As India prepare for their opening encounter against Pakistan at the Asia Cup, Virat Kohli said cricket needs players like Babar Azam to keep the game exciting, and called him one of the best batters in the world right now.
In a wide-ranging interview with Star Sports, Kohli opened up about his break, the realisations he had during his time away from the game, making his hundredth appearance in the format and his equation with Pakistan captain Babar Azam.
Babar and Kohli have been seen sharing cordial exchanges following the contests between the two sides at the World Cup. Babar, who has had an exponential rise in his international career so far is often compared to the Indian, and has now started to show the kind of consistency Kohli boasted of as well.
In the last couple of years that saw Kohli struggle to score with the same consistency, Babar piled on several match-winning contributions for Pakistan and climbing up the rankings. Recently, Babar Azam had tweeted a message of support for Kohli saying, “This too shall pass. Stay strong.”
Kohli caught up with the Pakistan star before the teams gear up for the blockbuster meeting.
Here’s what Kohli had to say about Azam:
“The first interaction I had with him was in the 2019 World Cup after the game in Manchester along with Imaad (Wasim). Imaad, I have known since U-19 days because we have played against each other. So Imaad told me Babar wanted to have a chat and we sat down, spoke about the game.
“I saw a lot of regard and respect from him from day one and that hasn’t changed, regardless of the fact that he is probably the top batsman in the world right now across formats, performing so consistently and rightly so. He has amazing talent and I have always enjoyed watching him play. That hasn’t changed because he is performing now and he is coming into his own. I don’t see his attitude or approach changing towards me, which is a very good sign of someone who is very grounded in his foundations of his upbringing and his cricketing foundations as well are also very solid.
“These kind of players and characters go a long way, they inspire a lot of people and I see that happening with him as well. I congratulated him yesterday for how he has been playing and just how amazing it is to watch and I wish him all the best. He deserves all of this. I mean, eventually, you need to have players like him to keep world cricket exciting and that is the reality of the situation.”
Watch the full interview here.
Asia Cup: Ravi Shastri and Wasim Akram on India vs Pakistan clash, Virat Kohli, Babar Azam & more