Opinion: Babar Azam has made two half-centuries in Pakistan’s T20I series against New Zealand, but has still come in for criticism. Ben Gardner dives into the numbers.

Since the 2022 T20 World Cup, Babar Azam has played six T20Is – all against New Zealand – averaged 50.60 and struck at 151.49. In isolation, these are extraordinary numbers. In the history of T20I cricket, with a cut-off of 1,000 runs, only Virat Kohli has maintained a higher average across his career, and only nine players have maintained a better strike rate. And yet the questions that have dogged Babar throughout his career – that he takes too long to get set and favours consistency over aggression – have only got louder.

And despite Babar’s statistics, impressive at face value as they are, these are not without merit. Taking the six innings one by one, two were early failures – something that can happen to any batter in the format, even if a score of one off six leaves a bit to be desired. One was a superlative hundred, showing the upside of Babar at his best. He put on 99 with Mohammad Rizwan, negotiated a middle-order slide, and carried Pakistan close to 200, which proved plenty. In that game, the second of last year’s series, Babar’s fifty came up off 36 balls in the 15th over. His century came up 22 balls later off the last ball of the innings.

This is the Babar method. He gets set and goes big. And, to his credit, he’s one of the best at it there has ever been. Only Chris Gayle has more T20 centuries, and only Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma and Glenn Maxwell have more T20I centuries. The issue is what happens when a Babar epic is cut short. In the other three knocks for Pakistan, he faced at least three whole overs in each, and Pakistan lost every game. In the first, he made 19 off 18, and while Pakistan still went past 190, the target was chased down with relative ease, the rate hewn down to a run a ball by the 19th over.

In the other two, in the ongoing series, Babar has made 57 off 35 and 67 off 43. Again, these look decent knocks out of context. But the first came in pursuit of 227. Babar made 36 off 29 before his first six, at which point, despite an opening flurry from Saim Ayub and Mohammad Rizwan, the asking rate had spiralled above 14 runs per over. The game was already all but done before a late Babar burst. During Babar’s time at the crease, Pakistan’s chances of victory receded.

The second is harder to deem a success or failure. Babar corrected his slow start, racing to 34 off 18 balls. At that point, after seven overs, Pakistan were 80-2, and the required rate had been pulled down from nearly ten to below nine. But then he slowed. Babar’s next boundary didn’t come until the 15th over, and he managed only 10 off 15 inbetween. The asking rate had shot to 12.50. Pakistan weren’t out of it, but it had become Babar or bust and when he hit the first ball of the 18th over to Tim Southee at mid-off, that was effectively game over. Had he accelerated earlier, those coming might have been able to recover. Or Pakistan might not have got as close as they did.

This used to be a compromise Pakistan were content to settle for. Rizwan and Babar would open. They would almost invariably get off to a solid start. If one or both carried on, their chances of victory were good. If neither did, it would be too much to expect an inconsistent middle order to have done much better if coming in earlier.

But Pakistan are slowly building up more options, and, after being deposed as captain, Babar’s position is weakening. Already the Babar-Rizwan opening partnership has been split up, and here there is another aspect working against Babar. At times, he had success piercing the infield in the powerplay before consolidating. Now he’ll have to get used to starting in the middle overs.

Might the time come soon that Pakistan move past him? If Pakistan decide they can afford only one ‘anchor’, Rizwan averages more and adds value as a wicketkeeper. Saim Ayub suggested he might be the future with his 22 off eight in the first T20I. Fakhar Zaman’s latest avatar shows signs of being a proper revival. Pakistan fans will hope Mohammad Haris, who revitalised his country’s campaign in the 2023 T20 World Cup, really is just ‘rested’. These might be the batters to take Pakistan forward.

But it’s also too soon to say they are definitely the batters. Babar might, at times, score too slowly. But at least he scores. Since his T20I debut, he has passed fifty 35 times. If you remove Rizwan (26) the rest of Pakistan’s batters have made 39 half-centuries between them in that time. Babar’s approach has been dictated, in part, by the fragility that has followed him. He deserves an extended chance to show he can keep up with the new guard, if indeed there is a new guard at all.

Babar is supremely talented. He’s already an ODI great, and has the potential to do the same in Tests. And while the T20 World Cup is fast approaching, he still has three games this series, a whole Pakistan Super League season and a series against England to restate his worth or show he can adapt. Removing Babar now would be a massive, potentially disruptive call. While there are rumours of a rift in the team, new captain Shaheen Shah Afridi still described him as “Pakistan’s best player”. His credit is still in the black, and those raw numbers still create quite the impression. But a Pakistan XI without Babar in it is no longer unthinkable. They have reached the semi-final and the final of the last two T20 World Cups, a team ahead of schedule going close to glory. Should they slide back this time, a new era without Babar could be the result.

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