The Rise and Fall of Babar Azam - Cricket Analysis
Make no mistake, at the beginning of 2023, Barbar Razam stood on the cusp of greatness.
Babar Razam is the new hero, the modern hero, the captain, the leader.
He's got so many gears. He can hurt us in so many different ways.
Looking out to a career where he would go down as the greatest all format player, but no one could have foreseen the tragic demise that was about to befall his career.
Barbar Azam has announced his resignation as the captain of the Pakistan cricket team across all forms.
This is the rise and fall of Barbarazzam.
From a young age, it seemed Barbar was destined to play for Pakistan. No less than three of his cousins, including siblings Umar and Kaman Akmal, had all represented Pakistan at the international level, which meant he grew up being surrounded by cricket. And unsurprisingly, he loved the game. Like many kids in Lahore and throughout Asia, Baba grew up playing tapeball cricket on the streets. And it's ultimately where he would learn and refine much of his technique that he still uses to this day. When Baba actually started participating in formal cricket training and playing in matches, it quickly became apparent how naturally talented he was. And this talent and output in age group cricket led him to get a call up to the Pakistan under 19 team at just 15 years old. Baba would then go on to make his debut in a youth ODI against Zimbabwe where he scored 15 runs in 16 balls and he'd go on to play a further 35 youth ODI. But it was truly an ICC under 19 tournaments where he particularly shined amassing 585 runs in 12 innings at an average of 58.5. Even more amazingly well performing for Pakistan under 19 in the semis but if you're in any doubt about the quality of this young man
Babu is also dominating domestic cricket in Pakistan he made his list a debut at 15 and the following year in 2010 at 16 he made his first class debut.
Baba gradually gained more confidence and experience throughout his teenage years as his numbers improved in both list day and first class cricket season after season. In the 20145 season at 19 years of age, Barbara truly put Pakistan cricket on notice with outstanding seasons in both the first class and 50 over domestic competitions. And after averaging 53 in first class cricket and 68 in list A, he was rewarded with his first call up to the national team.
This was the ceremony.
The more you see him, the more you like him. Baba would go on to make his list a debut in May of 2015 in an ODI against Zimbabwe. He's a decent cricketer where he repaid the selector's faith instantly.
He's got there raw from the crowd and accumulated his 50 and just 54 deliveries with his contribution on debut. But it's not over.
Anchoring a collapsing Pakistani innings with 54 runs off of 60 balls, helping them to reach a total of 300. The following year in 2016, Baba Azam truly announced himself to the world by scoring three successive tons against the West Indies in a three match ODI series.
And there it is, the second youngest to get three consecutive WD international hundreds. A lot to be thankful for, Babarazza.
Ensuring he not only cemented his place in the ODI side, but also forced his way into the test team.
Good strike. Just a month later in October, Baba was handed a test debut in test cricket's first dayight test match where he once again shone
Baba Azam on debut gets to his 50 by scoring 105 ball 69 further showcasing to the world that he was here to stay on the global stage. From 2017 onwards, Barbarazzen would become the face of Pakistan cricket. He would become their most dependable and consistent batter across all three formats. And year after year, his stock continued to grow along with his output. Baba is incredibly hungry. He's a perfectionist. He's an artist. In 2019, Baba would become the ICC's highest ranked T20 international batter on the back of an outstanding two seasons where in 2018 he scored close to a thousand runs, marking the first time he would reach the height of becoming the world's best batter in a format. In 2022, we saw the full transformation of Barbarazzam into global phenom status.
He's probably the guy that I'm looking forward to seeing most. You see him batting and even if he hits a false shot when he's batting, he his body language gives it away.
He's I'm really excited to see him. He he he could be anything.
And he was undeniably the best cricketer in the world that year.
Well placaced. Baba is a very gifted player.
He dominated test cricket, amassing 1,184 runs at 70. He managed to better those numbers in ODI's by averaging 85 while also putting in a solid T20 international showing scoring 735 runs in 26 games at 32.
Almost immediately you got the feeling that he was set in concrete. He was going to take an awful lot of blasting out
to seamlessly transition across formats with such ease and maintain such impressive levels of output put him in the company of great like Abillars Virat Kohley and Chris Gale. And at the rate he'd been progressing, he threatened to become the best of all of them after finishing 2022 as the second ranked test batsman, the third ranked T20 batsman, and the highest ranked ODI batsman.
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It's our service where we'll help you to create viral social media content to the standard we produce videos. Our email is in the description for those interested. Now, back to the video. In 2023, Pakistan played two test series against two weaker nations. Series where a player the caliber of Babar Razam should have dominated. But in both series, Baba disappointed fans and spectators alike, not once notching up a half century.
Gone. Gone.
Barbarazzam probably is not going to challenge.
And in nine test innings in 2023, he averaged only 23 with a top score of 41. It was definitely a down year for such a quality player and by far the worst of his career, but as their premier batter, everyone expected him to bounce back.
That is an enormous, enormous wicket.
