King Babar Azam

Babar Azam

Introduction:

Muhammed Babar Azam born 15 October 1994. He is the former Captain of Pakistani team. He achieved many wins under his Captaincy including a historic win against India in the 2021 Men’s T20 World Cup held in UAE, Pakistan won by 10 wickets. It's about dream cricket, that everyone thinks about.

Early Life:

Babar Azam was born in a Punjabi Muslim family in Lahore. He was attracted to cricket because of his first cousins Kamran Akmal and Umar Akmal. Their cousin's stories inspired him a lot. He had been a ball boy at Gaddafi stadium during South Africa's 2007 tour of Pakistan.

Then he joined a cricket academy in Lahore for his dream cricket and started his domestic career there. His first coach was Rana Sadiq, who taught him the fundamentals of cricket.

Later, he went on to be a part of the Pakistan U-19 setup. In May 2015, Babar was included in the Pakistan ODI squad for the home series against Zimbabwe. In that series Babar Azam made debut in third ODI on 31st may and scored an impressive fifty scoring 54 runs off 60 balls. That is also a reason why some people call him Zimbabar.

International Career:

In May 2015, Babar was included in the Pakistan ODI squad for the home series against Zimbabwe. He made his ODI debut in the third ODI 31st May, in that match Babar scored an impressive fifty scoring 54 runs off 60 balls.

His impressive debut earned him a place in both Test and ODI squads selected for an away series against Sri Lanka. Due to some reason he was not selected to play in that series. During the ODI series, he only scored 37 runs in the two matches that he played. Babar was included in the squad for the away ODI series against Zimbabwe in September 2015.

He was retained in the ODI squad for the home series against England. In the first ODI of the four match series he scored 62 not out with a strike rate of 100 which helped Pakistan win the match. He had scores of 4, 22 and 51 in the next three matches respectively. Babar finishes the series with an impactful 139 runs at an average of 46.33.

In January 2016, Pakistan toured New Zealand. In the first ODI match, Babar scored 62 runs off 76 balls. Pakistan lost the match by 70 runs, He was the leading run scorer in the ODI series with 145 runs in 2 innings at an average of 72.50.

In the five-match ODI series against England in July, he batted in five games and only scored 122 runs. He made his Twenty20 International debut for Pakistan against England on 7 September. He scored an unbeaten 15 runs off 11 balls. Pakistan won the match and series.

Beside the England series, Pakistan played two match ODI series against Ireland. In the first ODI series, Pakistan beat Ireland by 255 runs and created a record of their biggest win in terms of runs in an ODI. Babar contributed to his side’s victory by scoring 29 runs. With the second and final ODI abandoned due to rain, Pakistan won the series 1–0.

Journey of Breaking Records:

Babar Azam was selected in the home series against West Indies in 2016. In the first match of the ODI series he scored his maiden international century, scoring 120 off 131 balls and winning his first man of the match award.

In the second ODI, he scored another century, this time scoring 123 off 126 balls, and helping Pakistan to put up a total of more than 330, In the third and final ODI of the series Babar Azam ended up with a third consecutive century (117 from 106). He also broke the record for scoring the most runs (360) in a three match ODI series. He became the only batsman to score 350+ runs in a three match ODI series.

He made his Test debut for Pakistan against the West Indies in Dubai on 13th October 2016 and scored 69 runs in his first innings. He was the first player to score a fifty on his debut through a day/night Test. It all happened because of his dream for cricket and his passion.

On 19 January 2017, in the third ODI against Australia, Babar Azam became then joint-fastest player to score 1,000 runs in ODI and then fastest for Pakistan in his 21st innings before his national record and world record was eclipsed by his compatriot Fakhar Zaman. He scored a century in the fifth ODI, which was only the second century ever scored by a Pakistani batsman in Australia after Zaheer Abbas in 1981. He also entered the top 10 batsmen’s ranking in ODIs for the first time ever.