Indian cricket team skipper Virat Kohli was at the absolute top of his game in One-Day International cricket yet again as India secured a comfortable 6-wicket win over South Africa in the 1st 50-over match of the long series. While Kohli often gets compared to other talented cricketers across the world including Steve Smith, Babar Azam, Kane Williamson and Joe Root, it seems as if the comparison with Kohli is a day-to-day thing for the Pakistani star.
The Pakistan cricket team skipper, Sarfraz Ahmed, was seen referencing to Babar as ‘Chotay Chiku’ in reference to Kohli whose nickname is Chiku. The incident took place during the second T20I between Pakistan and New Zealand at the Eden Park in Auckland.
It was during their Pakistan’s bowling that the Sarfraz, all pumped up with the team’s performance with the bat that saw them score 201 runs, gave Azam a cheeky nickname which was caught on the stump microphone. Here’s the video of the incident:
The talks of a comparison between Kohli and Babar Azam intensified as Pakistan cricket team coach Mickey Arthur compared his player to that of the Indian captain.
“He [Azam] is a young gun who will be an exceptional player. I’ll go so far as to say, at the same age, I reckon he’s as good as Virat Kohli, which I know that’s high praise but he’s right up there,” Arthur had said last year while praising Azam.
Azam, however, put an end to such talks suggesting he is just a beginner while Kohli is a great batsman. “There is no comparison. @imVkohli is a great batsman and I am just a beginner. But I would like to be recalled as Babar Azam of Pakistan,” he had tweeted in reply to a fan’s query in August 2017. (READ | Anukul Roy becomes joint-highest wicket-taker with 14 scalps)
Virat Kohli was recently named as the ‘Greatest Chaser’ by former England skipper Michael Vaughan as the 29-year-old scored his first ever ODI hundred in South Africa to guide to victory.