Babar Azam’s calmness gives him edge over Virat Kohli: Saqlain

Former Pakistan spinner Saqlain Mushtaq has weighed on the comparisons between Virat Kohli and Babar Azam, reckoning the Pakistan batsman has an edge over the India captain.

Babar and Kohli are two of the finest batsmen of the current generation and of late there have been plenty of parallels drawn between the two. Although Saqlain feels both batsmen are mentally pretty strong, he believes there is one aspect where Babar scores over Kohli.

“Both are great players, with a great technique, and are mentally very strong. They have the hunger and passion to score lots of runs,” Saqlain told Cricket Pakistan.

“Kohli is more aggressive while Babar is humble. Babar’s calmness gives him an edge over Virat Kohli if we look at what sports science teaches us. But comparing Babar with Kohli is unfair because the latter has been performing for a very long time, all over the world.”

Saqlain isn’t the first former Pakistan player to have debated on the similarities and differences between Kohli and Babar. Last month, former captain Younis Khan had pointed out that it may not be the right time to draw parallels between the two batsmen as Babar started his career long after Kohli.

Kohli, 31, made his limited-overs debut in 2008, three years before he received his maiden Test cap in 2011. Babar, on the other hand, is six years younger than Kohli and made his debut for Pakistan in 2015, a time when the India captain was beginning to peak.

Kohli is one of the few batsmen in the world to average over 50 in all three formats, but Babar isn’t behind, averaging 54.17 in ODIs, 50.72 in T20Is and 45.12 in Tests, even though there is a difference of 300 international matches between them.