Virat Kohli Reveals First Chat With Babar Azam, Hails Pakistan Captain’s Consistency

Virat Kohli officially shares his first-ever conversation with Pakistan skipper Babar Azam at the 2019 ICC One-Day International World Cup. Both Kohli and Babar have established themselves as the best all-round batsmen for their respective countries, and they enjoy a healthy competition on the cricket pitch.

Babar Azam has constantly demonstrated his thirst for runs, and he is the only hitter in the world to be ranked in the ICC batters rankings across all three formats. Since his debut in 2015, he has scored 30 international hundreds but has failed to register a century against India.

Kohli, on the other hand, holds major batting records across formats and has been in spectacular form this year. He is not playing in India's current T20I series against the West Indies, but he will return to the field when India competes in the forthcoming Asia Cup 2023, which begins on 30 August.

Kohli has always enjoyed batting against Pakistan, scoring 1024 runs in 23 innings at an average of 60.23 with two hundreds and seven fifties. Kohli first faced Babar during the ICC ODI World Cup 2019, with the entire media focusing on the duo's first-ever handshake.

Babar has always been open about Kohli, praising the Indian legend on several occasions. Now, Kohli has revealed his opinion on Pakistani batter Imad Wasim, who introduced him to Babar for the first time in Manchester.

"The first interaction I had with him [Babar] was during the 2019 [ODI] World Cup after the game in Manchester," Kohli said in an interview with Crichistory.com. "I've known Imad [Wasim] since the Under-19 World Cup, and he said Babar wanted to have a chat."

Kohli also stated that when the two batsmen first met, Babar showed a lot of respect and that he enjoys seeing Babar bat.

"We sat down and discussed the game. From the beginning, I noticed a lot of attention and respect from him, and that hasn't changed. Regardless, he is, without a doubt, the best batsman in the world across all formats. "He consistently delivers, and I've always enjoyed watching him play," Kohli continued.