England’s leg-spinner Adil Rashid has picked Virat Kohli ahead of Babar Azam as the tougher batter to bowl to. Rashid said Kohli is more adept at putting the pressure back on the opposition and winning matches for his team.
Kohli has announced his retirement from T20Is and Test cricket, but he will continue to play in the ODI format. Babar Azam, on the other hand, is currently not part of the Pakistan squad for the ongoing Asia Cup in the UAE.
Meanwhile, Kohli has an incredible record while chasing in the white-ball formats and he has delivered for India consistently in the last 15 years. The veteran batter has scored 8067 runs in 167 ODIs while chasing at an average of 64.
“For me, who I found more difficult to bowl to would be Kohli purely just because of the game situations firstly. He can put pressure back on the opposition. not only by hitting fours and sixes but you know you need to get him out because if he is chasing, if he stays for 10-15 overs it’s going to be the game. So you think lets get him out early. 70-80% percent of the time if he is chasing, you know they will win the game. Babar is not known for that. So I would say Kohli was the harder one to bowl to for me,” Adil Rashid said on the ‘Beard Before Wicket’ podcast.
On the other hand, Rashid picked former Australian gun fast bowler Brett Lee over India’s ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah as the former had a long career. Rashid said Bumrah still needs to deliver in the next decade.
“Bumrah has done it for five or six years. People like Brett Lee did it for 15 years. Why I said Lee over Bumrah, they’ve probably got similar numbers but Lee did it for extra ten years. With Bumrah, he’s got to do it for another ten years. You’ve got to do it to get close to Lee. Lee has been proven even in terms of longevity. In white-ball cricket with the new ball, he was gun, and even at the backend. I would still go with Lee over Bumrah. Bumrah, like I said has done it for five years or whatever, but Lee has for a number of years. If you look at where Lee was and Bumrah is after six years, then that would be different,” the England spinner said.
Kohli will be in action in the three-match ODI series against Australia in October.
