Kohli or Babar: Hussain backs star batters to reach new heights in 2024

Listen to Story Former England captain Nasser Hussain picked two batters from India and Pakistan to have a successful 2024 season. With the International cricketing action for 2023 coming to an end, the focus shifts to next year and how the cricketers will perform in the upcoming season. ICC released a video on their social media and Nasser named Virat Kohli and Babar Azam to have a fantastic 2024 season.

Nasser Hussain picked star India batter Virat Kohli as his first choice in this category. He heaped praise on Kohli for showcasing excellent batting in the ODI World Cup 2023. "Virat Kohli. Obviously, he had a fantastic 2023 and World Cup. Amid all the records he broke and the attention, we did not focus on how well he was batting.

Technically, I have never seen Virat bat as well like that. The sound of the bat, that innings against Sri Lanka in Mumbai, I can name about five innings where he was getting in a good position. That is a good sign for Virat, India and Virat fans. It means that he is in a good mental space and his game is in good order," Nasser Hussain said in the video.

Kohli roared back to form across formats this year, finishing off as the second highest run scorer with at a staggering average of 66.06 with 8 centuries and 10 fifties to his name. The highlight of his year was Virat, becoming the highest run scorer in World Cup 2023 with 765 runs in 11 innings. India didn't have a fairytale ending to their World Cup campaign as they lost to Australia in the final.

However, Kohli stood out at an individual level and won the Player of The Tournament award for his performance. Nasser Hussain said Babar Azam needs to perform well for his side with T20 World Cup 2024 scheduled to take place next year in June in the West Indies and UAE. Pakistan had reached the final of the T20 World Cup in 2022 but lost to England in the summit clash.

"Another one, they are often compared. Babar Azam. I think it is a massive year for him and Pakistan. He has given up captaincy, that may be the weight off his shoulders. The biggest thing he can do for Pakistan cricket is get shed load of runs. They need him to get runs. There will be a T20 World Cup in the Caribbean.

They got to the finals last time. They will need their ex skipper to put in a real performance," Nasser said. After Pakistan failed to qualify for the semi final of the ODI World Cup 2023, in all three formats. Babar was not able to make an impact with the bat in the marquee tournament as he scored just 320 runs in nine innings.

However, the 29 year old finished off with 1065 runs in 25 ODIs in 2023 and maintained an average of 46.30..