Babar Azam’s Pakistan were knocked out of the ICC T20 World Cup as they lost to Australia in the second semi-final. The Men in Green had an unbeaten run on their way to the semi-final. Meanwhile, Matthew Hayden who was working as the batting consultant with the side in the tournament opened up on comparisons between Babar and Virat Kohli.
Babar Azam has scored the most runs in this T20 World Cup (303 at an average of 60). He also went past 2500 international T20 runs in the semi final. He is also ranked number one in the list of batters.
Virat Kohli meanwhile is enduring a difficult phase in his career. He decided on giving up on T20I captaincy after the T20 World Cup. India, unfortunately, did not make the semi-finals and lost both their opening games against Pakistan and New Zealand.
When asked to draw comparisons between the two, Hayden said Babar Azam is not as flamboyant as Kohli and maintains a calm demeanor.
“Babar and his personality is, as you see, what you get. He is very consistent. He is very stable. He is not overly flamboyant,” said Hayden during an interaction with Pakistani journalists from Dubai.
“They are opposites the way I look at it. Babar is pretty calm most of the time and goes about his captaincy and batting meticulously while Kohli is very animated, very passionate, and very boisterous on the field,” he added.
Babar Azam Is A Quick Learner: Matthew Hayden
Hayden also said that Babar is young as compared to Kohli and has time to achieve a lot of other records.
“Babar is still young as a captain but from what I have seen he is learning everyday and he is a quick learner,” he said.
“I think I see Babar has a lot of control when batting and he has a solid temperament. Just to give you an insight into that talent, his ability to consistently react to the ball is second to none from what I’ve seen.”
“I think his consistency stems from these attributes: the way he reacts quickly and how quickly he learns things. His reaction time and his ability to play a consistent version of his best self means he doesn’t have to have all the innovations, he doesn’t have to be striking with any increase or decrease in his temperament. He can remain neutral,” he said.
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