Fact Check: No, Ravi Shastri did not rate Babar Azam higher than Virat Kohli

NewsMeter found that the statements attributed to Shastri are false.

Considering the popularity of Shastri as the former Indian cricket team captain, coach and currently working as a cricket commentator, it would have made headlines if he had made such a statement. However, we did not find any report by credible media outlets of Shastri rating Babar Azam better than Virat Kohli after multiple rounds of relevant keyword searches.

During our search, we came across a report by Times Now from August 5, 2022. While talking about the Fab-5 in world cricket, during a press conference of Asia Cup 2022, Shastri was quoted as saying, “Sometimes, it is important that when we talk about this rest and all that. Later on, you realise that when you are back in the media, you are doing all television, and people come out with stats. One stat that emerged during a Test match against England, which shocked me, really. It said that in the last three years, when you look at the top players in the world, that is Kane Williamson, David Warner, Babar Azam, Virat Kohli and Joe Root, Virat had played three times the number of games as everyone else across all cricket.”

“So, it shocked me where he was at about 950 games and that next was at 400. They had played less than half. When you are the captain of a side, playing all three formats, it takes a toll. And it would have sucked whatever out of him. And that’s why the break might just help him come around and do wonders,” he further explained.

We also came across Amar Ujala’s report from July 2022. It reported that Shastri named Joe Root “the best batsman in the world right now in terms of playing spin,” followed by Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson, and Steve Smith. He did not mention Babar Azam in the list.

We also came across a report by Sportstar from 2018. It reported that Shastri said at that time that the sheer impact of Kohli’s brilliance makes him the “world’s best batsman”.

Since we could not find any report of Shastri hailing Babar Azam better than Kohli, we conclude that the viral statements attributed to the former Indian coach are false.