Captain of Pakistan’s national team and Karachi Kings’ opener, Babar Azam has become the highest run scorer in the history of Pakistan Super League. Babar Azam, who is currently making Pakistan proud in the cricketing world, surpassed Peshawar Zalmi’s Kamran Akmal’s record at the first match of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) sixth-edition against Quetta Gladiators.
Zalmi’s Kamran Akmal had scored 1,537 runs in 55 innings in PSL since the beginning of the tournament. Babar had 1,516 runs from 47 games before the start of PSL’s opener on Friday. The opening batsman scored 24 runs to take his total runs’ tally to 1,540, three more than Kamran’s total runs in history of the PSL.
Azam won debut Test series
Cricketer Babar Azam became the fifth Pakistani captain to win his debut Test series on 8 February 2021. Before Babar Azam, Saleem Malik, Javed Miandad, Mushtaq Mohammad, and Fazal Mahmood also won their debut Test series as captains.
It may be recalled that Pakistan defeated South Africa by 95 runs in the second Test to win the two-match series. In the match played at Rawalpindi Stadium, the national team defeated South Africa due to the bowling of Hassan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi.
For the first time in the history of Test cricket, Pakistan defeated South Africa in a whitewash and for the second time in a Test series. Earlier in 2003, Pakistan had beaten South Africa 1-0 in a Test series.
Babar Azam named Cricketer of the Year
Babar Azam bagged the White-ball Cricketer of the Year award for his impressive performances at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Awards 2020. The PCB unveiled nominations for at least 12 awards and including ten individual categories and has announced the winners through their digital platforms.
Babar scored 221 ODI runs at an average of 110.5 and 267 T20I runs at an average of 55.2. He has also been awarded the Most Valuable Player of the year.
Azam ranked among top-5 in all formats
Pakistan’s white-ball captain Babar Azam has regained his career-best fifth position in ICC’s Test rankings and became the only batsman in the world to be ranked among top-five across formats.
Babar, who was at the 6th spot before the start of the second Test against England, has leapfrogged Australia’s David Warner to enter the top-5. He scored a fighting 127-ball 47 in the first innings of the 2nd Test, which eventually ended in a draw.
The 24-year-old batsman is also the only Pakistani batsmen ranked among the top 10 in all three formats. Pakistani pacer, Muhammad Abbas also moved up to the eighth spot after his 2/28 in the second Test against England.
Azam drops to sixth place in ICC Test rankings
Unfortunately, Babar Azam had dropped to sixth position after missing the recent New Zealand tour, in the latest ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings. England captain Joe Root and India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant have made considerable gains after their match-winning performances in the Galle and Brisbane Tests.
Root has returned to the top five with his highest rating points tally (738) in two years after scoring a first-innings 228 to help win the first Test against Sri Lanka by seven wickets. Root has advanced six places, overtaking Babar Azam and India’s Cheteshwar Pujara in the process.
Pakistan need to rely on professionalism of Azam
Babar Azam is one of the emerging superstars in the cricket world around since 2015, and averages over 50 in both ODIs and T20Is.
Numbers may not tell the whole story about a player, but for a country that has awkwardly clung to players who are deemed ‘talented’ based on a few games, Babar Azam has made known that he is the genuine and real deal.
In the history of Pakistan cricket, it is hard to say how steady their batting will be on a regular basis. In-form performers get dropped, random hoary strugglers make comebacks, and the batting line-up appears to crash frequently.
Pakistan has also a turbulent history of captaincy dramas, and that may be why they played safe with their most recent picks in Misbah ul-Haq and Sarfaraz Ahmed.
Both the players have proven to be ideal captains for a capricious team, allowing their new eminent team-friends take the attention and being a steadying powers and influence behind the scenes.
Azam is a very pleasing player to watch, much like Umar Akmal. Even during brief stays at the ruck, he lights up the game with stunning strokes that exude class and command.
The cricket star has shown that he can be one continual Pakistan can trust on. His skills to switch between anchor and invader can reassure his team-friends that they can play their natural game and still contribute to the team’s success.
If Pakistan wants to compete with the super teams of the world on a more consistent basis they would have to rely on the captaincy of Azam and take advantage the level of professionalism he plays with.
