Babar Azam, the captain of Pakistan, has frequently been compared to Virat Kohli by fans and pundits because of his phenomenal rise in international cricket and his ability to set new records across formats. In contrast, a former Pakistan cricketer slammed Babar for his batting and harshly criticised his captaincy during the ongoing Test series against England in a strong warning asking supporters to refrain from drawing analogies.
Danish Kaneria stated on his YouTube channel that no player in the current Pakistani batting order should be compared to Indian legends like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. The third Test between Pakistan and England is currently taking place in Karachi. England needs 55 runs to win with eight wickets remaining in order to completely destroy the Babar-led team at home. “People should stop comparing Babar Azam to Virat Kohli. The likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are very big players. Pakistan have nobody in their team who can be compared to them. If you make them talk, they will be a king. When you ask them to produce results, they’ll be zero,” he said.
Kaneria also gave Babar a “zero” for his ability to lead throughout the Test series. He believes that Babar should learn the ropes from England captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum rather than trying to lead Pakistan in the red-ball format. “Babar Azam is a big zero as captain. He doesn’t deserve to lead the team. He is not capable of leading the team, especially when it comes to Test cricket. He had a good chance of learning captaincy by looking at Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum during the series. Or, he could have kept his ego aside and asked Sarfaraz Ahmed how to captain,” he added.
Speaking of the Karachi Test, Babar did put up a valiant fight against the English attack, scoring his second fifty in a row and joining forces with Saud Shakeel to put up a 110-run partnership. At the end of their second innings, Pakistan had a lead of just 166 runs thanks to five-wicket rookie Rehan Ahmed’s outstanding performance. Even though Abrar Ahmed struck twice at the end of Day 3, England is still well-positioned to sweep Pakistan in Karachi with just 55 runs remaining.