Babar Azam vs Virat Kohli: Full Stats Comparison (2026)
Few debates divide cricket fans in Pakistan and India like this one: Babar Azam or Virat Kohli? Both became the batting heartbeat of their teams, both captained their country, and both broke records for speed of scoring runs. This guide puts their numbers side by side so you can settle the argument with facts.
Figures: Babar Azam as of 12 September 2026 and Virat Kohli’s Test and T20I figures from ESPNcricinfo via Wikipedia, with Kohli’s ODI totals updated after his 55th hundred against West Indies in September 2026. Numbers for active players change after every match.
Quick verdict
Virat Kohli has the far bigger body of work: more runs, more centuries and more major trophies. Babar Azam’s strongest case is speed of achievement in ODIs, where he reached several milestones in fewer innings than anyone, and his long run as Pakistan’s leading T20I batter.
Test cricket
| Test | Babar Azam | Virat Kohli |
|---|---|---|
| Matches | 66 | 123 |
| Runs | 4,771 | 9,230 |
| Average | 42.98 | 46.85 |
| Hundreds / fifties | 9 / 34 | 30 / 31 |
| Highest score | 196 | 254* |
Kohli retired from Test cricket in May 2025, so his Test numbers are final. His 254* against South Africa in 2019 is his best, and he scored seven Test double hundreds. Babar’s highest Test score, 196 against Australia in Karachi in 2022, came in a famous rearguard to save the match.
One-Day Internationals
| ODI | Babar Azam | Virat Kohli |
|---|---|---|
| Matches | 143 | 315+ |
| Runs | 6,626 | 15,000+ |
| Average | 53.43 | about 58.5 |
| Hundreds | 20 | 55 |
| Highest score | 158 | 183 |
This is Kohli’s format. He holds the record for the most ODI hundreds and passed 15,000 ODI runs with a 139 against West Indies in Thiruvananthapuram in September 2026. Babar’s ODI average is still above 50, and he was the fastest player to reach 5,000 ODI runs, in 97 innings.
T20 Internationals
| T20I | Babar Azam | Virat Kohli |
|---|---|---|
| Matches | 145 | 125 |
| Runs | 4,596 | 4,188 |
| Average | 38.94 | 48.69 |
| Hundreds / fifties | 3 / 39 | 1 / 38 |
| Highest score | 122 | 122* |
Babar leads here on total runs. In October 2025 he passed Rohit Sharma to become the leading run-scorer in men’s T20 Internationals. Kohli retired from T20Is straight after winning the 2024 T20 World Cup, with a much higher average.
Trophies and awards
- Virat Kohli: ODI World Cup 2011, T20 World Cup 2024, Champions Trophy 2013 and 2025, and Player of the Tournament at the 2023 World Cup, where he scored a record 765 runs. He has won ten ICC awards, the most by any player.
- Babar Azam: part of Pakistan’s 2017 Champions Trophy-winning side, ICC Cricketer of the Year (Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy) in 2022, and ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year in 2021 and 2022. He led Peshawar Zalmi to the 2026 PSL title.
Fastest-to records
Babar’s biggest claim is how quickly he got there. He was the fastest to 5,000 ODI runs (97 innings), the fastest to 19 ODI hundreds, and the fastest Asian batter to 11,000 international runs. Kohli, meanwhile, was the first player to score 20,000 international runs in a single decade and was named the ICC’s Cricketer of the Decade for 2011–2020.
So who is better?
On career numbers and trophies, Kohli is clearly ahead, and he is widely seen as one of the greatest ODI batters ever. Babar is the stronger T20I run-scorer and reached his milestones faster than almost anyone, but he has not yet built the same record in big tournaments. The fairest answer: Kohli has the greater career, while Babar has been Pakistan’s most consistent all-format batter of his generation.
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