The protocol, when your best batter first starts showing signs of struggle with his form, is that you don’t talk about it, lest you curse it into reality. Some would call it superstition, others, denial. But both Babar Azam and Pakistan are past that stage. They are where the elephant in the room has grown too big to be ignored. And even if they wish to look the other way, the pressing thoughts of a mega-event inching closer each day would not allow that. Babar last scored a century in August 2023, that too against Nepal in a home Asia Cup game.
His rough patch has followed him across formats, though his decline in form has not been as drastic in ODIs as the other formats. Something that would bring Mohammad Rizwan a sigh of relief. The Pakistani skipper, backing his best batter, said Babar has set such a high bar for himself that everyone holds ‘extreme expectations’ of him.
“Babar has scored so many runs for Pakistan that we expect him to score a hundred in each game. If we don’t judge him by those extreme expectations, you’ll find he’s still chipping in and contributing valuably for us.”
In the tri-series final against New Zealand, Babar became the quickest to score 6000 ODI runs, equalling the record with Hashim Amla. This further enforces Rizwan’s point who admitted that even he, as a captain, could not temper his own expectations of Babar.
“As a captain, I expect a lot more of him too because of all he has done in the past. There is obviously an additional pressure because of it and I’m sure he feels that too. But if you look at his innings in South Africa, [he is still scoring runs]. It’s not as if he has clear technical deficiencies, but he is still being tested. I am confident he’ll come out of it.”
Babar Azam has played at no. 3 position for nearly his entire ODI career, where he was a strong link between the openers and the middle order. Much of his triumphs came playing at one down. However, with Saim Ayub nursing his fractured ankle and Abdullah Shafique struggling with loss of form, Babar was promoted to open with Fakhar Zaman. This shift has, thus far, worked disastrously for him and, by extension, for Pakistan.
Rizwan acknowledged that Saim’s absence has pushed the management into a plethora of difficulties and their best option as his replacement was Babar Azam, who is one of the most technically sound players in the world right now. However, should this pattern continue, Pakistan will not hesitate to restore the right-hander to his original position, according to Pakistan’s white-ball skipper.
“We have other players who can open if we need them to. Saim Ayub was a huge all-round blow for us, including in the field because he was one of our best fielders, opened the batting, and could bowl eight or so overs,” Rizwan said.
“His absence created a huge disturbance, and we went for the safety of Babar Azam, who’s our best batter. At the top, if the ball swings, he can control it. When Abdullah Shafique got out early in South Africa, Babar had to deal with the new ball anyway. He was coping with the seam and swing and enabling us to attack at the end. So, we thought why not go for our most technically solid player to open, rather than throwing someone else in at the deep end.”
Pakistan will kick off their Champions Trophy defense against New Zealand in Karachi on February 19.
