I like Virat more than Babar, says ex-Pakistan captain Sidra Nawaz

The Pakistan batter, who recently stepped down from white ball captaincy, was overtaken by Shubman Gill in 2023 but regained his position in December 2023 and still sits at the top of the leaderboards.

New Delhi: Former Pakistan skipper Sidra Nawaz was asked to weigh in on the age-old debate between the fans of the two cricketing nations as to who she thinks is the better player, Virat Kohli or Babar Azam.

“I like them both but personally I choose Virat Kohli,” Sidra told IANS.

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Virat Kohli has solidified his legacy as perhaps one of the greatest batters in the history of the game. The 35-year old, who is also the ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year 2023, has had a stellar career which has seen him play more than 500 games across the three formats. Kohli’s most successful format has been ODI’s as he has scored 13,906 runs in 295 games.

Kohli had spent 1258 days as the number one ranked ODI batsman in the world before he was dethroned by Babar Azam in April 2021. The Pakistan batter, who recently stepped down from white ball captaincy, was overtaken by Shubman Gill in 2023 but regained his position in December 2023 and still sits at the top of the leaderboards.

With the Women’s T20 WC now in full flow, India will be hoping to bounce back after a 58-run crushing defeat by the hands of New Zealand. Their next opponents on the other hand, Pakistan, are coming off an impressive 31 run victory over Sri Lanka in their opening encounter.

Sidra Nawaz believes that even though India has historically dominated the fixture, Pakistan’s momentum can put India under pressure in their match-up.

“If we take a look at the past meetings then majority of the times India has won but in this World Cup Pakistan started off strong with a solid win over Sri Lanka and India was unable to win against NZ and were bundled out early. Pakistan might have the better approach heading into the game and hopefully will put India under pressure in the game,” Sidra further added during an interaction set up by 1xbat cricket predicta.

Nawaz participated in domestic cricket for the likes of Lahore, Punjab, Federal Capital, Higher Education Commission, Omar Associates, Saif Sports Saga, and State Bank of Pakistan.

Nawaz took to the international stage in 2014, debuting against Australia in August, 2014. Nawaz went on to partake in numerous ODI and T20 World Cups, spanning from 2014 to 2023. Nawaz was nominated as the captain of the Pakistan A team in 2021, taking on West Indies in an T20I. Sidra was considered as a true leader and great of her national side.

The veteran further stated that India and Pakistan should begin playing bi-lateral series as well and claimed that India should travel to Pakistan in 2025 for the Champions Trophy.

“Yes definitely (On whether India and Pakistan should play more often), I think we lack because we can’t play bilateral series between each other. I can’t comment on this because it’s the decision of the governments but as a player I believe we should play at least one series a year.

“India should definitely come to Pakistan, Pakistan went to their country to play the 2023 ODI WC as well. A lot of countries are traveling to Pakistan, England and Pak will begin a test series in two days (October 7). India have played on all the pitches around the world, it’s time they experience our pitches as well,”she concluded.