Babar Memorable

Babar Azam

The Gabba has one of the proudest home team records of any ground in the world. In the past thirty years, Australia hasn't been beaten once: reason enough to reverse the lunacy of last summer when Brisbane didn't get a match until until late January and that against the under performing Sri Lanka. India, entertained before Christmas, escaped Australia unscathed by the Gabbatoir and won the series 2-1. It was a bizarre piece of administration driven by dollars and not by the prestige of beating the number one side in the world. Sure, Brisbane crowds have got lighter in recent years but making India and Kohli face up on a seaming Gabba would have cast the series in a much stronger light for the Australian players.

No such relief for a new look Pakistan, beset again with the political and social rumblings which have always torn into the factions of a discordant outfit when they tour Australia. The unity that Misbah created and the stable base he and Younis gave to the middle order are days gone by.

Thirty years of handing out hidings at the Gabba and not surprisingly, visiting batsmen have contributed only lightly and have been outnumbered in hundreds in that time by 52-18. The latest to raise his helmet and kiss the pitch - not necessarily at the same time - Babar Azam, is an interesting addition. A man who averages only 35 in Tests but over fifty in all other forms of the game, a multitude of people on the sub-continent - many of them in India - ask the serious question "is he as good as Kohli?" He certainly looks a lot better than a 35 average and any hundred at the Gabba is a very good one, especially against an attack many consider to have few to currently equal it at Test level. In his mid twenties and now three years a Test cricketer, this tour of Australia could be his watershed moment, in much the same way as Steve Smith's August hundred was at the Oval in 2013.

At the same stage of his career, Kohli had just over 1500 runs at 44. Babar has just over 1300 runs at 37. Kohli had five hundreds to Babar's two. Finding your way to three figures is a pretty keen guide to greatness.

Saeed Anwar and Asad Shafiq both made tons here. Ganguly and Vijay have. Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Jacques Kallis, Hasim Amla and Kane Williamson are further proof of the quality needed to master the Australians in Brisbane. All of the above have hundreds here. Kohli hasn't.

Watch this space.