When Babar Azam debuted internationally in May 2015, Virat Kohli had already established himself as one of the world’s premier cricketers. By then, Kohli had won major tournaments like the ODI World Cup and Champions Trophy, and was named Player of the Tournament in the 2014 T20 World Cup. As Babar started scoring consistently for Pakistan, many in the cricketing world began drawing comparisons between him and Kohli.
Shehzad Blames Kohli Comparisons for Added Pressure
Former Pakistan opener Ahmed Shehzad believes these comparisons have negatively impacted Babar, creating excessive pressure to perform regularly. Shehzad emphasized that Kohli’s achievements are unparalleled in modern cricket, stating that even MS Dhoni cannot be compared to him in terms of batting, athleticism, or overall impact.
“𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔. 𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏’𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒚 ‘𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔’. 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒕? 𝑽𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒕 𝑲𝒐𝒉𝒍𝒊 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅. 𝑯𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒅, 𝒂 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒅𝒆𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝑫𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒊, 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒂 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝑲𝒐𝒉𝒍𝒊 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆,” 𝑺𝒉𝒆𝒉𝒛𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝑮𝒆𝒐𝑺𝒖𝒑𝒆𝒓.
“𝑵𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒖𝒏𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑩𝒂𝒃𝒂𝒓 𝑨𝒛𝒂𝒎.”
Babar’s Lean Patch and Recent Struggles
Babar has been enduring a prolonged dip in form across formats. His struggles have led to him losing his spot in both the Test and T20I squads. Although he made a brief return to the Test side during Pakistan’s home series against the West Indies in January 2025, he has not played T20I cricket since December 2024.
In the recently concluded ODI series in the Caribbean, the 30-year-old managed only 47 (64), 0 (3), and 9 (23) in three matches, drawing sharp criticism from fans and pundits alike. His underwhelming performance has sparked intense debate in Pakistan cricket circles, with many analysts attributing part of the struggle to the burden of constant comparisons with one of the modern greats, Virat Kohli.
Also Read: ICC ODI Rankings: Rohit Sharma Climbs to No. 2, Overtakes Babar Azam
