Karachi: Pakistan limited overs captain Babar Azam is tired of his constant comparisons with India skipper Virat Kohli and says he would rather be compared to the greats at home.
Babar, six years younger to Kohli, has a long way to go in getting close to Kohli’s staggering numbers across formats. The India skipper has 70 hundreds to his name and averages more than 50 in all three formats.
“I would be happier if you compare me to say Javed Miandad, Muhammad Yousuf or Younis Khan. Why compare me to Kohli or any Indian player?” asked the 25-year-old, who is in England with the national team, in an online media interaction.
Babar has scored 16 international hundreds and averages more than 50 in ODIs and T20Is. However, in 26 Tests, he has scored 1,850 runs at 45.12.
He also said that he was not targeting any English bowler for the series next month.
“I don’t see who the bowler is or his reputation. I just try to play each ball on merit. England no doubt has a top bowling attack and they have advantage of playing at home but this is a challenge I want to score runs in,” he said.
Before the squad’s departure for England, Pakistan batting coach Younis Khan said that pacer Joffra Archer would be a handful for the Pakistani batsmen.
Babar said that he would try to play every English bowler on merit but conceded that after getting runs in Australia last year, he was keen on leaving his footprint in the coming Test and T20 series in England.
Reminded that some former Test players had already written off Pakistan for the England series, Babar said they were entitled to their opinion.
