The former Pakistani captain responded brutally when questioned about the parallels between Kohli and Babar

Pakistan’s skipper, Babar Azam, won two ICC honors this week, namely Men’s Player of the Year and ODI Player of the Year for 2022. Babar had a stellar year, scoring over 2,600 runs across all formats of international cricket in 2017. No other hitter has ever hit more than 2,000 runs, to put it into perspective. Babar scored eight fifty-plus runs in nine ODIs, and he also assisted Pakistan in winning the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup.

Virat Kohli of India achieved the same thing in 2017–18 when he also won three straight ODI Player of the Year accolades; Babar did the same thing. The parallels between Babar and Kohli have developed dramatically once again as a result of the Pakistani captain’s most recent accomplishment.

Former Pakistani captain Salman Butt claims that as Kohli is at a different stage of his career, it would not be acceptable to compare the two at this moment.

“Both are world-class cricket players and outstanding athletes. But at this point in his career, Virat Kohli cannot be compared. While Kohli now has 74 international tonnes, it has been three years since he surpassed 100. Now that you understand the scope of his performances, you can appreciate them,” Butt stated on paktv. tv.

In their careers, cricket players go through times when they succeed but subsequently struggle. Incredibly, we think Babar’s performance will only go better from where he is today. We hope he succeeds, and he should. Rather than constantly playing well, Pakistan’s role models have mostly played entertaining cricket. We should take advantage of the fact that a person like Babar is now at the top of the rankings and show him respect. We don’t want to send him into a panic,” Butt added.

The former Pakistani captain answered the interviewer’s follow-up comparison question by providing a source.

“There is no substitute. It is similar to comparing Wasim Akram and Shaheen Afridi. It’s incorrect,” stated Butt.