Babar Azam continued his prolific form for Pakistan in the T20 format as he smashed a 79 in his side’s 49-run win over New Zealand in the final match of the series on Sunday.
The innings helped the Pakistan man breach the 1,000-run mark in T20I cricket. In the process, Babar became the fastest batsman to reach the milestone, taking only 26 innings to get to the mark.
The right-hander broke the previous record set by India superstar Virat Kohli who attained the mark in 27 innings.
And it is that very man that the right-hander wants to model his game upon.
“My role model is AB de Villiers and after him Virat Kohli who I even follow now. What is not good about Virat Kohli? Everything is good about him. What I like the most is his confidence when he arrives at the crease,” Babar said after his heroics on Sunday.
“If he’s scored a hundred in the previous game, he still comes to the next game as though he has not done anything and aims higher. His confidence, balance, the way he treats bowlers. What he does, I want to try to do the same,” he added.
Babar has been compared to Kohli since his Pakistan debut.
This is not the first time that the Pakistan star has spoken about his admiration for the skipper of Pakistan’s arch-rivals. The 24-year-old has time and again been compared to Kohli ever since he entered the fray in international cricket.
“I do not just copy Virat Kohli, but I really follow him. I dream of becoming like him. Some people compare me with Virat, while there’s no comparison as I am just in the beginning. I feel that I cannot be just like him, but it can be closer to his instinct of playing,” he had stated in an earlier interview.
Given the mountain of runs and tons Kohli has notched up, Pakistan fans will not be overjoyed if Babar can achieve even a fraction of the India batsman’s success.