The legendary Indian batsman Virat Kohli received a ton of praise from Pakistani pacer Mohammed Amir, who is well-known for being critical of Men in Green captain Babar Azam. He also refuted any similarities between the star Pakistani batsman and the former captain of India. Regarding Kohli’s pursuit of Sachin Tendulkar’s records, Amir also asserted something significant.
Amir noted that Kohli does not often play in series against “weaker” teams like Nepal and Zimbabwe, and he would have already surpassed Tendulkar’s record if he had. The Pakistani pacer referred to the Kohli-Babar comparisons as “stupid.”
“Kohli would have long since surpassed Sachin Tendulkar’s record if he had played series against Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Zimbabwe, and Nepal. He doesn’t play these kinds of shows,” Amir stated on GEO News.
“Why people constantly comparing Virat Kohli is beyond me. Any analogy is meaningless. Second, you must consider the player’s intentions. He was making an effort while playing ball-to-ball with Sri Lanka, he continued.
In ODI cricket, Kohli is one century from surpassing Sachin Tendulkar’s record for the most centuries. With 48 ODI centuries to his credit, Kohli is on the verge of becoming the first player to reach 50 ODI tons. During the 2023 World Cup, Kohli missed two opportunities to reach the record-tying 49th century, being dismissed for 95 against New Zealand and 88 against Sri Lanka.
Virat, who has 19 ODI hundreds under his belt, and Babar have been compared due to the latter’s quick ascent in recent years. Babar, however, has come under fire from all quarters for his appalling batting performance in the 2023 World Cup, scoring just 216 runs at an average of 30.85 in seven games.
However, with 442 runs in seven matches—including one century and four 50+ scores at an average of 88.40—Kohli is the second-highest run scorer in the competition.
