Pakistan cricket team has decided to recall ot-of-form batter Babar Azam for the tour to South Africa. The former Pakistan skipper sat out of the Zimbabwe tour recently and rightfully deserves to be benched for all of the side’s future encounters, given his poor form across formats. It has been over a year-and-a-half since Babar has shown any sign of dominance and is currently being boggled by inconsistency and a string of failures.
Why Pakistan should drop Babar Azam
Babar Azam is still in the picture for Pakistan selectors simply because he is a star that the side cannot afford to lose. But his form over the last year casts aspersions on his inclusion in the squad for any format of the game. His last century came in 2023 against Nepal and has failed consistently since then, in the ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup and the Test series that were to follow. If the PCB have made a bold decision to drop Shaheen Afridi from Tests against South Africa, then Babar Azam also deserves to be sidelined, not just in one format but across all.
| Format | Mat | Runs | HS | Ave | SR | 100s | 50s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tests | 55 | 3997 | 196 | 43.92 | 54.46 | 9 | 26 |
| ODIs | 120 | 5809 | 158 | 56.95 | 88.70 | 19 | 32 |
| T20Is | 126 | 4192 | 122 | 40.30 | 129.22 | 3 | 36 |
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Babar Azam has failed to taste success in the last ten international games that he has played. The former Pakistan skipper has not managed to even score a half-century, a sign that is worrying for the side given that they are preparing for Champions Trophy 2025. It is high time that Pakistan take a stern call and decide to drop the batter from the squads across all formats, very much like they did so midway of PAK vs ENG Test series.
It is pertinent to point out that Babar Azam had also resigned as Pakistan’s white-ball skipper following the debacle at T20 World Cup. While he had claimed that he wanted to focus on his batting while making the decision, it hasn’t reflected so far in his form. Pakistan does not lack bench strength and it would be wise for Aaqib Javed and co. to give a break to Babar Azam and instead hunt for a new top-order batter for Pakistan, keeping CT 2025 in mind.
