Babar Azam Vs. Virat Kohli
The rapid ascent of Pakistan cricket captain Babar Azam and his remarkable consistency across all forms of the game. Babar Azam and Virat Kohli are Indian and Pakistan stars and the best cricket batters. The notion is that Virat Kohli and Babar Azam are two generational heroes who often compete against one another. You can glance at their respective statistics to know who is superior. Off the field, the competition between Virat Kohli and Babar Azam has never devolved into an aggressive or spiteful form. Instead, it has always been amicable and respectful.
When putting the two batters against one another, there is always an opportunity for a competitive advantage. Both play with techniques, which is pretty clear to see whenever they compete against one another.
With that out of the way, let's take a closer look at the careers of Babar Azam and Virat Kohli. Let's find out who is the better batter and captain in international cricket.
Virat Kohli vs. Babar Azam – Overall Batting Record
Kohli has established high standards of batsmanship, which Babar is working hard to achieve. While Kohli has already established himself as a great of the game, Babar is working to develop his legacy.
But what can we conclude from their most recent numbers?
Only Kane Williamson (73.52), Marnus Labuschagne (66.81), Rohit Sharma (64.37), and Steve Smith (63.85), if we use a cut-off of 1,000 Test runs throughout this time (starting 2019), have averaged higher than Babar in Test cricket. Babar is unrivaled in this area when it comes to One-Day Internationals.
However, Kohli has been more dominant in Twenty20 Internationals. Babar achieved his first Twenty20 International century and considerably improved his strike rate.
How did Babar Azam compare to Virat Kohli regarding their performance after the same number of matches?
Choosing one match over another is difficult because of the matches shown above in Kohli's charts across formats.
Even though Babar has a higher Test batting average at this stage, he has only had one hundred-run innings outside the subcontinent. On the other hand, Kohli has already established his dominance over opponents in the challenging environments of Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand. Out of the eight hundred that Kohli scored, five of them were scored outside of the subcontinent.
Kohli dominated the figures in T20 Internationals. But by the time he played his 51st match, he had become a more mature batter overall. When he was almost 29 years old, he had already won two Player of the Tournament awards in T20 World Cups and reached his career's pinnacle. Even though Babar has been on top of the T20I Rankings, he is at his best in this format.
In One-Day Internationals, Babar is the undisputed leader, although Kohli participated in his 80th match when he was just 23 years old. Even while his figures show that he is very consistent, he has yet to reach his full potential and has yet to become the hitting monster he ultimately became. In light of this, comparing people of comparable ages will give us a more comprehensive picture.
Virat Kohli vs. Babar Azam at the age of 26-and-half
The totals are similar when expressed in terms of T20Is. At this point, Kohli has already won the title of World Cup Player of the Series. The fact that India did not participate in sufficient Twenty20 Internationals did not assist his case. In the previous four years of the Indian Premier League, Kohli led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as captain.
There is no question that Kohli is in the lead in the Tests. He mastered every situation and every assault, except a bad series in England in 2014. He effectively filled the vacuum that Sachin Tendulkar had left in the Indian batting line-up when he retired. At this point, Kohli had also taken over as India's Test captain, much as Babar before him. Kohli also has an advantage when it comes to the rate of conversion from fifty to one hundred.
Even though Babar has had a greater conversion rate in one-day internationals, Kohli's figures are likely as strong. By the time he was 26, Kohli had already played nearly twice as many one-day internationals than Babar had, and he had also matched Sourav Ganguly's century record to become India's joint second-highest century-getter in the format.
In addition, Kohli made his debut in a different period and at a much younger age than other players, which is another reason why the strike rate is so impressive. Keep in mind that at the age of 26, Kohli had already won an ODI World Cup and the Champions Trophy, both of which had significant roles for which he was responsible.
Babar Azam vs. Virat Kohli: Batting stats comparison
Babar Azam vs. Virat Kohli in Test cricket
Test cricket is often regarded as the purest version of the sport. It is a format that puts a batter's skill, patience, grit, determination, flexibility, and consistency to the test. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Virat Kohli tops the rankings in Test cricket; his achievements speak for themselves. Compared to Babar's 3122 runs, he scored 8074 runs at an average of 49.53.
Additionally, Kohli has racked up 20 more hundreds than Babar has in the game's most extended format. In his career, the Pakistani skipper has never scored more than 200 runs in Test cricket. However, Virat Kohli has seven 200 runs or higher scores to his record.
As a result of his performance of just 81 runs, Virat Kohli holds the record for the quickest Player to reach 7,000 run. He has also performed match-winning innings and won Tests in England and Australia. He has shown his mettle against all different types of bowlers and in a variety of different settings.
Babar Azam vs. Virat Kohli in ODI cricket
Again, there is no resemblance in this case. Former Indian captain Virat Kohli is known as the finest batsman in One-Day Internationals of his age and, maybe, of all time. He is the sixth-highest run scorer in ODI history with 12,344 runs. He still has plenty of time to catch Mahela Jayawardene and Sanath Jayasuriya, the top and second-ranked players.
