Babar Azam Just 6 Runs Away From Beating THIS Massive Virat Kohli Record

Babar Azam and Virat Kohli share mutual respect for each other. They are fierce competitors on the field but good friends off it. Babar vs Virat battle is seen as one of the greatest player battles in the world.

Babar Azam and Virat Kohli. (Source: Twitter)

Pakistan captain Babar Azam is nearing a massive Virat Kohli feat. Babar is the World No 1 batter in ODIs. He has already slammed a hundred in the ongoing Asia Cup 2023. The star Pakistan batter could not get the chance to bat in the game against India as the second innings could not take place due to rain. Had Babar batted, he would have got the chance to go past the Kohli feat. 

Kohli, in 2017, had become the fastest batter to complete 2,000 ODI runs as captain. He had done so in 36 innings. Babar is about to go past Kohli. He has scored 1,994 runs in just 30 innings. In the first match of Super 4 stage of Asia Cup 2023, Pakistan play Bangladesh. If Babar gets to bat, he can score those 6 runs and topple Kohli's feat. 

In the game vs Nepal, Babar had slammed his 19th ODI ton as well, becoming the fastest to achieve the landmark. Babar had scored a magnificent 151 off just 131 deliveries that included 14 fours and 4 sixes respectively. Babar is now the fastest to 19th ODI centuries, doing it in just 102 innings. The second fastest is Hashim Amla, who did it in 104 innings. Kohli is third-fastest to 19 ODI tons in 124 innings, David Warner is next best  (139 innings) and AB de Villiers (171 innings).

Our 2__0__0__th ODI at home __#PAKvBAN | #AsiaCup2023 pic.twitter.com/vVjymxQKIL — Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) September 6, 2023

Babar has been in tremendous form in the last two years. In the same period, Kohli's graph in ODIs have gone down. It is to do with Kohli not playing enough ODIs in this time period. But despite that, Kohli remains the World No 9 batter in the world in ODIs. In the next three months, India will pin hopes on Kohli to come good during Asia Cup and ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023.

Likewise, Pakistan's best batter is Babar Azam and onus will be on him to deliver the goods with the bat. To Pakistan's good fortune, Babar is already in red hot form and he will just need to stay in the same brilliant touch till the end of the World Cup. Pakistan have not announced their World Cup squad yet but it is believed that the team will look similar to that of Asia Cup. The only selection talking point is whether they will go with Saud Shakeel or Faheem Ashraf.