With right mindset, Babar Azam can surpass Virat Kohli, says Ramiz Raja

Cricketer-turned-commentator Ramiz Raja believes that T20 skipper Babar Azam has the potential of even surpassing his Indian counterpart and superstar Virat Kohli, if he can tweak his mindset a little.

Raja, in quotes published in local media, said that Azam has all the right tools but now needs to up his game in the psychological warfare to become a true great.

"Until and unless he gets the environment which is encouraging and engaging, he won’t be able to live up to his potential," he said. 

"He has the potential to even beat Virat Kohli but he needs to free up [his mind] and not think about losing. As soon as he does that and thinks about scoring runs and winning, he will remain a great player for a very long time."

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Raja, who has been bickering with some current cricketers lately, also lauded India's cricketing setup, which, he said, works on areas of national weakness but not at the expense of the game's fundamentals.

"The first thing about it [rise of Indian cricket in the past 10 years] is their nationalist approach. Secondly, they have worked extensively on grassroots level,” he said. 

"Despite more emphasis on T20 cricket these days, they still focus on teaching the forward defensive shot to their youngsters in order to establish a strong base.”

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"The same goes for their bowling because they knew that it was inferior as compared to Pakistan so they changed their approach and put in a great deal of effort in terms of coaching methods and quick pitches to turn things around in this regard,” he added.