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Virat Kohli twilight still outshines Babar Azam: Here is what their 2025 numbers say
In 2025, Virat Kohli outperformed Babar Azam in batting quality despite having fewer runs.
International cricket nowadays is about shifting formats and priorities, and 2025 was no different. Two of the biggest cricketers in world cricket, Virat Kohli and Babar Azam, had different sorts of years as far as their time on the field is concerned.
Now, when we ask who had the better year? It is not just about the volume of runs; it is a question of quality, context, and match-defining weight. That lens matters for 2025 because both of them live very different calendars: Kohli's year was effectively an ODI-heavy statement with a small Test coda, while Babar carried the larger multi-format workload Pakistan demanded.
Kohli vs Babar: the 2025 scorecard
Let’s start with the clean numbers.
Virat Kohli
- ODIs: 13 innings, 651 runs, average 65.10, strike rate 96.20, 3 hundreds, 4 fifties, highest 135.
- Tests: 2 innings, 23 runs, average 11.5, highest 17
- T20Is: did play in 2025 as he retired from the format in June 2024.
Kohli also retired from Test cricket in May 2025, which explains why his red-ball sample is so small.
Babar Azam
- Tests: 10 Innings, 315 runs, average 31.50, strike rate 54, highest 81, 3 fifties
- ODIs: 17 innings, 544 runs, average 34, strike rate 77.20, highest 102, 1 hundred, 3 fifties
- T20Is: 8 innings, 206 runs, average 34.30, strike rate 114.4, highest 74, 2 fifties
Also Read: ODIs won't survive without Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli; BCCI sent warning about post Ro-Ko era
The real separator: ODI dominance vs multi-format volume
If you are judging 2025 by volume across formats, Babar has an argument. Add it up, and he finishes with 1065 international runs, comfortably ahead of Kohli’s 674.
But the better year in elite batting is usually a quality conversation, and that’s where Virat Kohli pulls away. His ODI output in 2025 wasn’t just high, it was authoritative: a mid-60s average with three hundreds and a strike rate pushing 100. Babar’s ODI year, by contrast, sits in the mid-30s for average with one century - respectable, but not elite.
There is also an efficiency angle that captures the gap neatly. Using the dismissals of the two players, Kohli’s ODI+Test runs work out roughly 56 runs per dismissal for 2025, while Babar’s combined three-format year lands around 33 runs per dismissal. It’s not a perfect metric, formats aren’t equal, but it does underline the same truth: Kohli made fewer appearances, yet produced far more value whenever he actually got out there.
Verdict: Who had the better 2025?
Virat Kohli had the better 2025 - in terms of impact and batting quality.
Babar Azam’s year looks fuller on fixture sheet, and the aggregate runs reflect that workload. But Kohli’s ODI season was the kind that wins years on its own: dominant average, strong tempo, and repeated big scores.
