Babar Azam and Virat Kohli are two of the modern-day greats. They have revolutionized the game with their batting prowess. Their hunger to score runs has led them to the top of batting charts worldwide. Worshipped by many, they have established themselves as two of the greatest players of this generation. Virat debuted in 2008; since then, he has established himself as the backbone of the Indian batting lineup. Babar debuted over a decade later and is a rising star of Pakistan cricket. The traditional Indo-Pak rivalry has prompted many cricket experts to do comparisons between Virat Kohli and Babar Azam Ranking.
Virat, now at the business end of his career, and Babar, who has just reached cricketing maturity, have broken records during their careers. Their exceptional timing, composure, foot movement, and reaction time are ideal role models for any young batter seeking cricketing expertise. Having led their National sides, both have shown exceptional leadership qualities on and off the field. On top of that, their strict and highly professional fitness regimes have helped them stay at the top of there for some time now.
At alternate times, both have been top-ranked batters in the ICC rankings over the three formats. But who has the upper hand when it comes to these rankings? Who has performed diligently in them? Let’s find out.
Can Babar Azam Break Virat Kohli Records?
Yes, he can break Virat Kohli’s records provided if he continues his current form and class in the upcoming series and matches.
Is Babar is better than Virat?
Virat is well ahead of Babar in terms of Test Cricket, having played and scored more. He has scored 8074 runs in only 102 Tests, whilst Azam has scored 3200 runs in 42 Tests.
Test Rankings
Let’s talk about how both the stars have performed in Test rankings. Kohli made his debut in 2011, while Babar hit the ground running in 2016. Currently, Kohli’s average is 49.53, with a strike rate of 55.68. Babar’s average stands slightly below at 47.30, with a strike rate of 53.55. Although having very similar averages, their careers have been very different. Babar had a slow start to his test career, slowly picking pace towards the end of 2019. On the other hand, Kohli has been the backbone of the Indian test side since his debut.
Virat Kohli Test Ranking Timeline
Since 2016, Kohli has been consistently at the top10 of ICC rankings, reaching the number one spot in 2018 and staying there for more than a year. During his illustrious career, he has scored 8074 runs and has achieved the highest ever rating of 917. Only recently has he seen his form slip and currently stands at 12th in the latest Test rankings. We visualize ViratVirat Kohli’s ranking timeline from 2011 to 2022.
Read More: Virat Kohli Captaincy Record in Test
Babr Azam Test Ranking Timeline
Babar had a slow start to his career and only entered the top10 rankings late in 2019. He has been steady since then and is enjoying a 3rd spot in the list of batters, his highest ranking to date. His current rating is 879, which is also his highest ever. One can see both the batters have been toe to toe when it comes to Test rankings.
Read More: Babar Azam Captaincy Record in All Formats
Virat Kohli and Babar Azam Test Ranking Comparison
Although both are good players, they reached the peak of their test batting careers at different times. Let’s visualize a compare their test ranking by matches.
One-Day International Rankings
Since Babar’s debut in 2016, both have been neck to neck in One Day rankings.
Virat Kohli ODI Ranking Timeline
Kohli broke into the top5 for the first time in his 38th match and has remained at the top5 since. He gained the number one spot for the first time during his 118th match when he scored an unbeaten 115. Ups and downs continued, and he established himself as a top3 world batter till ultimately gaining the first spot again in early 2017. He went on to stay the world’s first ranked One-Day batter for more than four years and was only recently dethroned by a resurgent Babar Azam. He has amassed 12342 runs at an average of 58.49 and a commendable strike rate of 92. Kohli has also achieved an impressive rating of 911 during his career and currently stands at 5th with a 767 rating in the latest rankings. Let’s visualize his ODI ranking timeline.
Babar Azam ODI Ranking Timeline
Babar first breached the top10 barrier during his 23rd innings vs Australia when he scored a hundred. Shortly afterward, he entered the top5 and went as far up as the no2 spot. A slump in form downgraded him to 8th 2019, but he has since then regained his form and prowess. Eventually, he reached the top spot on April 7th, 2022, dethroning Kohli’s reign of more than four years. His current rating stands at 892, having achieved a career-best rating of 898. Currently, he has scored 4442 runs at a remarkable average of 59.23 and 17 centuries. He has been touted as the next big thing in ODIs, having already made the number one spot his. We are going to visualize his batting ranking timeline from 2016 to 2022.
Read More: Virat Kohli Captaincy Record in ODI
Babar Azam and Virat Kohli ODI Ranking Timeline
Babar started chasing Kohli in ICC One Day ranking right after his debut in international Cricket. In April 2022, Babar gets the top spot by breaking Kohli’s 4-year-long reign. Let’s visualize the timeline of this battle.
T20 Rankings
Virat Kohli T20I Ranking Timeline
Kohli made his debut in 2010 and breached the top10 barrier for the first time during his 17th match versus England. Eventually, he established himself as a regular top3 in late 2013, gaining the number one spot for the first time on September 7th, during his 28th match. He went on to stay at the top2 of the T20 ranking for the next three years until his decline to number 4th in early 2018. Since then, he has not yet been able to breach the top3 barrier again and currently sits at an ordinary ranking of 32 with a rating of only 528. He scored 3308 runs during his career at an impressive average of 50.12 and achieved a career-high rating of 897 till now. This graph shows the ups and downs in Virat’s T20 rankings.
Read More: Virat Kohli Captaincy Record in T20I
Babar Azam T20I Ranking Timeline
Babar has made this format his own since his debut. He reached a top10 ranking during his tenth match and has not looked back since. He became number one for the first time during his 17th match. After a few ups and downs, he ultimately cemented his spot as the best T20 batsman in the world in his 26th match in late 2018. He went on to stay at the top spot for more than two years until eventually getting dethroned by Malan in late 2022. A year after, in November 2021, he regained his number one spot and has been the top-ranked batter since. His current rating stands at 816, having achieved a career-high rating of 896 during his career. He has also scored 2986 runs at a commendable average of 44.94. Since his debut, he has enjoyed most of his time as one of the best T20 batters in the world.
Babar Azam VS Virat Kohi T20I Ranking Comparison
One can say Babar has had more success in the short format of the game than Kohli as Babar took only 17 innings to reach the top position while Kohli took 28.
Conclusion.
Babar and Kohli are two modern-day greats, and throughout their careers, both of them have broken records after records. They have had their ups and down during their career but have shown how great batters take it upon themselves to fight their woes to reach the top of the game. Kohli has enjoyed significant success in both One-days and Tests and has arguably been the greatest ODI batsman of the past decade.
Babar is an early bird and is still proving himself in the longer formats of the game. He became the first batter to dethrone Kohli in over four years. Moreover, he has enjoyed unrivaled success in the shortest format and has been the best T20 batsman since his debut in 2016. He is looking to become the only batsman in world cricket to have held the number one spot in all three formats. Babar is a rising star, while Kohli is a veteran of this game. Both have given countless memories to Cricket and continue to astonish cricket fans worldwide with their batting capabilities.
