The hitman hasn’t been in great form in T20Is lately. However, his lack of runs has been overshadowed by the excessive attention Kohli has attracted for his lean form during the same time.
While Rohit Sharma’s record as captain has been impressive ever since he took over the reins from Virat, questions loom over his batting.
Babar Azam, on the other hand, has led Pakistan from the front with some exceptional knocks including the one at Dubai against India in the T20 World cup.
He is the highest ranking T20I batsman in the world right now. He has constantly been in the top 2 in the rankings since 2021.
Can Rohit bounceback and pounce on the young and inexperienced Pakistan bowling attack to emerge as the highest scoring captain in this match?
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Rohit Sharma vs Babar Azam in T20Is (2021-2022)
Let’s see how many T20Is the two have played from 2021 to right up until the start of Asia Cup 2022.
- Rohit Sharma – 24 T20Is
- Babar Azam – 27 T20Is
Rohit Sharma played 11 innings in 2021 and 13 T20I innings in 2022. Whereas, Babar Azam has played just a single inning in 2022.
Number of fifty scores – Who’s winning?
- Rohit Sharma – 6
- Babar Azam – 10 fifties and 1 hundred
Rohit Sharma managed to strike just one fifty from 13 innings in 2022. This year hasn’t been good for the India skipper. He’s had 3 single digit scores, two of which came against Sri Lanka in a home series.
More recently, Sharam was out for a duck against West Indies in the 1st T20I of the away series.
Rohit Sharma vs Babar Azam – Performances in Dubai
The Dubai International Cricket Stadium is the venue for India’s clash with Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2022.
This was the same venue where Pakistan defeated India by 10 wickets in the last T20 World Cup.
Babar Azam would clearly have an advantage here given that the UAE was Pakistan’s home venue for more than a decade during which no teams visited Pakistan for a bilateral series.
Rohit Sharma has also played a lot of T20 cricket in UAE whenever IPL shifted out of India.
Number of innings played by the two openers in Dubai –
- Rohit Sharma – 4
- Babar Azam – 9
While all of Rohit’s 4 innings came in 2021, Babar Azam has played 9 innings since 2016. Only 3 of these were played in 2021.
Rohit doesn’t stand a chance even if we compare the two only based on their innings from 2021.
Number of runs scored in 2021 in Dubai –
- Rohit Sharma – 100
- Babar Azam – 158
Babar Azam has scored 158 runs in 2021 from 3 innings at this venue. Though he averages 79.00, his strike rate is very low at 118.80.
Rohit Sharma, on the other hand, scored only one fifty from his 4 innings which came against Namibia.
There is a huge gap between the experience of these two players. Rohit Sharma has scored over 3000 runs from 124 T20Is while Babar Azam has played only 69 T20Is so far in his career.
Rohit Sharma – the better striker
Though Babar Azam has a higher average of late and has scored more fifties than Rohit, he has never matched up to Sharma’s strike rate.
Since 2016, when Babar Azam made his T20I debut, Rohit Sharam has scored 2616 runs at an average of 31.51.
While Babar has scored a total of 2686 at an average of 45.53.
However, every year since 2016, Rohit Sharma’s strike rate has far exceeded that of Babar Azam.
India’s strong middle and lower order gives Rohit the freedom to play a more aggressive brand of cricket. Whereas, Babar Azam has to carry the entire Pakistan team on his shoulders.
- Plenty of sports to choose from
- Live streaming is offered on selected sports
- Very competitive odds
- Spectacular welcome bonus
- Plenty of sports to choose from
- Live streaming is offered on selected sports
- Very competitive odds
- Spectacular welcome bonus