Did Pakistan Fail To Give Babar Virat-Like Long Rope? The Myth Behind Kohli's 'Lean Patch'

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) dropped a bombshell ahead of the second Test match against England as they dropped former captain Babar Azam from the squad alongside star pacers Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah in a desperate move to revive their fortunes in the longest format of the game.

Pakistan have now lost all six Test matches they have played under Shan Masood's captaincy while they are winless in a Test match at home for almost four years. The Asian giants have gone 11 matches in a row without a win in Pakistan, which has seen them equal their all-time record.

Babar's form has been a major reason behind their failing but the decision to drop him came out of the blue. The move has divided opinions among the cricket fraternity while some in favour of the decision while many left unpleased at the lack of support for the star batter during a lean phase.

Many in Pakistan refered to India's treatment of Virat Kohli in his tough phase and questioned why the PCB could stand behind their star player in the same manner. The most notable was Pakistan's white-ball batting star Fakhar Zaman, whose post on X(formerly Twitter) raised eye brows.

While Babar has often being compared to Kohli, the reality is in Test cricket as of today, the two do not stand anywhere close in terms of stature. The former Indian captain is 17th (4th among Indians) on both the list of highest run-getters and players with most Test centuries in the history of Test cricket. On the other hand, Babar does not have feature in the top 10 for Pakistan till now.

Before hitting his lean patch (till 31st December 2019); Kohli 7202 runs in just 84 Tests with an average of 54.97 with 27 centuries to his name. He is among the rare group of players to score more than 600 runs in a series thrice while his efforts on away tours of Australia (2014-15) and England (2018) are among the greatest ever by a visting player in both countries. Only three players have more double centuries than Kohli (7) in Test cricket history. His achievements in the longest format only are legendary without even counting white-ball cricket where he has a strong case of being the greatest batter of all time.

On the hand, Babar Azam has just 3997 runs in 55 Test matches at an average of 43.97 with nine centuries. The ex-Pakistan skipper has only one ton away from Asia in his career.

Quite evidently as far as only Test cricket is concerned, Kohli had already established himself as an all-time great before his lean patch, Babar is nowhere close to doing that.

While India did take the hard call to drop veteran stars Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, Pakistan axing Babar seems a similar move. Infact, both Rahane and Pujara unarguably have a greater legacy in the longest format than Babar as things stand.

Talking about Kohli, he belongs to a rare group of players that reach a stage where they earn the privelage of getting a longer rope than other players. While Babar can still make a case for getting that backing in ODI cricket; it is hard to argue the same being the case in Test cricket.

Talking about their lean period with the bat, has Kohli and Babar's performance been the same? While some selective raw numbers are being thrown around like Fakhar did, a closer look at the numbers will show a big difference between the Lean Patches.'

From 1st January 2020 to 31st December 2022, Kohli played 20 Test matches (36 innings) and scored 971 runs at an average of 26.20 with six half-centuries. On the other hand, Babar has played nine Test matches since the start of 2023, made 352 runs in 17 innings at an average of 20.70 with not a single 50+ score.

However, it is always important to look deeper into the data and there is where one can see the difference. Kohli's three year period came with India playing on extremely tough pitches to bat on and at a time when the entire team's averages dipped. While it is common for opposition to serve up spicy tracks to India when they travel, this period coincided with the national team playing on 'rank turners' at home which made run-scoring difficult.

Shreyas Iyer was the only Indian top-order batter to average more than 50 in this period but he played just seven matches. Infact, Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant were the only ones to play more than 10 matches and average above 40 while Ravindra Jadeja was narrowly short. In fact, Rohit and Pant were in peak form but the average does not do justice to how well they batted showing how hard it was to bat on the pitches the Indian team played in.

Each of Kohli, Pujara, Rahane, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari were stuck between a range between 25 and 34.

Player	Matches Played	Runs Scored	Average
Cheteshwar Pujara	23	1274	30.33
Rishabh Pant	22	1517	43.45
Virat Kohli	20	917	26.20
Ajinkya Rahane	19	819	24.08
R Ashwin	18	658	23.50
Rohit Sharma	13	996	45.27
Shubman Gill	13	736	32.00
Mayank Agarwal	12	616	26.78
Ravindra Jadeja	12	679	39.94
KL Rahul	9	598	33.28
Hanuma Vihari	9	373	26.64
Shreyas Iyer	7	624	56.72

On the other hand, Babar's lean patch has come at a time when they are playing on lifeless tracks at home, which are a dream for any batter. Since the start of 2023, three players (Saud Shakeel, Agha Salman, and Mohammad Rizwan) have averaged above 50 for Pakistan. It is worth noting that Pakistan have been comfortably outbatted by almost every team they have faced in this period.

Player	Matches Played	Runs Scored	Average
Abdullah Shafique	9	501	29.47
Agha Salman	9	720	60
Babar Azam	9	352	20.70
Saud Shakeel	9	814	54.26
Shan Masood	9	600	35.29
Mohammad Rizwan	6	547	60.77
Imam Ul Haq	5	246	30.75

Virat Kohli's Class Stands Out But Does Babar's ?

Even during his poor run of form, Kohli continued to play some important knocks in tough conditions. Be it the 74 against Australia in the pink-ball Test at Adelaide, the half-centuries in second innings of the back-to-back Tests against England at Chennai in 2021 on surfaces that were turning square, a half-century at Oval in the first innings of India's famous win when the batting unit collapsed and the team was bowled out for 191, or the gritty 79 at Cape Town with little support from others.

Despite his barren run, the Indian cricket great continued to give reminders of his class standing out above the rest even if he failed to convert them into big knocks. There is no doubt that the dip in Kohli's career was a significant one and it is reflected in his Test average dropping below 50 marking a dramatic fall of more than 5 runs. However, it is also a case of an all-time great dropping below the astonishing standards he has set himself.

Unlike Babar, whose lean patch has hardly any innings of note with not a single half-century or an innings, which helped the team out of a tough situation.

Ultimately, the decision to drop Babar from the selection committee is still debatable. Firstly, if doing it in between an important series is the right call is a serious question to ask, and secondly, does Pakistan have the bench strength to drop a player of his caliber? Infact, one will not be surprised if the lack of quality coming through ensures Babar is back in the team very soon.

However, the comparisons with Kohli are devoid of cricketing merit despite Babar being unarguably the best batter of the generation from Pakistan. Neither was his peak anywhere close to as great as Indian legend's nor was Kohli's lean patch anywhere near as bad as the Pakistan star's.

Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Cricket, Sports and around the world.