Once the crown prince of Pakistan cricket, Babar Azam finds himself battling both form and relevance. Naman Agarwal traces how a career that once promised greatness reached this point, and where it can go from here.
In early 2023, Babar Azam was awarded the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy – handed to the best cricketer of the previous year. Two years down the line, his career, across formats, is at a crossroads: his form, consistency, and legacy all crumbling.
In the last one year, Babar has led Pakistan to a historically low T20 World Cup campaign, been dropped from the Test side, lost his ODI batting tempo, and made a painful start to the ongoing PSL season. In his first six PSL 2025 games, Babar has scored just 117 runs at 23.40 and 117 - the worst average and second-worst strike rate among those who have batted at least 100 deliveries.
Considered by many as the unofficial fifth member of the Fab Five not too long ago, what has gone wrong with Pakistan cricket’s poster boy?
2019-2022: A different time
Having debuted as a 21-year-old in 2015, Babar lived up to the initial hype around him. Instead of being found out a year or two into his international career, Babar, armed with a clean, no-nonsense technique, grew from strength to strength. From 23.75 after 11 Tests, he had picked his Test average up to a peak of 49.25 after the Boxing Day Test vs New Zealand in 2022.
In the four-year period from 2019 to 2022, Babar averaged 59 in Tests with a 50-plus score every other innings. His 2,397 ODI runs were the second most after Shai Hope’s 2,646, coming in 20 fewer knocks. While Virat Kohli averaged 48 in ODIs in this period, Babar averaged a staggering 70. Even in T20Is, Babar was the second-highest run-scorer between 2019 and 2022 (after teammate Mohammad Rizwan), his 2,324 runs coming at a strike rate of 129.
Across the three formats, Babar made 7,275 runs in this period. No one else made 6,000. Babar’s 19 tons were three more than the next best: Joe Root.
His dominance was neither fleeting, nor ordinary: it spanned across years and formats. As the original Fab Four approached their twilight (barring Root, who was reaching new heights in Tests), Babar was going up. There was a new 'King' in town.
Mid-2023: The dip begins
The 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia had been a rare blip. He managed only 123 runs at a strike rate of 93, but Pakistan’s run to the final managed to hide his personal shortcomings. He recovered to have a successful home season, scoring two Test tons, as well as one in ODIs and T20Is.
Pakistan began their 2023-2025 WTC cycle in Sri Lanka in July, hoping for better returns after finishing fifth and seventh in the first two. The Asia Cup and the World Cup were to follow later that year. Now firmly established as the all-format captain and arguably the best batter in world cricket, all hopes were pinned on Babar.
Perhaps too much hope?
The Sri Lanka Tests yielded only 76 runs at 25.33. The Afghanistan ODIs that preceded the Asia Cup saw him struggle for rhythm, striking at 72.90. And, barring a 151 against Nepal, the Asia Cup brought just 56 runs at 18.67.
Pakistan entered the ODI World Cup in India with Babar’s runs starting to dry up at just the wrong time. He managed 320 runs at 40 across the tournament, but didn't really stand out with his performances. Of all batters with more runs than him, only two had a lower strike rate than his 82.90. As a team, Pakistan had a disastrous campaign, losing to Afghanistan and failing to qualify for the semi-finals. Babar's own failures did not need much introspection at the 2022 T20 World Cup, but the guns were out after his team under-delivered in India, forcing him to resign.
Over the next year, Pakistan played musical chairs with captaincy and coaching staff. Babar was reappointed as white-ball captain after just one series away from the role. A horrendous outing in North America, where they lost against the USA and crashed out of the first round of the 2024 T20 World Cup, forced Babar to resign for the second time in a year. Babar was still the second-highest run-scorer in the USA leg of the tournament – but his runs, and decisions, led Pakistan nowhere.
Late 2024: The killer blow
Following his 161 against New Zealand in the Boxing Day Test in 2022, Babar endured 12 Test innings without a fifty across the 2023/24 season. When Bangladesh toured Pakistan in August, Babar's quest for a comeback turned into a nightmare: four knocks, 64 runs and a high score of 31. Another failure in the first Test against England and the knives were out.
In a seismic move, Babar Azam – the country’s premier batting talent who was on top of the world not long ago – was dropped from the Test team.
Big-name sackings are rare in the subcontinent. Even as Babar was failing to get the big scores, there remained an air of inevitability about him bouncing back. Test captain Shan Masood had called Babar “Pakistan’s best batter” after the defeat against England. Despite his falling returns, Babar was, still, Pakistan’s best batter, just no longer good enough to be in the team.
It didn’t help Babar’s image that Pakistan won the two Tests he didn’t feature in against England. A tough couple of white-ball tours of Australia and South Africa later, he finally broke the Test fifty barrier, scoring one for the first time in exactly two years during the Boxing Day Test in Centurion.
In this period, his Test average dropped from 49.25 to 43.55.
Babar followed it up with two more fifties while opening against a strong South African attack to show signs of a resurgence, but the ensuing home season lay waste to all the good work: he had three single-digit scores in two Tests against the West Indies, one fifty-plus score in five ODIs across the tri-series and the Champions Trophy, and an excruciatingly painful start to the PSL season.
Also read: Babar Azam isn't quite back in form, his strike rotation issues still hold him back
Extended poor form or deeper issues?
At his best, Babar used to be an ODI behemoth, having cracked the tempo of the format to perfection. In Tests, he would plunder runs for fun at home, averaging 75 by the end of 2022, and put up brave acts in tougher tours away. And while he was never an elite modern-day T20 batter, the marriage of his touch and timing often masked the lack of brute force.
However, Babar’s game, particularly against spin, has stagnated over the last couple of years. Since 2023, Babar averages 16.25 from six home Tests, lower than Shaheen Afridi. His average against spin in Tests has dropped from 60 before 2023 to 25.55 since.
This has played a major role in his declining ODI output as well, where his average and strike rate against spin have gone down from 83.9 and 89.6 to 47.4 and 77.7 respectively. And while his T20 strike rate has gone up from 127.5 to 134.9, the rate of increase hasn’t matched the evolving standards of T20 batting. Nine out of his 24 50-plus scores since 2023 have resulted in defeats for his team. Only James Vince has more 50-plus scores in a losing cause in this period (11).
If the downturn came only in the white-ball formats, it could potentially have been linked to a lack of intent: it's a blame anchor-type batters like Babar are never far away from. However, the massive decline in Test returns as well, where there’s no pressure to score quickly, suggests it’s more of a skill issue. The revolving door of coaches in the Pakistan setup also makes it difficult to maintain continuity in identifying and working on potential technical issues.
Also read: Babar Azam needs more than just runs – he needs a change of mindset
What’s next for Babar?
Every cricketer’s career is invariably made up of crests and troughs. What separates the elite from the very good is how they ensure that a downward curve doesn’t descend into free fall.
Babar is currently 30, the age range where batters are supposed to be at the peak of their powers. But his peak – at least that one, lasting spike – has gone by and the slump – now extending to two years – only seems to be drawing him in like quicksand.
He still has time on his hands and may wriggle his way out of it, but the path to dominating international cricket once again looks rather distorted. Even if he does turn things around for good, he might have slipped too far to lose the elite stature he once promised to enjoy.
