Pakistan’s all-format captain Babar Azam jumped three spots to claim the number three spot in the ICC Men’s Test Batting Rankings on Wednesday, become the only batter in the world to rank in all three formats— Test, ODIs and T20, to rank among the top three batters in the world. Azam is recognized as one of the world’s best batters in modern-day cricket. He currently occupies the number one spot in the ODI batter’s ranking and the number three spot in the T20 batter’s ranking.
Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan took part in a record-breaking double-century opening stand as Pakistan defeated England by 10 wickets on Thursday. Shaheen Shah Afridi took a veiled jab at the critics of Babar and Rizwan by posting a rather cheeky tweet where he said, “I think it is time to get rid of Kaptaan @babarazam258 and @iMRizwanPak.’
Babar Azam’s cover drive is often described as poetry in motion and experts around the globe have often termed it the best in the world among current cricketers. While we often hear the cricket’s greats heaping praise on Babar for his glorious strokeplay, his cover drive-related question has been added as a numerical in matric’s Physics syllabus.
The No.1 ranked T20I and ODI batter, Babar Azam, is now the first-ever Pakistan captain to defeat India twice in multi-national T20 tournaments. No other Pakistani captain has achieved this feat. Babar has bagged multiple individual records as well as team records. The side has managed to beat India twice under his leadership.
Babar Azam and Co on Friday visited the Netherlands’ top-tier football club — Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax or AFC Ajax. After securing the series against the Netherlands, national team members captain Babar Azam, Shadab Khan, Imam-ul-Haq, Haris Rauf, and Abdullah Shafique, along with team manager Mansoor Rana visited football club Ajax’s headquarters in Amsterdam.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam has come out in support of fellow generational talent Virat Kohli after the latter’s dip in form. In a Tweet, Pakistani skipper advised the former Indian captain to ‘stay strong’. Kohli, 33, has been going through a prolonged lean patch and has not hit a century since 2019, with his future now a matter of intense public debate.
It was a day to remember for Babar Azam, who played his best and most memorable knock in Pakistan colours — certainly in Tests and maybe even in all formats. With the game and the home team’s pride on the line, Babar came in to bat on when the team was reeling at 21 for 2. Skipper continued to register
Babar Azam became the first Pakistani cricketer to score an ODI century since 1983 by breaking Imran Khan’s record. Azam, meanwhile, has already crossed the landmark in 14 ODIs, making him the fastest batsman. He set many records in the final ODI against England, played on Tuesday at Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham.
Babar, who turns 25 on Tuesday, smashed yet another T20 century this year, entering into the list of elite cricketers, including Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle. Record for the most number of T20 centuries belong Virat Kohli as well as Chris Gayle with 4 centuries a year. Babar hammered 102 runs against Sindh in the National T20 Cup on Sunday, this is his third century of the year.