Can Babar match Virat's big-game fire?

{INDIA VS PAKISTAN} STAGE SET FOR A HUMDINGER

- VIVEK KRISHNAN

They can make your jaw drop with regal grace while playing the cover drive. They average in the high 50s and carry an insatiable appetite for runs. They run between the wickets as if their life hinges on it. They hunt records with indefatigable consistency. In short, Virat Kohli and Babar Azam are the batting heartbeats that their teams can't do without in one-day cricket.

The one key difference so far, though, is their record in India-Pakistan games. We're primarily talking about 50-over cricket here, for neither has played an India-Pakistan Test. Kohli has 662 runs in 15 matches at an average of 55.16 against Pakistan. His highest score a sublime 183came against Pakistan in 2012. He cracked a match-winning World Cup century against them in 2015. His latest hundred was also against them, at the Asia Cup in Colombo last month where he timed his innings to perfection and stitched together a record partnership of 233 runs with KL Rahul.