“Wanted to take something from his game…it really helped me”: Babar recalls interaction with Virat Kohli

The final will be played by the top two teams at the end of the Super Fours on September 17 in Colombo.

Mumbai: Pakistan skipper Babar Azam was elated at being praised by India star Virat Kohli and detailed the mutual respect that exists between them, saying that praise from someone like Virat gives him confidence.

Kohli had conveyed his admiration and recalled his first meeting with Pakistan’s star batter Babar Azam in an interaction with Star Sports last year.

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“I saw a lot of regard and respect from him from day one, and that has not changed. Regardless of the fact he’s probably the top batsman in the world across formats, performing so consistently and rightly so. He has amazing talent and I have always enjoyed watching him play,” said Virat as quoted by ICC.

“So that [Babar’s attitude] has not changed because he is performing now, and he is coming into his own. I do not see his attitude or approach changing towards me,” he added.

Babar reacted to Virat’s comments recently on Star Sports, and discussed Virat’s influence on his game.

“It feels really good. When someone talks about you like this. And what Kohli has said, has made me very proud and happy,” he said.

“Such praise gives you confidence. When I met him in 2019, he was at his peak. He is still at his peak. I wanted to take something from his game. I learnt a lot from him. He gave a detailed explanation to all my questions. That helped me. When you do such things for each other, it feels really good,” he added.

Both batters have excelled in the ODI format over the years. Babar, whose most recent knock was a match-winning 151 against Nepal, averages 59.47 in the format with 5,353 runs to his name. He has 19 ODI hundreds, the second most for Pakistan in the format.

Virat, on the other hand, has 12,898 runs at an average of 57.32. He has 46 ODI hundreds to his name, which is the second most in the format’s history.

Pakistan, India and Nepal are in Group A while Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka are in Group B. The tournament will follow a hybrid model with Pakistan hosting four matches across two venues and Sri Lanka hosting the remaining games. The six group-stage matches will be followed by the Super Fours beginning September 6.

The final will be played by the top two teams at the end of the Super Fours on September 17 in Colombo.

Indian Squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vice-captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna.

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Haris, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir (travelling reserve).