Watch: Umar Akmal hits back at journalist after comparisons with Virat Kohli

Sharjah: Umar Akmal lashed out at critics who drew comparisons between the Pakistan cricketer and India captain Virat Kohli, saying that it is an “unfair comparison”.

Akmal, who is currently playing in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), bagged the Man of the Match award, as he helped the Lahore Qalandars beat Islamabad United in a close contest.

While Akmal scored a match-winning 66 off 42 balls, he got out with his team requiring 34 to win the match, which eventually went right down to the wire; Lahore required six runs off the last five deliveries, with just one wicket in hand.

Thankfully for the Qalandars, veteran New Zealander Grant Elliot was on the job, finishing off the proceedings with a huge six.

Despite his match-winning knock, Akmal drew a lot of criticism during the post match press conference, where a journalist asked him why he has not lived-up to the expectations like Kohli.

A visibly irked Akmal retorted, “Look, you know more than me. When people compare me with Kohli, it’s not fair.”

Akmal further went on to explain why it was unfair to compare his and Kohli’s stats; the main reason he cited was that of the batting positions.

“It’s a matter of batting positions,” quipped Akmal. “Since his (Kohli) debut, he is batting at No. 3 and I have been playing at No. 6. Let me play at 3 and Kohli at 6, then compare me with him.”

Akmal further went on to say that it would be more prudent to draw comparisons between Kohli and Babar Azam.

“Compare him with Babar Azam, who is doing well at 3. He is in great form, so you can compare him with Babar.”

Both Akmal and Kohli kicked-off their respective cricketing careers at around the same time – the 2008 U-19 World Cup. Comparisons between the two have been drawn for almost a decade now.

However, the stark difference between the two players is clearly visible, when one takes a look at the stats.

Akmal has played scored 3,044 runs from 116 ODIs at a modest average of 34.59; Kohli on the other hand, has scored 7,775 ODI runs from 179 matches, with 27 tons to his name (Akmal has just two).

Kohli has also done much better, with specific reference to Akmal’s inability to see-off games in the second. 17 out of his 27 centuries have come while India were batting second (15 of those went towards the winning cause).