Credit: Twitter
Pakistan legendary bowler Wasim Akram's International career spanned from 1984 to 2003, where he still holds the record for being the only pace bowler to have taken more than 500 wickets in ODIs and notably, he has taken most wickets for Pakistan in both Test and ODI format. He has taken 916 wickets in International cricket which is the third most for any pace bowler only behind James Anderson and Glenn McGrath respectively.
Virat Kohli's international career began in the year 2008 and since then he has broken almost all the records in the span of 15 years by scoring 25,582 runs in International cricket (12898 in ODIs, 4008 in T20Is and 8676 runs in Test cricket). Virat Kohli has dominated the International arena for the entire 2010s decade and no other batsman came even close to him in that period in ODIs and T20Is.
Here, in this article, we will see how Virat Kohli vs Wasim Akram battle could have panned out in different formats.
Virat Kohli vs Left-arm fast (or) medium-fast bowlers in Tests:
Inns - 57
Runs - 814
Balls - 1349
Avg - 50.87
Outs - 16
Left-arm pace bowlers to have done well against Kohli in Test cricket:
Kohli vs Mitchell Starc
Inns - 19
Runs - 236
Balls - 394
Avg - 59
Outs - 4
Kohli vs Trent Boult
Inns - 13
Runs - 144
Balls - 250
Avg - 48
Outs - 3
Kohli vs Neil Wagner
Inns - 7
Runs - 73
Balls - 138
Avg - 24.33
Outs - 3
Kohli vs Mitchell Johnson
Inns - 7
Runs - 146
Balls - 160
Avg - 48.66
Outs - 3
Kohli has struggled to play left-arm medium (or) pace bowlers in Test cricket during 2014 as he got out to them a total of five times in a total of 10 innings.
In 2016 also, Kohli got out to left-arm pace bowling thrice in four innings but after that, he did well against a left-arm pace bowling attack hence, Wasim Akram could have dominated Kohli in a period of 2011-16 in Tests, but post that Virat Kohli would have dominated Wasim Akram in this format.
Virat Kohli vs Left-arm pacers in ODIs:
Inns - 113
Runs - 1473
Balls - 1505
Avg - 47.51
S.R - 97.87
Outs - 31
Left-arm pacers who did well against Kohli in ODIs:
Kohli vs Thilan Thushara:
Inns - 6
Runs - 35
Balls - 62
Avg - 11.66
Outs - 3
Kohli vs Junaid Khan:
Inns - 5
Runs - 3
Balls - 24
Avg - 1
Outs - 3
Kohli vs C Welegedara:
Inns - 5
Runs - 11
Balls - 22
Avg - 3.66
Outs - 3
Kohli vs Andy McKay:
Inns - 4
Runs - 45
Balls - 53
Avg - 15
Outs - 3
If we see all the above dismissals happened from 2008-2012/13 period.
Virat Kohli hasn't struggled much against left-arm pace bowlers in ODIs since 2013 period. Post that three-match ODI series against Pakistan in 2012/13, Virat Kohli averages 62.8 against left-arm pace bowlers in ODIs.
Wasim Akram once again could have dominated Kohli before the 2013/14 period, but post-2014 Kohli would have dominated Wasim Akram in this format.
Virat Kohli vs left-arm pace bowlers in T20Is:
Inns - 57
Runs - 521
Balls - 378
S.R - 137.83
Avg - 43.41
Outs - 12
Those days T20Is didn't exist and hence Wasim Akram didn't play any games in this T20I format.
Players like Sheldon Cottrell in the 2019 West Indies tour dismissed Kohli twice and bowlers like Mohammad Irfan have done well against Kohli in the 2012 T20I series. Till 2013, Kohli's strike rate against left-arm pacers in T20Is was only 103.22, but since 2014 Kohli has had a strike rate of 140.92 against left-arm pace bowlers.
Hence, once again Wasim Akram had a chance to dominate Kohli if he was part of the Pakistan side during 2012/13 where left-arm seam bowlers like Mohammad Irfan and Junaid Khan kept troubling him.
Wasim Akram vs India in Tests:
Matches - 12
Innings - 21
Wickets - 45
Bowl avg - 28.86
Best Bowl Inn - 5/96
Indian batters to get dismissed by Wasim Akram most times in Tests:
Kris Srikkanth - 9
Mohammad Azharuddin - 5
Maninder Singh - 3
Navjot Singh Sidhu - 3
VVS Laxman - 3
Wasim Akram vs India in ODIs:
Matches - 48
Innings - 47
Wickets - 60
Bowl avg - 25.15
Bowl eco - 3.73
Best bowl - 4/35
Indian batters to get dismissed by Wasim Akram most times in ODIs:
Mohammad Azharuddin - 5
Sourav Ganguly - 5
Kapil Dev - 4
Rahul Dravid - 4
