"Woh Badhe player hai" - Babar Azam in awe of Virat Kohli after his match-winning knock against Pakistan

Babar Azam, Virat Kohli (Source: Twitter)

Virat Kohli etched his name in the history books forever after he played a scintillating knock against Pakistan to help India register an improbable win over the arch-rivals. The star Indian batter left everyone awestruck with his versatile strokeplay as he played one of the greatest knocks of his T20I career. Pakistan Captain Babar Azam was also full of praise for the Indian batter in the post-match press conference as he gave a stunning reply to a journalist’s question.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Babar hailed Kohli’s ability to make a comeback in his innings after being under pressure early on.

"Definitely. India-Pakistan ka match main extra pressure hota hai. Usko aap jitna overcome kar sakte hai woh karein. Isiliye woh badhey player hai. Early on pressure tha but usne overcome kiya. Apne innings ko build kiya and partnership banaya, mere khayal se match udhar change huya, (Definitely, There is extra pressure during an India-Pakistan match. The more you overcome it, the better it is. That's why he is a big player. There was pressure early on but he overcame it. He built his innings and struck a partnership. That's where I feel the match changed)" he said.

A journalist then asked him if he felt Kohli's knock was the difference between the two sides and Babar's response was pure gold.

"Babar, Virat ke toh bohot saare innings aapne dekhe honge. Toh iss innings mein aapko lagta hai ki he was the difference between the two sides? He actually made the difference," said the journalist. Babar quickly interrupted to say, "Isliye toh match jeet gaaye (That's why they won)" as he smiled.

The journalist returned to his original question and asked Babar how he would rate Kohli's knock and the Pakistan skipper replied saying, "Dekhiye, struggle kar rahe the. Comeback kiya phir itni bari innings ke baad unke confidence kaafi badha hoga. Jab bhi aap aise matches jeetate hain toh woh individual ko bhi confidence milta hai. (See, he was struggling. Staged a comeback and during his knock, his confidence got better. Whenever you make your team win such matches, the player obviously grows in confidence).

Pakistan will play their next match against Zimbabwe on October 27 at the Optus Stadium in Perth, while India will face the Netherlands the same day before taking on South Africa three days later on October 30.