Who is the King of Cricket? Virat Kohli, Babar Azam and the case for each

“King of Cricket” is a nickname, not a record, so nobody can settle it with a single number. What has changed since this argument started is that the two men it usually comes down to are no longer playing the same sport.

Virat Kohli retired from T20 internationals in June 2024 and from Test cricket in May 2025. He plays one format now. Babar Azam plays all three and captains Pakistan in one of them. That makes a straight “who is better” comparison harder than it used to be — and it also produces one column where Babar is comfortably ahead, which most versions of this page never mention.

Virat Kohli’s case, in numbers

Kohli is second on the all-time list for runs in international cricket, behind only Sachin Tendulkar. He passed Kumar Sangakkara’s 28,016 on 11 January 2026 in the first ODI against New Zealand at Vadodara, and he reached 28,000 international runs in 624 innings against Tendulkar’s 644 — faster than anyone has managed it.

Format	Matches	Runs	Average	Centuries	Status
Tests	123	9,230	46.85	30	Retired May 2025
ODIs	314	14,941	Just under 59	54	Active
T20Is	125	4,188	48.69	1	Retired June 2024
Total	562	28,359	—	85	ODIs only

The ODI column is where the crown claim actually lives. He is second on the all-time list for runs in the format, and he holds its most famous batting record outright: 54 ODI centuries, having gone past Tendulkar’s 49 with his 50th in the 2023 World Cup semi-final. An average just under 59 across 314 matches is the highest of anyone in the top ten of that run list.

Babar Azam’s case, in numbers

Babar’s aggregate is nowhere near Kohli’s, and it was never going to be — he debuted seven years later and Pakistan play far less cricket than India. Judge him on rate and on the one format where he is in front.

Format	Matches	Runs	Average	Centuries
Tests	62	4,481	42.67	9
ODIs	142	6,586	53.54	20
T20Is	145	4,596	38.94	3
Total	349	15,663	—	32

A note on dates, because this is how these comparisons go wrong. Kohli’s figures run to 20 July 2026. Babar’s run to 3 June 2026, and unlike Kohli’s Test and T20I columns, every one of Babar’s can still move. Treat the two tables as snapshots taken six weeks apart, not as a frozen scoreboard.

He was reappointed as Pakistan’s Test captain on 5 July 2026, a third stint in the job after resigning the limited-overs captaincy in October 2024 to concentrate on batting. That decision looks to have worked: he captained Peshawar Zalmi to the 2026 PSL title and finished as the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 588 runs at 84.00.

The one column Babar wins

T20 internationals. Babar has 4,596 runs in the format to Kohli’s 4,188, and Kohli’s total cannot grow because he walked away straight after the 2024 T20 World Cup final — a match in which he made 76 off 59 and was named player of the match.

It is a genuine lead, and it also needs its context. Babar has taken 145 matches to Kohli’s 125, and Kohli’s average of 48.69 is nearly ten runs an innings higher than Babar’s 38.94. Babar is ahead on the aggregate; Kohli was the more productive batter per innings. Both statements are true, and a page that only prints one of them is selling you something.

Head to head, format by format

Format	Kohli	Babar	Ahead
Test runs	9,230 at 46.85	4,481 at 42.67	Kohli
ODI runs	14,941 at just under 59	6,586 at 53.54	Kohli
T20I runs	4,188 at 48.69	4,596 at 38.94	Babar on runs, Kohli on average
International runs	28,359	15,663	Kohli
Centuries	85	32	Kohli

On the totals it is not close, and pretending otherwise does the reader no favours. Kohli has nearly 13,000 more international runs and more than twice as many hundreds. Where the argument stays alive is on rate, on Babar’s remaining career, and on the fact that Kohli’s two closed formats mean his own totals in them are finished too.

What happened to the Fab Four

For most of the 2010s the “best batter in the world” question meant Kohli, Steve Smith, Joe Root and Kane Williamson. That group has largely broken up.

• Kane Williamson retired from international cricket on 14 June 2026, mid-series in England, finishing as New Zealand’s all-time leading run-scorer with 19,346 international runs, including 9,515 in Tests.
• Steve Smith retired from ODIs in March 2025 after Australia’s Champions Trophy exit but continues in Tests, where he passed 10,000 runs at Galle in January 2025 and averages around 56.
• Joe Root is the one still chasing the biggest prize of all. He is second on the all-time Test run list behind Tendulkar’s 15,921 and remains active.
• Virat Kohli plays ODIs only.

So the honest 2026 answer to “who is the king of cricket” depends entirely on what you are asking. For the biggest career in the modern game, it is Kohli, and the all-time international run list says so. For the best batter playing right now across all three formats, Kohli is not even eligible. For the record most likely to change hands next, watch Root.

Who is called the King of Cricket?

The title has never been awarded by anyone. Don Bradman set the bar that everything is still measured against, with a Test average of 99.94 that no one has come close to. Viv Richards carried the nickname through the 1980s, Tendulkar through the 2000s, and Kohli has held it in the public imagination for most of the last decade — largely on the strength of his chasing in ODIs, which is the part of his game the numbers above capture best.

If you want the fuller picture, our rundown of Virat Kohli’s records lists every major mark he holds, and our Kohli versus Tendulkar comparison works through the one chase that is still open.

Photo credit: Alamy