Babar Azam failed with the bat for Pakistan, scoring 5 in 7 balls.
Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan has asked the cricket fans to finally stop comparing India legend Virat Kohli with ex-Pakistani captain Babar Azam when it comes to impact knocks. He stated this after Babar Azam’s poor knock in the recent India v Pakistan T20 World Cup 2026 game in Colombo on February 15.
India, asked to bat first by the Pakistan captain, posted 175/7 in 20 overs, thanks to Ishan Kishan’s 77 and Suryakumar Yadav’s 32 runs. In response, Pakistan's batting faltered badly, with only Usman Khan (44) managing to show some resistance. Pakistan was dismissed for 114 runs and lost the game to India by 61 runs.
Babar Azam was in focus when Pakistan found themselves in trouble, losing three wickets in the first two overs. Babar, who is known for playing consolidating innings even in T20Is, tried to hit Axar Patel for a six and was clean bowled for five runs.
Babar has struggled against India in T20Is after his 68 in the 2021 edition of the T20 World Cup, registering scores of 10, 14, 0, 13, and 5. He has now scored just 110 runs in six matches with an average of 22 and a strike rate of 123.59.
In comparison, Kohli has 492 runs in 11 matches against Pakistan, averaging 70.28. This includes his amazing knock against the archrivals at the MCG during the T20 World Cup 2022, which helped India win from a similar situation that Pakistan found themselves in this match.
Irfan Pathan highlighted Kohli’s MCG knock and questioned whether Babar Azam ever played such a knock under pressure and finished games for his side.
"And please, stop comparing Babar Azam with Virat Kohli. Virat Kohli is in a different league. Look at his innings against Pakistan in the 2022 World Cup—has Babar ever played such a knock under pressure? Apart from 2021, when dew played a big role, how many times has Babar absorbed pressure and finished games like that?" said Pathan on his YouTube channel.
The former Indian all-rounder believed Babar should have focused on taking the game deep and playing singles and doubles instead of looking for a huge shot.
"With three wickets down, he should have batted till the 15th over, focused on singles and doubles, and played a long innings. Even a strike rate of 120 would have been acceptable given the scoreboard pressure. Instead, he went for a big shot and got out. He can’t consistently clear boundaries at will, nor to rotate strike freely in the middle overs against quality spin when the ball grips. Because of that approach, Pakistan couldn’t even bat the full 20 overs. "This was a shameful defeat—no doubt about it," said Pathan.
Pathan went on to argue that Pakistan's batting lacked strength and depth and that they did not have a defined strategy for the Twenty20 International format.
"Once India reached 175, the match was practically over because Pakistan’s batting simply lacks strength. I had said before the match that people are praising Pakistan’s bowling this time, but what about their batting? Their batting lacks depth and approach,” Pathan concluded.
While India has qualified for the Super Eights, Pakistan will need to defeat the Netherlands in their final Group A game to secure a spot.