‘Aise Kaise!’ Kohli Fans Won’t Let Babar Azam Enjoy His New Record, Bring Out Key Stats

Pakistan captain Babar Azam has been in phenomenal form and has managed to keep the top ranking batsman’s position in One Day Internationals just for himself as he went on a run-making spree during the third and final match of the series in England.

Coming to bat at the number three spot with Pakistan facing their first blow at 21/1, Azam played a total of 139 balls while scoring an unbelievable 158 runs which included 14 fours and 4 sixes. By the time he was dismissed thanks to Dawid Malan taking his catch in the final over of the innings, his squad was perched nicely at 328. With Shaheen Afridi scoring just one more run, the total now stood at 329.

However, a taped up, ad hoc England team didn’t find it too difficult to chase down the total with a couple of overs to spare. A major chunk of runs for England came at the hands of James Vince who smashed his maiden ODI century in Birmingham.

Fastest to 14 ODI centuries, by number of innings:

81 – Babar Azam
82 – Meg Lanning
84 – Hashim Amla
98 – David Warner
103 – Virat Kohli pic.twitter.com/4cRlzbOoxZ

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) July 13, 2021

And even though England managed to wipe out the series 3-0, Azam’s ton in the final match made him the fastest man in international cricket to score 14 centuries in the 50-over format of the game. He took just 81 matches to reach this milestone, while Indian skipper, Virat Kohli needed 103 innings to get there.

Having said that, the fans of the Indian cricket team and that of Kohli himself, brought out an interesting fact which may mellow down Azam’s record a bit.

9 aggainst (Windies, SL and Zimbabwe)
1 aggainst SA C side
2 aggainst Eng (1 aggainst C side)
1 aggainst Aus
1 aggainst NZ

— CRICfreak (@CRICfreakIN) July 13, 2021

Out of Babar’s 14 tons, only five have come against the SENA countries, namely South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia, which are considered to be the four of the strongest teams for Asian cricket teams. Out of the remaining nine, two have come against Zimbabwe, four versus the West Indies and three against Sri Lanka, the teams that are commonly found in the bottom of the pool of international cricketing sides.

Conversely, Kohli has scored eight centuries against Australia, three against England, five against New Zealand and one against South Africa, suggesting clear dominance of the Indian skipper against the greatest teams in the world.

Kohli fans were ready to accept the comparison:

That doesn’t means 81match and 14 makes him better than that who took 103 matches .no comparisons, he s nt lasting fir next 5yrs mark my word’s https://t.co/dDi4aTDkLM

— Sanjay Gupta (@sanjay103761) July 13, 2021

Is There Any Comparison Between Virat Kohli & Babar Azam ?

Mine : Absolutley Not

Virat Is A Master Class

— Muhammad Qaisar (@QAS219) July 13, 2021

Babar Azam scored and pakistan lost
Tell me about any of virat kohli’s innings which is 130+ and india lost.
stop the comparison #ENGvsPAK

— GOAT Facts (@GOATCRICKET) July 13, 2021