Claim: Former Australian men’s cricket coach Justin Langer compared Babar Azam to Virat Kohli in a statement, and said that Azam is the world’s best batsman, most respected cricket player.
Fact: Langer did not say Babar Azam is the best batsman in the world nor did he compare Azam to Virat Kohli.
On 27 December 2024, a post on Facebook claimed that former coach of the Australian men’s cricket team Justin Langer said people had turned India’s Virat Kohli into a hero, while Pakistan’s Babar Azam was actually the world’s best batsman. According to the post, Langer also stated that Azam was the most respected cricket player and that there is a big difference between him and Kohli. The caption of the post in Urdu read as follows:
“بھارت کی دولائی کرنے والے جسٹن لینگر کہتے ہیں کہ لوگوں نے ویرات کوہلی کو ہیرو بنایا ہوا ہے دنیا کے بہترین بلے باز بابراعظم ہے ورات کوہلی اور بابراعظم میں بڑا فرق ہے بابراعظم نہ صرف بہترین کرکٹر ہیں بلکہ وہ دنیا کے سب سے معزز کرکٹر ہیں۔”
According to Translate.com, this reads as follows in English:
“Justin Langer says that people have made Virat Kohli a hero, the best batsman in the world is Babar Azam, there is a big difference between Virat Kohli and Babar Azam, Babar Azam is not only the best cricketer but he is the most respected cricketer in the world.”
Fact or Fiction?
To see if Langer had, in fact, made such a comment, we conducted a Google search for “Justin Langer Babar Azam”. The first search result was an Instagram video, also dated 27 December, of a man claiming that Langer had said that people often compare Azam and Kohli, and that the former is the better cricket player between them. The man stated that the reason Langer believes Azam to be the better player is because he respects others, while Kohli does not. He references Kohli pushing a nineteen-year-old, when the senior player bumped into nineteen-year-old Australian batsman Sam Konstas during a test match on 26 December. This video was also found here on TikTok.
Our search also led us to articles where Langer had praised Azam, even calling him a “superstar of the game”, but this was back in 2021. We also found another article from 2021 in which former Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden had compared Azam and Kohli. Praising Azam’s consistency, stability, and demeanour as a batsman, Hayden remarked that “he [Azam] is almost the opposite personality to someone like Virat Kohli, who is very animated, very passionate, and very boisterous on the field”. However, Hayden did not comment on who was the better batsman in this article.
A Google search for “Justin Langer Virat Kohli”, however, resulted in a number of search results that showed Langer praising Kohli’s batsmanship. The first was a YouTube video posted by Prime Video AU & NZ on 25 November 2024, in which Langer says that “Virat Kohli is the best player I’ve ever seen in my life” from 0:50–0:53 seconds. This clip of Langer has been taken from an earlier video posted by Amazon Prime Video Sport on 8 November 2020 when India toured Australia.
Moreover, we also came across a number of recent articles where Langer was quoted as saying “if I had my life and my last dollar, and both of them together, I would have Virat Kohli batting for me” on 27 December 2024. According to the articles, he said this on Day 2 of the fourth Test match between India and Australia, which was a part of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.
Another article, dated 18 November (right before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series began this year on 22 November), quoted Langer as saying that: “People are writing off Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma for being old. I can’t wait to see them play in Australia. It is the last time Virat is going to play Down Under and people will enjoy his batting because he is a star”. This is contrary to the statement attributed to Langer in the post in question when he apparently said that people only paint Kohli out to be a hero.
Lastly, the post in question also featured a photo of, presumably, a cricket player being interviewed. Conducting a reverse-image search for the photo, we found that it is not of Justin Langer. The photo is actually taken from a video of nineteen-year-old Sam Konstas being interviewed after his Test match debut on 26 December 2024.
Apart from the articles and videos mentioned above, Langer does not appear to have made any other statement about Virat Kohli or compared him to Babar Azam. He did not state that Azam is the world’s best batsman or most respected cricket player, and he did not compare the respective skills of the two cricketers either.
Soch Fact Check, hence, rates this claim as false.
Virality
On Facebook, the claim was shared here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
On Instagram, the claim was shared here, here, here, and here.
On TikTok, the claim was shared here.
On YouTube, the claim was shared here.
Conclusion: There is no evidence to show that Justin Langer said Babar Azam is the best batsman in the world and the most respected cricket player, and that there is a big difference between Azam and Kohli.
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Background image in cover photo: NDTV Sports
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