Ahmed Shehzad: Comparing Babar Azam to Virat Kohli is Hurting His Performance

When Babar Azam made his international debut in May 2015, Virat Kohli was already a global cricket superstar, having won major tournaments like the ODI World Cup and Champions Trophy, and being named Player of the Tournament in the 2014 T20 World Cup. As Babar started scoring runs consistently for Pakistan, many in the cricket world began comparing him to Kohli.

Former Pakistan opener Ahmed Shehzad believes these comparisons have hurt Babar, adding extra pressure to perform consistently. Shehzad said that Kohli is in a league of his own and cannot be compared to any other player. Even the legendary MS Dhoni, according to him, doesn’t match Kohli’s skills as a batter or athlete.

“When everything was going well, people were comparing players constantly. Now that Babar Azam isn’t performing well, they say ‘don’t compare players.’ Why? Virat Kohli is a legend of this generation and a role model—he can’t be compared with anyone, not even MS Dhoni. While Dhoni was a great captain, Kohli stands out as a batter, cricketer, and athlete. Comparing anyone to another is unfair and creates extra pressure, which is now affecting Babar Azam,” Shehzad told GeoSuper.

Babar Azam has been struggling with poor form in international cricket for a long time. His low scores have led to him losing his spot in both the Test and T20I teams. Although he returned to the Test team during the home series against the West Indies in January 2025, he has not played any T20I matches since December 2024.

In the recent ODI series against the West Indies in the Caribbean, the 30-year-old Babar Azam scored just 47 (64), 0 (3), and 9 (23) in the three matches. His poor performance has led to heavy criticism from Pakistan fans.