But he did not bounce back. In fact, things just kept on getting worse for him to the point where he's dropped from the test side after only scoring 35 runs on a flat Molton pitch. He's gone from being the poster boy of Pakistan cricket to the figure of its demise in just 2 years. edge and gone Babarazz once again his exit is going to absolutely hamper this knock over the period of 2024 to 2025 his numbers paint a dark picture no hundreds and an average sitting at half of what it once was a truly monumental fall from grace that sadly has carried across to both shorter formats even in what is considered to be his most dominant format Babarazzam's OD record is also in tatters of late after a string of subpar innings where he hasn't scored 100 in the last two years while averaging a mere 20 in 2024 and 30 this year. Quite a shocking decline in production from a guy who in 2023 was still the game's best one-day batter. A decline further emphasized by Pakistan's subpar showing at the ICC World Cup in 2023 and the Champions Trophy earlier this year where he was unable to make any significant contributions to help Pakistan to victory in either tournament.
The most staggering thing is that his best performances for Pakistan over this lean period has been in the format he's not being considered for right now, T20 cricket.
Good strike over the top.
In 2023 and 2024, his output on the international stage in T20s was above par, averaging 35 and striking at 135 across this period of promising returns. But his perceived inability to take on spin and up the scoring rate as well as his poor returns in other formats have seen him being left out of all of Pakistan's T20 squads this year.
I cannot believe how Baba Razam has just gotten out.
Including being left out of Pakistan's Asia Cup squad alongside Muhammad Rizwan. A foolish choice in my eyes. What do you guys think? From being a unanimously feared presence at the crease 3 years ago and being a top three ranked batter across formats, he's fallen mightily, which is further emphasized quite recently by his demotion to category B in the newlyannounced Pakistan central contract list, a category he'd been in for half a decade. But now the question turns to why? What's been his Achilles heel? The first thing I've noticed is that Baba's averages facing right arm seam across formats have dropped significantly more than all other bowling types. When you're struggling against the game's most common bowling style, it usually doesn't result in good things.
Oh, not tonight.
And after looking at the data and seeing how his averages have fallen to right arm pace across the formats, it prompted me to have a look at the technical side of things. And what I found is quite damning. Have a look at the still of Barber facing KG from 2021 while the ball is halfway down the pitch from when Barber is in his prime. The angle of the bat is very close to pointing straight behind him with a small outward kink. But if you compare this to the angle of the bat in tests more recently, his bat has a far more pronounced outward flare as the ball is halfway down the pitch. As opposed to it facing first slip in 2021, it now faces toward Gali. And after watching tons of footage of him, this is the only major change I've noticed in his setup.
Inside edge, huge wicket for New Zealand.
Whether it's a conscious decision or not, opening your bat angle so drastically as Bubba did brings many more challenges into the equation. him. Firstly, with an increased distance in his bat path, it makes him more susceptible to fast bowlers targeting his pads because if he's surprised by late lateral movements in the air or off the wicket, it will mean he has less time to adjust to the ball with his increased bat path distance and it will result in more dismissals to particularly right arm bowlers who are a bit quicker as the stats suggest. The next thing is that a wider bat path means it's more difficult to actually hit the ball because naturally you're starting your bat at a wider angle so less of the face can be presented to each ball, especially to balls that don't behave how Baba expects. Think of him having to almost come across his body and play a bit more inside out to hit a ball with a full face of the bat. It means he's more likely to play and miss, nick off and mis hit the ball than he previously would have been. Not to get overly technical with everything, but the gist of it is cricket is a game of inches and split seconds.
This is just wonderful to watch. This is proper pure swing bowling.
They are making life difficult for Pakistani.
By having a significantly wider bat path than he previously ever had. It means he gives the opposition more margin to dismiss him because he has less time on the ball and a smaller opportunity to hit each ball.
He's got it. It's less of a factor against left arm pace because he naturally opened up more to left arm pace previously to counter the angle.
Back to back boundaries Bab and with spin he has more time than pace to adjust to what the balls do if they initially beat him.
That's into the gap.
But to right arm pace, especially quicker right arm fast bowlers, his technical flaws have been exposed and it's a big reason behind his struggles of late him. The other thing to note is that barbarazz is surrounded by dysfunctionality and it's made his job as a batter very difficult. Pakistan have had major turnover with their coaching staff almost changing head coaches across formats every few months which makes it extremely difficult to build stability and culture in an environment and it could definitely have disrupted his mentality and taken a toll on his batting. Additionally, the change in selection committees and turnover on the Pakistan cricket board would have been challenging for similar reasons. As a player, a stable environment and backing from coaches you have relationships with is crucial to your personal success. And without it, it's not overly surprising that he's struggling. Finally, when Babu is promoted to captain of the Pakistan side across formats, it seems to be a burden too heavy for him to carry. Some players like Graeme Smith or Virat Kohli thrive under the pressure of captaincy while others like Hashimler and Barbara Azam struggle to cope with both roles and it seemed to have negatively impacted his batting.
Barbaram has announced his resignation as the captain of the Pakistan cricket team across all formats.
It's been a tough period for fans of Baba and cricket in general to watch his international slump persist. fights with a small technical adjustment to return to his original bat path which brought him so much success.
And there it is the second youngest to get three consecutive 1D international 100
and Pakistan maintaining some consistency in their selection policy cricket board and coaching staff. It will hopefully bring about the resurrection of Aarazz. He's not going to give up easily to his former heights at top the world rankings.