The last nine to ten months have been really hard and hectic for Babar Azam, the former captain of the Pakistan side across formats. In just around July 2023, when the veteran captained the Green Brigade to a famous Test series victory in Sri Lanka before losing the captaincy to the left-handed middle-order batter of the side, Shan Masood, before the Australia trip towards the end of the year.
Babar Azam didn’t have a great time with either bat or leadership hat during the 2023 ODI World Cup in India, where he wasn’t consistent with the bat in hand. The team didn’t enjoy a great time in the points table. The same story stretched onto the ongoing year.
The Green Brigade again struggled in the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies and the United States of America (USA). The strike rate, the most important aspect of the shortest format, wasn’t healthy for the batter as they were knocked out of the tournament before the Super-8 stage of the event.
Babar Azam to get dropped for the Second Test vs England? Report claims shocker
On one of the flattest tracks in the game, the Lahore-born didn’t enjoy a great time with the bat in hand. When the visiting side puts up a score of over 800 in their only innings of the red-ball clash, while one of their batters records a magical number of 300 and the other gets to 200, it becomes more important.
The home side didn’t disappoint on a general standard from their batting department as they also put up over 550 in their first innings, but on those sort of scores, the expectation always remains to expect the biggest individual players to score hundreds, and Babar Azam belongs to the list.
He started decently to smash 30 runs in 70 deliveries, where the late cut shot against Jack Leach got the appreciation from the England wicket-keeper batter, Jamie Smith. Late on the first day, the batter missed an out-swinging delivery against Chris Woakes, for which he was prepared for the same sort of ball for the next mission.
But a smart Woakes decided to go with an in-swinging delivery, which hit the pads of the batter and Babar Azam found themselves plumbed before the stumps as he was dismissed for 30 in the first innings, shouldering on five boundaries.
This means his average has fallen to under 44 as he now stands with below 4000 Test run-mark in 55 games at a strike rate of over 50, shouldering on 26 half-centuries and nine centuries with a best score of 196.
In 2024, Babar Azam has been part of four Test matches and has nailed 148 runs at an average of under 19 with a strike rate of below 50, with a best score of 31. It was 2022 when he last celebrated a century in the longest format of the game.
The same story continued in the second inning of the game. This time, the former captain got an outside edge into the hands of the wicket-keeper against Gus Atkinson, as he returned to the hut for just five runs, with the help of one boundary.
The news has claimed that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) isn’t happy with the performance of Babar Azam. The reports have claimed that the batter could also get rested for the second of the three-match ongoing series against England at the same ground, which starts on October 15.