Written by: Waseem Abbas
Posted on: January 24, 2023 | 
| 中文
Babar Azam raising his bat after scoring a century
It was 2015. Pakistan had a couple of players who were compared to Virat Kohli. But Babar Azam was not one of them. The first was Kohli’s lookalike, the spoiled child of Pakistan cricket, Ahmed Shehzad. Tipped to be the next big thing, Shehzad had all the strokes in his armor and was laced with elegant looking classic technique. At 24, he had scored centuries in all three formats of the game. Shehzad, however, faded away mysteriously into the abyss of wilderness.
Babar Azam and Ahmed Shehzad
The other was Babar’s own cousin, Umer Akmal. Equally good against spin and fast, technique unimpeachable, could construct innings at the top and destruct the bowling lines down the order, a perfect combo one could only wish for. Disciplinary issues coupled with the lack of form, resulted in this boy also being sidelined from the team.
The hope that had germinated with the emergence of these two batters, that a Pakistani batter would compete with world’s modern-day greats, had shattered. It had been a long time since a Pakistani batter was compared to one of the world’s greatest contemporary batsmen, for after Inzamam and Muhammad Yousuf, none had emerged.
A new boy emerged from Lahore, the city to which Shehzad and Umar Akmal belonged to. It was Babar, a 21-year-old Lahori boy, who had climbed the ladder of success from age group cricket. He led Pakistan in 2012 U19 World Cup, and when his U19 career ended, he was the third highest run scorer of all times. The path ahead was not all that easy, as he even could not find a place in Lahore’s domestic team. He had to play for Rawalpindi, instead. It was after a disastrous World Cup campaign in Feb-March 2015 that Misbah retired, and a number of players were axed from the team to open up space in the middle order.
Babar during an U-19 game
After 3 years of domestic tillage, he earned his first national call-up in May, 2015 against Zimbabwe. He made his international debut in his home ground, Lahore, in the third One Day game of that series, and scored a beautifully crafted 54 off 60 deliveries batting at number 4. His performance in the subsequent games fluctuated, as he was tasked to open the innings at times, and was relegated to bat as low as at number 6. A glimpse of Babar’s potential as a batter came to fore in January 2016, against New Zealand. In the first ODI, where Pakistan was bundled out for 210 on a bouncy track in Wellington, Babar scored a defiant 62 off 76. In the second game played in Auckland, he showed his stroke-play, scoring 83 off 77 at the strike rate of 107.79. He recovered from a slump in form against England, by scoring three consecutive ODI centuries against West Indies in September-October the very same year. He was the first Pakistani batter after the great Zaheer Abbas, referred to as the Asian Bradman, to score three consecutive ODI centuries. His credentials as the ODI young prodigy had been established by then, and it was a matter of time that he would shine in other forms of the game as well.
With the presence of Misbah and Younus in the middle-order, Babar’s wait for test debut stretched a bit more than expected. However, he got his break after his brilliant ODI performances, and he made his Test debut in Oct 2016 against West Indies in Dubai, the very game where Azhar Ali scored a marathon triple ton. He was impressive on his debut with 69 and 21, but couldn’t translate his ODI success in Test cricket consistently, and failed most often than not.
Babar on his Test debut
Babar’s first Test ton came two years after his debut in his 17th Test, against New Zealand in Dubai in November 2018. He had a below-par average of only 30 before his first ton, and even worse, had a paltry average of 23.75 by the end of 2017 (after 11 Tests). It was Pakistan’s then coach Mickey Arthur’s vision and foresight that he persisted with Babar despite his failures. He foresaw Babar’s central role in Test cricket in the post Misbah-Younus era, and the gamble paid off handsomely. The 28-years old batting prodigy has scored over 2400 runs in 26 Tests at an astonishing average of over 60 in last 3 years (since Sept 2019).
It was speculated that Babar’s style of play, composed and classic shots, is not suited for T20 cricket, which demands explosive batting with flamboyance. However, Babar left cricket pundits and his critics dumbfounded with his T20I performances. He had ascended to top 6 ranked T20I batters in just 11 innings into his career, and topped the ICC rankings after 20 T20I innings in 2018.
Babar’s scintillating performances across different formats of cricket was rewarded with captaincy responsibility. Babar assumed T20 and ODI leadership in November 2019 and October 2020 respectively, replacing Sarfraz Ahmed. Selectors tasked Babar to lead the test side as well in January 2021, abdicating Azhar Ali of the responsibility. Babar has outperformed in every aspect of the game of cricket in recent years.
Babar Azam during a press conference
With extra responsibilities as captaincy, players tend to come under pressure and thus the performance drops. But Babar’s case is not a conventional story; it is one of its own kind.
Record shows that the bigger the stage, the better Babar’s performance has been. Babar rose to limelight in 2019 ODI World Cup, where he scored 437 runs in 9 matches. No Pakistani batter has scored more runs in a single edition of a WC than Babar in 2019. His knock of unbeaten 101 against New Zealand in the WC was particularly impressive, which propelled Pakistan’s chances in the competition. Babar was the top runs getter in T20I World Cup 2021, and his partnerships with Rizwan at the top lifted Pakistan’s batting burdens.
Babar Azam against New Zealand in the 2019 ODI World Cup
Despite stupendous success, Babar remains grounded and avoids social media controversies. The undue criticism on his leadership abilities, personal attacks and the vile campaign to oust him from captaincy, propagated by a powerful media group and a few journalists, could not deter him from scoring runs, which attests to his mental toughness. Acknowledging the contribution of his childhood coach, ‘Mama Joona’, while at the peak of his career, is a testament of his traditional values. While terming Babar as the best all-format batter at the moment, Virat Kohli recently said that Babar’s attitude and respect for Virat has not changed a bit despite Babar’s success as a prolific scorer of runs.
Young Babar with his father in 2007
It is a treat to watch Babar’s elegant cover drives, those wristy flicks and upper cuts, or effortless straight drives. His composure, elegance, focus and game awareness and calculations are immaculate and praiseworthy. Babar, who has scored 28 international centuries so far, is currently ranked 1st in ICC batsman rankings in ODIs, while he is in the 3rd place in Test cricket and 4th in T20Is.
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