Rehman Ali
Babar Azam, often hailed as one of the best batters in the world, has recently faced a challenging phase, with his batting averages in Twenty Twenty and test matches on the decline. However, the majority of critics remain optimistic about Babar’s future, believing that he will soon showcase his innate talent. After all, as the saying goes, form is temporary, but class is permanent.
On the fourth day of the Karachi Test, in March 2022, the Australian team set Pakistan an extraordinary target of 506 runs, and two players returned to the pavilion for Pakistan’s 21 runs. Babar Azam and Abdullah Shafiq were present at the crease, and the Pakistan team was bowled out for just 148 in the first innings.
However, this was the time when Pakistani fans breathed a sigh of relief as soon as Babar Azam came to the crease and expected another big innings from him due to his remarkable consistency.
During the Karachi Test in March 2022, Babar Azam’s exceptional innings against Australia were a testament to his past success. He first shared a partnership of 228 runs with Abdullah Shafiq and then a century partnership with Mohammad Rizwan. Scoring 196 runs off 425 balls, he single-handedly brought Pakistan from a certain defeat to a point where victory seemed possible. His performance was so remarkable that even after his wicket fell, the match ended in a draw.
The Australian players were full of praise for Babar Azam’s innings. Off-spinner Nathan Line remarked, “Babar Azam is one of the best three or four batsmen in the world.” This recognition from the opposition team is a testament to Babar’s skill and the impact of his innings.
“He has so many ways to change the pace of scoring runs, and he can hurt us differently,” Marnes Labushin said.
Leg spinner Mitchell Swepson said, “In these innings, we tested him in every way. We made him bowl over the wicket and round the wicket; we made him bowl bouncers and Yorkers; we also made him reverse swing and bowl. Tried everything, but they showed their class,” wicketkeeper Alex Carey said.
Following this remarkable innings, Babar Azam’s name was among the top five batters in Test cricket, and he held the No. 1 position in other white-ball formats. His consistent performances in Test matches that year propelled him to the second spot in the Test rankings by the year’s end, a time that many fans may remember fondly.
But then everything changed.
Since December 26, 2022, Babar Azam has yet to score a half-century in Test cricket, and a similar decline in batting form is also seen in other formats. Babar Azam, who is considered one of the top five batsmen in the world of cricket, suddenly became unable to score a half-century in the last 16 innings in Test matches. In the Test series against Bangladesh, he scored only 64 runs in four innings.
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According to the latest rankings released by the ICC, Babar Azam has also dropped out of the top 10 batters list and is currently ranked 12th in the latest ICC Test Batters Ranking. This is the first time in the last five years that Babar Azam has not made it to the list of top 10 batters.
This decline in Babar Azam’s batting form has been witnessed among Pakistan’s worst performances in all formats. Pakistan has not won in the last ten matches played at home ground, in the ODI format, in the Asia Cup and World Cup in 2023; Pakistan had to be eliminated in the first round and also suffered a defeat against Afghanistan.
In 2024, Pakistan suffered back-to-back defeats in the T20 format, and during this time, it also lost against Ireland and the USA. Amidst all this, what has caused Babar Azam’s slump in form? The answer to this question is related to the problems they face on and off the ground.
Babar Azam has been captain of white-ball formats since the 2019 World Cup and, in 2020, also of Test cricket. Since then, his form has improved, unlike that of previous captains, and by the year 2022, he had managed to make a place among the best batsmen due to his continued form.
However, the change of chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board at the end of 2022 and the subsequent captaincy debate at the beginning of the next year had a significant impact on Babar Azam’s form. This upheaval ultimately led to his removal from the captaincy of all three formats at the end of the same year.
At the beginning of 2024, the chairman of the Cricket Board changed again. This time, the young T20 cricket captain Shaheen Afridi joined, and the captaincy was once again handed over to Babar Azam. However, after losing to Ireland, losing the series to England, and then losing to America and India in the very first round of the T20 World Cup, Pakistan came back from here as well.
Babar Azam’s batting form and confidence declined amid news of these problems off the field and the team split. During this time, several teams also tested his batting weaknesses. Where earlier he seemed to have difficulties against left-arm spin, he now faced difficulties with the incoming ball against fast bowling as well.
In the recent Bangladesh series, he looked completely lacking in confidence and lost his wicket on shots that he would usually not have dismissed.
Babar has also managed to get off to a good start in several innings in Test matches so far but has failed to convert it into a big innings. He has scored nine hundred and 26 hundred in 54 Test matches, which is obviously not a record for any average batsman. All the batsmen, including Virat Kohli, are going through a period of bad form and lack of confidence.
However, what truly makes a player great is their ability to bounce back from a slump in form. Babar Azam’s return to form and the re-establishment of his momentum will be a crucial narrative to follow in the coming matches.
When Babar Azam was asked about his form during the World Cup held in India last year and whether it was due to the pressure of captaincy, he said, “I have been captaining my team for the last three years. And I never felt pressured.”
“I didn’t perform as well as I should have, so people say I’m under pressure. I performed and led the team during the last two-and-a-half to three years.
He further said, ‘Everyone has some opinion about me that I should be like that. I think everyone has my number if anyone really wants to give me advice. But it’s easier to give advice on TV.
After the Bangladesh series, he will want to work hard to restore his technique and batting form. Still, Pakistan’s difficulty in the Red Ball format is that, at the moment, it has announced a new Champions Cup, which will be held in September and played in ODI format. In other words, after the England series in October, the long format through which batters usually regain their form will only be available to Pakistani players, including Babar.
Babar Azam is under heavy criticism on social media, and his fans are also silent in his defence. Will Babar write his name in the list of great players, or will he be counted among the batsmen of Pakistan cricket who did not live up to expectations?
“Looks like Babar hasn’t worked much on his game.”
Journalist and former media manager of Pakistan Cricket Team Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi said that Babar Azam is a prisoner of expectations. Before the dip in form, he had scored so many runs that he is expected to score when he comes to the crease. This includes 196 in Karachi or consistently excellent form in T20s and ODIs. But if you talk about his technical flaws, it’s probably tough to pinpoint one thing: Babar’s consistently poor performances are a bed bug that befalls any batsman.
He said the second reason is that since the end of Ramiz Raja’s reign, Babur Azam has been fighting for survival. He was also discussed several times on the board regarding the captaincy. “When you as a player face any kind of threat, you get defensive and put pressure on yourself, and I think that’s what happened with Babar.”
Cricket analysts argue that the tour of Australia must have impacted Babar’s form. Pakistani legendary batters usually cannot show enough performance, which also increases the pressure on them. The current decline in their form is due to off-field controversies, lack of mental maturity, and technical issues.
Babar has played many premeditated shots in the Bangladesh series, which are usually dangerous in a red ball. All the great batsmen have been troubled by the inbound ball, but when Babar has had this problem, he seems not to have worked on it. It can also be called the problem of shot selection, which is also a lousy technique.
