Shoaib Akhtar Suggests What Babar Azam Needs To Do To Surpass Virat Kohli

Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar has suggested that Babar Azam should score more runs while chasing to come close to Virat Kohli. Incidentally, the Pakistan skipper has often drawn comparisons with his counterpart from India.

The Pakistan batsman, who made his international debut in 2015, has come up the ranks very quickly and is arguably one of the best in the business at present. But Akhtar, who is known to call a spade a spade believes that Babar Azam is far away from touching Virat Kohli’s success.

A brilliant fifty today against 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 sees Babar Azam overtake Martin Guptill and move to third in the list 💥

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma occupy the top 2️⃣ spots 👏#ViratKohli #RohitSharma #BabarAzam #MartinGuptill #DavidWarner pic.twitter.com/D1Bfy4iu8b

— Sportskeeda (@Sportskeeda) July 16, 2021

Speaking to Sports Tak, Shoaib Akhtar said:

“If Babar needs to beat Virat and surpass him, he will have to score more runs chasing and play the kind of innings Kohli has. There is no doubt that Babar Azam can probably be the greatest batsman of Pakistan, but it will take time. We will judge Kohli and Babar after 10 years where they stand.”

I want Virat Kohli to get 120 centuries: Shoaib Akhtar

Speaking about Virat Kohli, Shoaib Akhtar predicted Kohli to peel off 30 more centuries in the coming five years and backed the India captain to take his tally of international tons to at least 110 – 10 more than the current record-holder Sachin Tendulkar with 100 international hundreds.

“Virat has what… 70 centuries in international cricket right. So in the next five years, he will get 30 more and I want him to get 120 centuries, or at least 110. See, with these many runs, who can be compared to him? The debate in itself is wrong. And Babar is now coming through. It’s really good that there is healthy competition,” added Akhtar.