unfair. However, former Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal has given his verdict on the Pakistan captain and placed Babar on the same level as Kohli following his stupendous batting form of late.
"Such players are very rare to grace an era. Such players are very rare. The greatest of this era are Virat Kohli, Babar Azam; even Mohammad Rizwan has shown such great improvement in the last year, year and a half. He is the most improved cricketer in world cricket. He has proven himself in every format. He has aggression and calmness at the same time. He has everything and has performed well. But having said that, what Babar Azam has achieved in the last year is worth appreciating," Ajmal told Cricket Pakistan.
Among bowlers, Ajmal singled out the likes of Shaheen Afridi, Mitchell Starc and Jasprit Bumrah as world-class pacers, while reserving a special praise for veteran Australian spinner Nathan Lyon. "If you talk about bowlers… among spinner, Nathan Lyon has delivered impressive performances over the last five years. Among pacers, players like Shaheen Afridi, Mitchell Starc and Jasprit Bumrah have given match-winning performances," he pointed out.
