Babar Azam is a Pakistani cricketer and white ball captain of the Pakistan national cricket team.[1] As of 13 February 2024[update], he has played 52 Tests, 117 One Day Internationals (ODIs), and 109 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) for Pakistan.[2] He has scored centuries (100 or more runs in an innings) on 1 occasion, scoring 9 centuries in Tests, 19 in ODIs, and 3 in T20Is.[2] In 2022, Babar Azam became the Pakistan batter with the most runs — 2,598 — in all formats of the game in a calendar year.[3]
Babar has been praised by former English captains Former England captains Michael Vaughan and Nasser Hussain also praised him. Vaughan, who led England to a memorable Ashes win over Australia in 2005, said he admires the way Babar plays.
"On a positive note … @babarazam258 is certainly one of the best Test players in the World … love the way he plays …," he said in a tweet.|url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/697138-babar-praised-by-former-english-captains |publisher=The News International |access-date=17 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717165317/https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/697138-babar-praised-by-former-english-captains |archive-date=17 July 2022 |date=7 August 2020}}</ref> He has been named in the ICC Men's ODI Team of the Year on three occasions, captaining it in 2021 and in 2022.[4] In 2021 he also captained the ICC Men's T20I Team of the Year.[5] He was also captain of the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Team of the Tournament.[6]
Azam made his Test debut in October 2016,[2] and scored his first century two years later when he made 127* against Australia at Dubai.[7] His highest Test score of 196 came against Australia in March 2022;[8] his innings included the highest-ever score by a captain in the fourth innings of a match and the second-longest innings by a batter in the fourth innings of a Test.[a][10][11] Azam has scored Test centuries against five different opponents at five grounds, including three at grounds outside Pakistan.[12]
Azam made his ODI debut in May 2015[2] and scored his first century in the format a year later in 2016, making 120 against the West Indies.[13] This was followed by scores of 123 and 117, making him the third Pakistani batsman and eighth batsman overall to score three consecutive ODI hundreds.[14] In 2022, he scored three consecutive ODI hundreds again, with two centuries against Australia and one against the West Indies, making him the first batsman to do this on two occasions.[15] His highest ODI score of 158 was made against England in July 2021.[16] His ODI centuries, which were scored at thirteen venues, have come against seven different opponents.[17] He became the fastest batsman to complete 5,000 one-day international runs during the fourth match against New Zealand in Karachi.[18] In August 2023, he became the batsman to have scored the most runs after the first 100 ODI innings.[19]
He made his T20I debut in September 2016 and has scored three centuries in the format,[20] with the first one coming against South Africa at Centurion.[21] His second century was made against England at Karachi in September 2022, making him the only Pakistani to score more than one T20I century.[22] His third century came on 15 April 2023 against New Zealand where he scored 101* on 58 balls, becoming the first player to score three T20I centuries as captain.[23]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha>
tags or {{efn}}
templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
template or {{notelist}}
template (see the help page).
© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search