Kohli's batting average of 57.68 in ODIs is also the best among the top 10 run-getters. Also, he has achieved an astounding 43 hundred in the ODI format. He needs seven centuries to surpass his compatriot and former colleague Sachin Tendulkar's ODI century record.
After playing his first international match, Virat Kohli contributed significantly to India's 2011 ODI World Cup victory on home soil. His time at the top speaks for itself, and Kohli has a superior strike rate than Babar Azam. His strike rate was 92.84 compared to 89.74 of Babar.
Babar has never won a World Cup. Although both Kohli and Babar have won the Cricket Champions Trophy, Pakistan's historic 2017 victory came at the cost of Kohli-led India in the final.
Even if Babar is showing indications of being an all-time great, we can't compare Kohli as an ODI batsman to anybody in the world, much alone Babar Azam.
Babar Azam vs. Virat Kohli in T20I cricket
Even though the competition is tighter between the two in Twenty20 International cricket, as opposed to One Day Internationals and Tests, Virat Kohli still has the upper hand over Babar Azam. In his career, the former Indian captain has participated in 107 Twenty20 International matches, whereas Babar has only participated in 84. Kohli has historically maintained an average of over 50 in this format, even though the Pakistan skipper has played almost 20 more matches than Kohli. The batting average of Babar, on the other hand, is 43.22.
The Strike Rate is another measure that is highly helpful when analyzing a batter's effect in the sport's shortest format. Kohli's strike rate of 138.06 is much superior to Babar's 129.93. Therefore he continues to dominate this category as well. Even though Babar is now rated first in the Cricket Twenty20 International batter rankings, he is nonetheless subject to criticism for his low strike rate and lack of aggressiveness.
On the other side, Kohli is the tournament's Most Valuable Player in both of the T20 World Cups held in 2014 and 2016. Despite this, neither he nor Babar Azam has ever been able to hoist the Twenty20 World Cup trophy in their hands.
Babar Azam vs. Virat Kohli: Captaincy comparison
Captaincy in Tests
Despite being a relatively new Test captain for Pakistan, Babar Azam has begun his stint as captain on a high note. He has led Pakistan in 13 matches, winning eight for a 61.53 percent victory rate.
However, Babar's leadership qualities have yet to be tested against the most formidable opponents. Although Virat Kohli has a lesser win % of 59.09, he is one of the most successful Test captains in history. He has guided Team India to victory 39 times in 66 matches.
Kohli has achieved history by guiding India to two Test series victories in Australia, which has never been accomplished before. Under his leadership, Team India has played excellent cricket in England, South Africa, and New Zealand. India won the prestigious Cricket maze many times as the world's best Test team.
With his zeal and leadership, Kohli revolutionized the Indian attitude and bowling style in the purest format of the sport. He made every match an unforgettable experience. He is one of the most outstanding representatives of the most extended form. Also. he unquestionably triumphs in the Test cricket competition.
Captaincy in ODIs
Virat Kohli has guided India to 65 victories in 95 Day Internationals. He has a 70.4% victory percentage in this format, which is greater than Babar Azam's 69.44 win percentage. As captain, Babar has won 12 of Pakistan's 18 ODI matches. Both are pretty famous on fantasy cricket platforms.
Under Kohli, India won in the 2017 Cricket Champions Trophy and was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 2019 Cricket World Cup in England. He has an outstanding record as captain in this format.
Captaincy in T20Is
Babar Azam has led Pakistan in more Twenty20 International matches than Kohli and has a better record. He has won 31 of 51 games, while Kohli has won 30 of 50. Australia eliminated Pakistan from the Cricket T20 World Cup semi-finals in 2021, despite Pakistan being led by Babar. His leadership in this format will be rechallenged at the T20 World Cup later this year. But Babar trumps his countryman Kohli in this comparison.
Conclusion
So far, we have seen a comprehensive statistical comparison between Virat Kohli and Babar Azam. It included their achievements as batters and captains. Even though Virat seems to be well ahead of Babar, Virat has far more experience and has played for longer. Only in the most recent years did Babar emerge as his rival. Virat is now 33 years of age, whereas Babar is just 27. Babar has many cricketing years ahead of him, and he has every opportunity to surpass Virat regarding statistics. The cricket community should savor the brilliance of these two winners. Both are the pearls by cricket experts as they continue to develop.
Despite his brilliance, it took Babar some time to acquire a household name in the cricketing community. He accomplished this via his gentleness and constancy. Kohli's problem was distinguishing himself among the multitude of Indian celebrities. Similar to Babar, Kohli earned success through perseverance and desire.
Even in his 30s, Kohli's determination to be the most excellent version of himself distinguishes him. Fitness is non-negotiable, and there is no tolerance for complacency. There exists just hunger.
Kohli approaches the mid-30s, which is often the end of a player's career. Babar, at age 26, still has his most excellent batting years ahead of him. Babar's status as Pakistan's best wicketkeeper-batsman will continue if he improves as a Test batter. He has to make significant contributions abroad and emphasizes fitness.
Meanwhile, cricket in the subcontinent can put the Kohli vs. Babar discussion on hold. Both are the most dynamic and greatest hitters of all time, are from their respective areas, and have parallel careers.
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