Pakistan captain Babar Azam stellar rise in international cricket, along with scripting new records across formats has often led fans and experts to compare him with modern-era great Virat Kohli. However, a former Pakistan cricketer, in a stern message, asked fans to stop make these comparisons as he lambasted Babar for his batting and immensely criticised his captaincy during the ongoing Test series against England.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Danish Kaneria opined that no player in the present Pakistan batting line-up should be compared to the likes of India greats Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Kaneria’s comment came amid the ongoing third Test between Pakistan and England in Karachi where the tourists need 55 runs more, with eight wickets in hand, to inflict a horror whitewash against the Babar-led side on home soil.
“People should stop comparing Babar Azam to Virat Kohli. The likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are very big players. Pakistan have nobody in their team who can be compared to them. If you make them talk, they will be a king. When you ask them to produce results, they’ll be zero,” he said.
Kaneria further slammed Babar’s leadership skill in the Test series, rating it “zero”. He feels that Babar doesn’t have the ability to lead Pakistan in the red-ball format and should rather learn the tricks from England skipper Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum.
“Babar Azam is a big zero as captain. He doesn’t deserve to lead the team. He is not capable of leading the team, especially when it comes to Test cricket. He had a good chance of learning captaincy by looking at Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum during the series. Or, he could have kept his ego aside and asked Sarfaraz Ahmed how to captain,” he added.
Talking about the Karachi Test, Babar did put on a brave fight against the England attack, scoring a second consecutive fifty while stitching a 110-run stand alongside Saud Shakeel. But debutant Rehan Ahmed’s stellar five-wicket haul left Pakistan with a lead of just 166 runs at the end of their second innings.
Abrar Ahmed did strike twice at the close of Day 3, but England stand firmly in place to complete a whitewash in Karachi as they need just 55 runs more to win.