Babar Azam apes Virat Kohli’s 71st century celebration after ending drought; fans show no mercy: ‘You can never be him'

However, it was this competition that sparked a turnaround as Virat roared back into form, hitting a century after almost three years. He smashed a ton against Afghanistan in a T20I, and the celebration which followed was something out of the ordinary. The former India captain had a sheepish smile on his face as he looked towards his dressing room, soaking in the applause. He rounded the celebrations off by kissing his locket, a nod to his wife, Anushka Sharma. This was Kohli's famous 71st international century and it came after a toil of 1000+ days.

Now flash forward three years. Kohli has retired from two formats - Tests and T20Is, having won the T20 World Cup. However, Babar is going through what Kohli faced - a century drought lasting more than two years and 80 innings.

Also Read: Babar Azam breaks century drought, scores one after 807 days and 83 innings; Virat Kohli's coincidence takes the cake

At last, the worry is over for the former Pakistan captain as he finally went past the three-figure mark after 83 innings and 807 days in international cricket. The right-hander, 31, played an unbeaten knock of 102 runs to help Pakistan chase down 289 in the second ODI against Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi. Coincidentally, both Babar and Virat had taken 83 innings to end the long century drought.

After completing the milestone, Babar had the same sheepish smile as Kohli, as he also looked towards his dressing room, with fans breaking into loud chants of 'Babar, Babar.' Just like the Indian stalwart, Babar also rounded off the celebrations by kissing his locket.

Fans show no mercy

However, fans have not taken kindly to Babar blatantly copying Kohli's celebration, and they are expressing their fury on social media.

Speaking of Babar, he smashed his 20th ODI century for Pakistan, becoming the joint-highest ton scorer for the country, alongside former opening batter Saeed Anwar.

The century against Sri Lanka was Babar's first after the Men's Asia Cup 2023, where he went past the three-figure mark against Nepal. Babar has now also hit the most number of centuries (8) for Pakistan on Pakistani soil.

Coming back to Kohli and Babar, fans might be debating about who copied who, but the two batters have always said nice things about each other. Back in 2022, Kohli had even labelled Babar as the “best batter going around.”

Click here to read article