Babar Azam is currently the talk of the town. Unfortunately, this time around, for all the wrong reasons. The string of low scores in Test cricket has caught the eyes of many, and rightly so. If you’re a player of Babar’s calibre, people will expect you to score big. Babar, however, struggled last year.
In nine innings, he could only score 204 runs at an average of 22.67 in 2023, marking his worst performance in a calendar year. Remarkably, for the first time in his career, he failed to cross the 50-run mark in an innings. Babar’s highest score in Tests, in 2023, was just 41. The last time this happened to a Pakistan batter who played in at least eight innings was Basit Ali in 1995.
He struggled to get going in the recently concluded Test tour of Australia and ended the three-match Test series without a single half-century. His scores in the series read: 21 and 14, 1 and 41, 26 and 23. Given Babar’s remarkable progress over the past 3-4 years, it’s genuinely surprising that he concluded the series with just 126 runs.
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While he has accumulated big runs at home and other subcontinent pitches, the Tests in Australia were expected to be a true test of Babar’s character and technique. The tally of 126 marks Babar’s third-lowest aggregate in a three-Test series. During his previous visit to Australia in 2016/17, Babar amassed a total of 68 runs, followed by a tally of 136 runs against West Indies shortly after. However, those tours took place six to seven years ago when Babar was a 22-year-old newcomer to international cricket.
Interestingly, Babar’s aggregate in Australia is even lower than the nightmarish performance Virat Kohli endured during his 2014 trip to England. One argument to defend Babar could be the fact that in 2023, he played four out of five Tests away from home – two in Sri Lanka and two in Australia.
But is that even an excuse? As a subcontinent batter, he was expected to do well in Sri Lanka, but Prabath Jayasuriya had some other plans ready for him. The left-arm spinner dismissed him three times in four innings that he batted in Sri Lanka. While it was Jayasuriya in Sri Lanka, the duo of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood troubled the Pakistani batter Down Under.
Babar did get starts, but for some reason, he wasn’t able to convert those starts into something really big. Let’s delve deeper to look at why Babar struggled in Australia by going back in time to 2017, when Pakistan took on the West Indies in their own den. On that occasion, Shannon Gabriel and Alzarri Joseph had worked him out, finding either the edge of the bat or nipping one back in. Also jog your memory back to September last year, and you will find Hardik Pandya castling him in a similar fashion.
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In the Test series in Australia, Hazlewood and Cummins found that gap between his bat and pad. While Babar is covering his off-stump well, allowing him to play his favourite cover drives, it is quite evident that he’s leaving a big gap between the bat and pad, which has become his weakness of late. For Babar to get his mojo back, it’s important he works on this weakness. Or else, he will keep getting out in a similar fashion, resulting in low scores.
In the six innings he batted in Australia recently, he looked good at the start of his innings, playing his trademark cover drives and backfoot punches. At his zenith, Babar showcases not only consistent run-flow but also a poised demeanor at the crease. Recent times have witnessed moments when he appeared slightly rushed and anxious early in his innings, juxtaposed with days of sublime touch, delivering near-perfect performances.
The question arises: Do world-class batters necessitate and deserve more understanding and time to rediscover their form? This query echoes in the minds of cricket fans, reminiscent of times when even Kohli underwent a lean patch with the bat. Presently, Babar finds himself in a similar situation.
It’s often underestimated that the pressure of being Babar Azam in Pakistan is far greater than most people can imagine. Beyond unrealistic public expectations, the individual himself sets remarkably high standards. Sometimes, the pursuit of greatness becomes the adversary of excellence.
When big-name players have something to prove, it’s prudent to afford them the space and time to do so. Perhaps Babar simply needs to navigate through this tough phase patiently and wait for the cricketing gods to smile at him once again. It won’t be long before it happens, and it wouldn’t come as a surprise, given the calibre of player Babar is.
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