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Player comparisons among fans and experts have been a common theme over the years, Sachin Tendulkar-Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar-Don Bradman, Shane Warne-Muttiah Muralidharan, and many more. The most recent and heated debate is Virat Kohli vs. Babar Azam, and this gets spicier as the two players are from rival countries. Now Sanjay Manjerekar has weighed in on the topic, saying that it's ‘unfair to compare a young Babar to a well-established legend like Kohli.
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Manjrekar also added the legendary Sachin Tendulkar to the mix, who had an international career spanning 24 years. Sachin made his debut in 1989 and played his final Test match in 2013, making 15921 runs in 200 tests and 18426 runs in 463 ODIs.
“Absolutely, and we can expect that to happen again. Just one thing that you know people like Tendulkar and Virat Kohli have had to deal with that they've had long careers and they sort of have spanned over 10-15 years and anytime there's been a rising star, he's been compared to a guy who's been in the race for a long time. So sometimes it can be a little unfair but the greatness of these two guys is that they maintain that standard that the best performance of a rising player is equated with it,” Manjrekar told Star Sports.
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Manjerekar further said that Azam has a better chance to prove himself at the 2023 Asia Cup since it is in the ODI format. “Yes, both very good players. One obviously in his prime younger but coming to these kind of platform we want to say Virat Kohli and see with the format that we have here not the T20 format, Asia Cup this time round you might just see a bit Babar Azam and maybe show his place as well,” he added.
In ODIs, while chasing, Virat Kohli averages 64.2 in 146 games, scoring 7,384 runs at a strike rate of 93.8. The chase master also has 26 hundred and 36 fifties in ODIs while playing in the second inning. The second-innings T20I average for Virat Kohli is even better than the ODIs (73.4), as he has scored 1,983 in 45 innings. On the other hand, Babar averages 56.7 while chasing in ODIs and 39.6 in T20Is, which are impressive numbers but still not on par with Virat Kohli. The top-order batsman is still young and has time to improve himself and his statistics.
India will start their Asia Cup 2023 campaign against Pakistan on Saturday, September 2 at the Pallekelle Stadium. The two teams will meet each other for the first time since their T20 World Cup match back in 2022. India clinched the victory in that thrilling T20I game, with Virat Kohli playing a blinder of an innings.
