Babar Azam was at the pinnacle of his cricketing career just two years ago. As the captain of Pakistan’s national team and a top-rated batsman in all three formats, he was widely regarded as one of the best in the world. However, as he celebrates his 30th birthday at home on Tuesday, the same day the second Test against England begins in Multan, his career has taken a dramatic turn.
On Sunday, Babar was left out of Pakistan’s squad for the remaining Tests, marking a significant change for the star player who had struggled with form in recent times. His omission comes after a poor run, having failed to score a fifty in his last 18 Test innings, a steep fall from his former dominance.
This is the first time Babar has been dropped from the Pakistan team since making his debut in white-ball cricket in 2015 against Zimbabwe and his Test debut a year later against the West Indies. His rise to fame was swift, with three consecutive hundreds in an ODI series against the West Indies in 2016 that made him a household name.
Babar dethroned Virat Kohli
In 2021, Babar dethroned India’s Virat Kohli to become the world’s number one ODI batsman, a position he still holds today despite a brief stint where he was overtaken. His consistency in limited-overs cricket earned him comparisons to modern-day greats, including Kohli. In T20 cricket, he still ranks fourth among batsmen globally, but it is in the Test arena where his form has suffered the most, causing him to fall out of the top 10 rankings.
Babar’s cricket journey began humbly as a 13-year-old ball boy in Pakistan’s Test against South Africa in Lahore in 2007. Watching his idol AB de Villiers from the sidelines fueled his dream of playing for Pakistan. He took the first step by excelling in the 2010 Under-19 World Cup, finishing as Pakistan’s top scorer with 298 runs. By the 2012 U19 World Cup, he was captain and once again the top scorer for his team, amassing 287 runs.
Babar’s transition to the senior team came in 2015, and he quickly made his mark in the white-ball format. His exceptional form carried over into all three formats, and his partnership with Mohammad Rizwan in T20 cricket became the most prolific in the format, accumulating 3,268 runs in 70 innings.
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Memorable Achievements
One of Babar’s most memorable achievements came in the 2021 T20 World Cup, where he anchored Pakistan’s historic victory over arch-rivals India in Dubai. Another remarkable moment was his brilliant knock of 196 against Australia in Karachi in 2022, which helped secure a draw against one of the world’s best pace attacks, featuring Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Nathan Lyon. This innings was hailed as one of the greatest in Pakistan’s Test history.
However, the pressure of captaining a Pakistan team struggling with consistency began to weigh on Babar. His form with the bat deteriorated, and Pakistan’s first-round exit from the 2023 ODI World Cup in India, where they lost to Afghanistan for the first time, added to the strain. Following this, Babar stepped down from the captaincy in all formats.
Despite being reinstated as the white-ball captain earlier this year, Babar resigned from the role for the second time this month, marking the end of his tenure as Pakistan’s leader. As he turns 30, Babar Azam’s future in cricket remains uncertain, but his legacy as one of Pakistan’s greatest batsmen is already firmly established.
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