Babar not winning matches like Kohli, says Afridi

Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi said that the current skipper Babar Azam doesn't exude the aura of a match-winner when he goes into bat like Indian batter Virat Kohli.

Babar has had an underwhelming World Cup so far. Although the batter has scored three half-centuries, all of them have come in losing causes.

His lowly average of 30.85 at a strike rate of 77.69 indicate that the 216 runs the right-hander has scored in seven innings have not benefited his team much.

Afridi zeroed in on Babar's failure to win matches for Pakistan with the bat in the ongoing World Cup, which the likes of Kohli and KL Rahul have been doing for hosts India.

"Babar scoring runs and Babar scoring runs in a winning cause are two different things. Look at what Virat Kohli and KL Rahul do. They score their runs, consume deliveries and make sure they win the match for the team," Afridi told Pakistan's Samaa TV.

Afridi, however, said that he remains an admirer of Babar, the current number one ranked batter in ODIs, and hopes he will start playing match-winning innings for Pakistan, who need to win their last two matches in the group-stage to have any chance of qualifying for the semifinal.

"I'm Babar's fan, make no mistake. We say Babar is a big player. Reaching that level is one thing and maintaining your performance once you reach that level is much more difficult. 

"When Babar Azam walks in to bat, we should get a feeling that he will win it for us. But that feeling doesn't come. We know that he will score 50-60 but we are not confident that he will win us the match," Afridi concluded.