To be completely honest, I've always felt he was a bit of a softie, but not due to his twin failures against a club level Zimbabwe against which even a double century doesn't count for much. The first time I felt the soft nature to Babar's innings was in an ODI in Australia when he scored 84 off 100 balls. I remember highlighting that an 84 off 100 balls in an ODI in Australia was not a good knock, as Pakistan ended up getting only 260 which Australia cruised at a canter, in one of the threads. Some Pak fans defended that knock saying Babar was too young and he had to play the long innings as his seniors failed around him. Two matches later, he scored a run a ball century in a partnership with Sharjeel in a match chasing 370 when it never looked like both batsmen wanted to win the game, more so Babar because at least Sharjeel batted at a sr of 120 in the match, while Babar batted at a sr of 90.
People keep comparing the stats of Kohli and other top batsmen against Babar at a particular match threshold, but the fact is that all of those batsmen had some great innings and memorable knocks to their name by the time they were 26.
Kohli had a century at Adelaide in his debut tour to Australia and followed it up with 4 tons in 4 matches in his next tour. He already had a century and a 96 in the second innings against peak Steyn, Philander and Morkel in his debut tour to South Africa and a century in New Zealand in his debut tour to New Zealand in Test cricket. He had already scored a blistering 183 chasing 330 against Ajmal, Gul and Afridi and played an incredible innings of 133 not out while chasing 320 in just 36 overs against peak Malinga. He had also scored a century against Pakistan in the 2015 WC but because Kohli set so high standards, that sedate innings was not a memorable one by his standards. In the T20 format, he had scored a match winning 72 off 44 balls in the 2014 T20WC semifinal against South Africa and won the player of the tournament award in that T20 WC.
Steve Smith had already scored three tons in Ashes tests in England including a 150 and also a 215 at Lords. He had scored centuries in South Africa against Steyn and Philander and also had a ton in NZ. He of course also scored 4 tons in 4 matches in that same series where Kohli matched his feat. He didn't have great ODI stats but nevertheless had a great 2015 WC and scored a century in the semifinal against India.
Williamson hadn't accomplished as much as Smith and Kohli did by the time he was 26, but he still scored a debut ton in India when he must have been barely 20 and had scored multiple tons in Australia and England. I also remember him playing a decent knock when his side was 9 down in a group game against Australia when Starc was bowling like Wasim Akram.
Joe Root obviously had a great start to his test career before tapering off lately. I remember him scoring a ton in his debut series in India and had great record at home in Test cricket. I also remember him playing a memorable knock while chasing 230 odd in a T20 WC game against South Africa, although he must have been just over 26 then I think.
With Babar, it's very hard to remember any landmark or memorable innings that was special and stays in your memory. People point his knock chasing 230 odd against NZ in the last WC, but that was a good knock chasing an underpar total, not a memorable knock which you would remember after 10 or 15 years. I still think he is a very good batsman in ODI cricket despite lacking a few things his compatriots like Kohli, Smith, Williamson have in their arsenal, but he certainly has to start kicking on in Test cricket because it looks like he is still finding his feet in Test cricket, which whether people like it or not, ultimately deicides a lot of your legacy. A great ODI batsman like Dean Jones is still remembered but there's a reason people still rave about the likes of Ponting, Lara, Tendulkar because all these batsmen were not just great in ODI cricket, but also had great legacies in Test cricket.
(Mayank, Shreyas and KL will be over the moon if they visit this forum 
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