Babar Azam Scripts History, Surpasses Virat Kohli, Steve Smith In Major Test Cricket Milestone

Babar Azam continues to be compared with Virat Kohli even as his strike rate might remain a matter of debate especially in T20Is. There is no doubt regarding his class in ODIs and Test matches.

Babar Azam of Pakistan hits the ball towards the boundary during day three of the Third Test between Pakistan and England at Karachi National Stadium on December 19, 2022 in Karachi, Pakistan.

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Even though there is a section of cricket fans and pundit who reckon that the comparisons between Virat Kohli and Babar Azam are unwarranted, the Pakistan captain continues to break record after record and silenty goes about his business. And now Babar has once again surpassed two contemporary Test match greats Kohli and Steve Smith to achieve a major milestone in Test match cricket.

The 28-year-old now boasts of having the highest batting average at the number four batting spot in Test format after playing a minimum of 15 innings. Babar averages 69.10 in 20 innings at the number four slot riding on a sensational 2022 where he scored four hundreds and seven half-centuries. 

While Smith sits at the number two place in this list with an average of 55.40 from 30 innings, India's Kohli not even comes third but is a distant fifth. The third place in this list belongs to former England skipper Joe Root who is just behind Smith with an average of 54.20 after 34 innings.

Root is followed by Sri Lankan batter Angelo Matthews with an average of 48.40 in his last 16 innings. It is then that Kohli's name features in this list. The ex-India skipper has scored runs at an average of 34.65 in 27 innings in this duration.

Meanwhile, Babar will now be gearing up for the forthcoming season of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) where he will lead the Colombo Strikers. The Strikers have already secured the services of Babar, Pakistan speedster Naseem Shah and Sri Lankan Matheesha Pathirana and Chamika Karunaratne for 2023 season of the tournament.

"The auction is the most important aspect in any franchise cricket tournament. We have spoken about the kind of players we need and we'll definitely look to form the strongest side in the tournament," Azam said as quoted in a press release from Colombo Strikers.

LPL 2023 Auction is scheduled later today (June 14). Only one Indian is part of the auction list and that happens to be the former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) star Suresh Raina.