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Virat Kohli vs Babar Azam century drought: Analysing who performed better in their slump



Babar Azam vs Virat Kohli - (Source: AFP)Babar Azam vs Virat Kohli - (Source: AFP)

Babar Azam is again at the centre of criticism as the right-handed batter is struggling to get going in white-ball cricket. Azam, part of Pakistan's squad for the South Africa ODIs, is having a forgettable tour, scoring just 18 runs in two matches.

Babar has now gone 81 innings without a century for Pakistan, and the 31-year-old is searching for answers to regain his lost mojo. Meanwhile, the fans are also comparing Azam's lean patch with Virat Kohli, who too had gone 71 innings from 2019-2022 without scoring a hundred.

Kohli was struggling to end his century drought and eventually regained his lost mojo in the 2023 Asia Cup when he slammed his 71st century against Afghanistan. Amid the comparison, this article will also analyse the slumps of both legendary figures and determine who actually performed better between the two. 

Looking at Babar's slump vs Virat Kohli's slump

Babar Azam's last international century came on 30 August 2023 against Nepal when the right-handed batter scored 151 (131). Since then, It has been 71 innings since his last ton. Meanwhile, Virat Kohli scored his 70th hundred on 22nd November 2019 and slammed his 71st ton in 2022 T20 Asia Cup on September 8, 2022.

Let's look at how both slumps went

Virat Kohli's performance during the slump

Criterion
Data
Innings
83
Runs2708
Average36.10
50s/100s26/0
0s9

Babar Azam's performance during slump

Criterion
Data
Innings
81
Runs2367
Average31.14
50s/100s20/0
0s5


Babar Azam vs Virat Kohli performance breakdown format vise

Babar Azam

Criterion
ODI
T20I
Test
Innings
312624
Runs956817594
Average34.1434.0424.75
50s/100s9/07/04/0
strike-rate
78.61
131.56-

Virat Kohli

Criterion
ODI
T20I
Test
Innings
23
2832
Runs824
1012872
Average35.8250.6027.25
50s/100s10/010/06/0
Strike-rate
87.94140.94-

Key takeaways

  • The stats clearly suggest that Babar has struggled in all three formats since his last international hundred, whereas Virat only had difficulties in Tests and ODIs.
  • Kohli dominated the T20I format, and averaged 50.60, scoring whopping 1012 runs in 28 innings. It is anyhow difficult to score a century in the shortest format of the game and it explains all why the right-handed batter ended his slump with a T20I century against Afghanistan.
  • Kohli has averaged better than Babar in all three formats and scored more fifty-plus scores than his Pakistan counterpart.
  • If we look at the ducks, then Virat has four more ducks than Babar, inferring that Virat either fell early during his slump or went onto score fifty-plus scores, while, Azam on the other hand, got the positive starts, but fell in mid-twenties and thirties.

Final verdict

It is fair to say that we should not compare the slumps of these two cricketers as they both struggled in respective area. Babar is clearly struggling to score runs and score big valuable runs, while Virat only struggled to get a hundred.

Virat has six more fifties than Babar, which signifies that Virat Kohli was among runs, but the external pressure of not getting a hundred was eating him up. Meanwhile, the fans are backing Babar, but the Pakistan star is looking a pale shadow of his past versions.

It is clear that Babar needs to learn from Virat and look at small goals such as scoring fifties, then eighties and getting to a hundred.