With comparisons going around about Virat Kohli and Babar Azam, Pakistan’s youngster Haider Ali has chosen to be like Indian opener Rohit Sharma as his favorite and hopes to play like the Virat Kohli’s deputy in limited-overs in future.

“My idol is Rohit Sharma. The best thing about him is his strike rate and I want that in my game,” Ali said in a video with Cricket Pakistan.

The right-hander who scored 239 runs in 9 matches of the Pakistan Super League for Peshawar Zalmi before the tournament was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

PSL 2020: Haider Ali wants to follow footsteps of Babar Azam, not Virat Kohli

The 19-year-old had impressed former Pakistani cricketer Ramiz Raja who went on to term him as talented as Virat Kohli and Babar Azam.

“Haider has immense talent and has made a name for himself in his first season of PSL. Haider needs to follow the approach of Babar Azam and Virat Kohli. Haider has a similar talent as Babar and Kohli, but just needs to work on his game awareness and play longer innings,” Raja said on his channel.

(With Hindustan Times inputs)