Virat Kohli leads Babar Azam on almost every career total: 28,359 international runs to 15,993, and 85 centuries to 32. Babar leads in two places that matter — T20I runs, where he has passed Kohli, and the pace of his ODI scoring, where he reached every milestone up to 6,000 runs faster than Kohli did. Figures complete to 12 September 2026; source ESPNcricinfo.

The comparison is no longer like for like. Kohli retired from T20Is after the 2024 T20 World Cup final and from Test cricket in May 2025, so two of his three columns are closed. Babar, seven years younger in international terms — he debuted in 2015 against Kohli’s 2008 — is still playing all three formats.

Babar Azam vs Virat Kohli: all internationals

Player Span Mat Inns Runs HS Ave SR 100s 50s
Virat Kohli 2008-2026 562 629 28359 254* 52.71 79.73 85 148
Babar Azam 2015-2026 354 398 15993 196 45.30 80.54 32 111

Kohli has batted 231 more times, which accounts for much of the gap in totals. The rates are closer: 52.71 against 45.30 with the average, and Babar is marginally ahead on strike rate across all formats because so much more of his career has been Twenty20.

Babar Azam vs Virat Kohli in Tests

Player Span Mat Inns Runs HS Ave SR 100s 50s
Virat Kohli 2011-2025 123 210 9230 254* 46.85 55.57 30 31
Babar Azam 2016-2026 66 122 4771 196 42.98 55.38 9 34

Kohli’s Test career is finished; this is the final version of his row. The averages and the scoring rates are nearly identical, and the difference is conversion: 30 hundreds and 31 fifties for Kohli, 9 hundreds and 34 fifties for Babar.

Babar Azam vs Virat Kohli in ODIs

Player Span Mat Inns Runs HS Ave SR 100s 50s
Virat Kohli 2008-2026 314 302 14941 183 58.59 93.95 54 79
Babar Azam 2015-2026 143 140 6626 158 53.43 86.59 20 38

This is the format both still play, and the one where Kohli’s numbers are the best in the game’s history: his 54 hundreds are the most by any batter, five clear of Sachin Tendulkar’s 49. Babar’s 20 are the joint-most by a Pakistan batter, level with Saeed Anwar’s 20 from 247 matches.

Babar Azam vs Virat Kohli in T20Is

Player Span Mat Inns Runs HS Ave SR 100s 50s
Virat Kohli 2010-2024 125 117 4188 122* 48.69 137.04 1 38
Babar Azam 2016-2026 145 136 4596 122 38.94 128.02 3 39

This is the one table Babar leads on volume. He has played 20 more T20Is than Kohli, scored 408 more runs and hit three hundreds to Kohli’s one. Kohli kept the better rates: an average of 48.69 to 38.94, and a strike rate of 137.04 to 128.02. Because Kohli stopped in 2024 and Babar has not, the runs column will keep moving in one direction only.

Head to head: how each has done against the other’s country

Player Against Span Mat Runs HS Ave SR 100s 50s
Virat Kohli Pakistan 2009-2025 28 1270 183 63.50 107.26 4 7
Babar Azam India 2017-2026 15 351 68* 27.00 86.66 0 2

Kohli averages 63.50 against Pakistan, comfortably above his career figure of 52.71, and his 183 at Mirpur in the 2012 Asia Cup is the highest score by an India batter against Pakistan in an ODI. The record for the fixture itself belongs to Saeed Anwar, who made 194 at Chennai in 1997. Babar averages 27.00 against India with no hundred and a best of 68 not out.

Who got there quicker: the ODI milestones

Innings taken to reach each ODI run mark.

Milestone Babar Azam Virat Kohli Fastest ever
2,000 runs 45 53 Shubman Gill, 38
5,000 runs 97 114 Babar Azam, 97
6,000 runs 123 136 Hashim Amla and Babar Azam, 123
12,000 runs not yet reached 242 Virat Kohli, 242

Babar is the fastest to 5,000 ODI runs outright and shares the 6,000 record with Hashim Amla. He is not, despite a claim that has been repeated for years, the fastest to 2,000 — Gill reached it in 38 innings and Amla in 40, both ahead of Babar’s 45. Kohli’s own record, the fastest to 12,000 in 242 innings, is one Babar is nowhere near: he is on 6,626.

Babar Azam vs Virat Kohli captaincy record

Kohli captained India between 2014 and 2022 and these totals are final. Babar has led Pakistan since 2019 and is still adding to his.

Format Player Mat Won Lost Drawn/tied/NR Runs Ave 100s
Test Virat Kohli 68 40 17 11 5864 54.80 20
Test Babar Azam 24 11 8 4 2017 50.42 4
ODI Virat Kohli 95 65 27 3 5449 72.65 21
ODI Babar Azam 43 26 15 2 2370 60.76 8
T20I Virat Kohli 50 30 16 4 1570 47.57 0
T20I Babar Azam 85 48 29 8 2642 37.74 3

Babar’s Test results add to 23 rather than 24 because his 24th Test as captain was in progress when these figures were taken.

Kohli won 40 of his 68 Tests as captain and averaged 54.80 with the bat while leading, higher than his career figure of 46.85 in the format. Babar has captained far more T20Is than Kohli did, 85 to 50, and won 48 of them.

Babar Azam vs Virat Kohli: quick answers

Who has scored more international runs? Kohli, 28,359 to Babar’s 15,993.

Who has more international centuries? Kohli, 85 to 32.

Who has the better average? Kohli in all three formats: 46.85 to 42.98 in Tests, 58.59 to 53.43 in ODIs, 48.69 to 38.94 in T20Is.

Does Babar lead anywhere? Yes. He has more T20I matches (145 to 125), more T20I runs (4,596 to 4,188) and more T20I hundreds (3 to 1), and he reached 5,000 and 6,000 ODI runs in fewer innings than anyone else.

Who is better against the other’s team? Kohli, by a wide margin: 63.50 against Pakistan with four hundreds, against Babar’s 27.00 against India with none.

Are they still both playing? Babar plays all three formats. Kohli plays only ODIs, having retired from T20Is in 2024 and Tests in 2025.

See also our full breakdown of Virat Kohli’s international centuries, the list of the most centuries in ODI cricket and the India captaincy records across formats.

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Featured photo: AFP / Aamir Qureshi