He accomplished the achievement on Thursday at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru during the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) game against the Rajasthan Royals (RR).
In T20 cricket, Kohli broke Babar Azam’s record of 61 50-plus scores while batting first with a game-winning 70 off 42 balls.
Babar has a much higher average.
As per ESPNcricinfo, Kohli is among just the four batters with over 7,000 runs while batting first in T20s.
He overall owns 7,135 across 215 innings in this regard at a solid average of 37.95.
When playing first in Twenty20 matches, Babar has scored 6,495 runs. However, his average of 46.06 is the highest among batters with 1,300 runs in the first innings.
In this comparison,
Kohli outperforms Babar (130.16) in terms of strike rate (133.26). Matches won Contributions in wins
53% of Kohli’s runs (3,787) while batting first have come in winning causes (excluding Super Over games).
In this regard, his average and strike go up to 43.52 and 140.46, respectively. On the other hand, only 49% of Babar’s runs in the first innings have resulted in victories (3,221).
In victories,
he has an average strike rate of 47.36 and a strike rate of 133.70, respectively. Tons
Who has the most tons? As mentioned, Kohli now owns the most 50-plus scores while batting first in T20s (62) while Babar is now second on this list with 61 such scores.
However, Pakistan’s talisman is still ahead in terms of tons.
Babar has breached the three-figure mark while batting first in T20s eight times.
With seven hundreds, Kohli is just behind him. Only Chris Gayle (14) boasts more tons than the duo on this list.
T20Is
Comparing their T20I numbers
Kohli, who has now retired from T20Is, made 2,175 runs in the format while batting first at 38.83.
Babar (2,327) has more runs in this regard and that too at a better average (42.30).
However, Kohli (137.57) yet again wins the strike rate battle as Babar’s SR is 129.42.
Notably, Rohit Sharma (2,711) is the only batter with more runs than the duo while batting first in T20s.
Stats
Comparing the sum of their numbers With his latest effort, Kohli has raced to 13,278 runs in T20s at 41.88 (SR: 134.47).
He has now completed 102 T20 fifties. He is only behind David Warner (108) on this list.
Overall, Kohli has 111 fifty-plus scores in the format. His tally includes as many as nine tons.
Meanwhile, Babar owns 11,147 T20 runs at 43.03 (SR: 129.18). This includes 91 fifties and 11 tons.