Virat Kohli or Babar Azam - Former India batter makes his pick between two modern-day greats

Babar Azam (left) and Virat Kohli (right) As India and Pakistan gear up for the 16th edition of the Asia Cup, fans have once again started to compare star India batter, Virat Kohli and Pakistan skipper, Babar Azam. However, former Indian batter, Sanjay Manjrekar had some different thoughts on this. The 58-year-old opined that players like Kohli and former India opener, Sachin Tendulkar have performed exceptionally well and they should not be compared to the future stars of cricket.

“Absolutely, and we can expect that to happen again. Just one thing that you know people like Tendulkar and Virat Kohli have had to deal with that they've had long careers and they sort of have spanned over 10 to 15 years and anytime there's been a rising star, he's been compared to a guy who's been in the race for a long time," Manjrekar was quoted as saying on Star Sports show ‘Game Plan'.

Asia Cup this time round you might just see a bit of Babar Azam and maybe show his place as well: Sanjay Manjrekar

"So sometimes it can be a little unfair but the greatness of these two guys is that they maintain that standard that the best performance of a rising player is equated with it. Yes, both are very good players. One is obviously in his prime younger but coming to these kinds of platforms we want to say Virat Kohli and see with the format that we have here not the T20 format, Asia Cup this time round you might just see a bit of Babar Azam and maybe show his place as well,” the former cricketer asserted.

Both the players would be next seen in Asia Cup 2023. The tournament is scheduled to kick start on August 30. The first match of the tournament is set to be played between Pakistan and Nepal in Multan, Pakistan. India will play their opening fixture of the Asia Cup against arch-rivals, Pakistan on September 2 in Kandy, Sri Lanka.