Virat Kohli and Babar Azam are among the greatest Test batters of the current generation. Their Test career record separates them from the rest.
Virat Kohli bursted into the scene as a chubby-faced teenager who led India U-19 team to the World Cup triumph in 2008. His cover drivers were pleasing to the eyes and he grew up to be a more disciplined cricketer as he made his foray to the senior team. The boy from Delhi, under the guidance of former India physio Shankar Basu, underwent a rigorous fitness regime to become one of the fittest cricketers across the globe. Kohli loved chasing in a cricket match and found it a subtle way to accumulate runs and pile misery on the opposition.
He took the cricketing world by storm with his sheer timing of the ball and classy stroke-making. His early years in international cricket across formats was so good that he was touted to break his idol Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 49 ODI and 51 Test hundreds. He also led Team India across formats as captain and was the most successful for the national team in the longest format of the game. Besides that, he also grew as a powerful entity, as he got his way around the coaches and picked up a team of his own liking.
Babar Azam is a gifted batter. His sheer timing makes him one of the stand out batters in modern day cricket. His level-headed attitude has brought him to the fore and made him a regular for Pakistan besides captaining the national team across all formats. He is the first cousin of the Akmal brothers and began his journey with the under-15 world championship in 2008. He has also been one of the few cricketers who have appeared in the U-19 World Cup twice — 2010 and 2012 — where he was the highest run scorer on both occasions for Pakistan.
Virat Kohli and Babar Azam are among the greatest Test batters of the current generation. Their Test career record separates them from the rest. The former India captain is the fifth fastest to 7000 runs in the longest format of the game. He did so in 138 innings while the Pakistan captain has batted at an average of 45.98 in Test cricket.
TEST CAREER STATS | Matches | Innings | Runs | HS | Avg | 100s | 50s |
Virat Kohli | 101 | 171 | 8043 | 254* | 49.95 | 27 | 28 |
Babar Azam | 40 | 71 | 2851 | 196 | 45.98 | 6 | 21 |