Virat Kohli or Babar Azam who is the best in T20Is? Here’s what the numbers say

There has always been a comparison of two legendary batsmen in the game of cricket. In the 1980s, Sir Viv Richards and Sunil Gavaskar were compared, in the 90s, it was Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara. These days, competition between Team India's run machine Virat Kohli and current Pakistan captain Babar Azam is rife in world cricket.

While Virat is the king of the 22-yard pitch, Babar's class with the willow is no less. Though In Tests and ODIs, Kohli’s supremacy is incomparable to the skipper of the Pakistan team, in the shortest format of the game, Babar is quickly climbing the once-insurmountable ladder.

The ex-Indian captain has scored 3,712 runs in 101 innings of 109 matches played so far in his T20I career at a strike rate of 138. He has scored a century and 33 half-centuries in this format.

For Babar Azam, who made his T20I debut in September 2016, the numbers are impressive. The 28-year-old has scored 3,231 runs in 92 matches at a strike rate of 129. The right-handed batter has scored one century more than Virat during this period and has crossed the fifty-run mark 29 times.

Although Kohli's strike rate in T20Is is much better than Babar, the record of completing the fastest 2000 runs in T20 Internationals belongs to Babar. While Virat took 56 innings, Babar did it in 52.

The Pakistani ace is further at par with Kohli when it comes to completing 3,000 runs. Babar & Virat both got to the mark in 81 innings.

At the T20 World Cup stage, Kohli and Babar are beyond comparison. That’s because, Virat has participated in the mega event four times, and Babar has only featured in a single edition.
Virat, during those 4 editions scored 845 runs in 19 innings and is the only player in the history of the T20 World Cup to win the Player of the Tournament title twice in 2014 and 2016. Babar, on the other hand, was the leading run-scorer with 303 runs in 6 matches in the 2021 edition.

Kohli and Babar, both will prove to be formidable forces in Australia where the T20 World Cup 2022 is taking place. Kohli has scored 451 runs in 10 innings at a strike rate of 144 in Australia. Babar's bat has produced 115 runs in 3 matches at a strike rate of 138.

All said, in the shortest format of the game, Virat and Babar are almost at par. But both the prolific batters will try their best to get their teams the title for the second time.