Pakistan had a field day on the opening day of their first Test of the three-match series against England in Multan, where they amassed 328 for the loss of four wickets. Before the game’s second day, opening batsman Abdullah Shafique and red-ball captain Shan Masood put the hosts on a commanding early advantage with their individual hundreds.
But Babar Azam, the star batsman, continued to be unproductive as he scored another low total. Babar was bowled out for thirty runs off of 71 balls on a surface where the English bowling lineup appeared to have little success in both holding on to wickets and restricting the Pakistani hitters. After a string of deliveries that seemed to be pulling Babar towards his off-stump, Chris Woakes, who was playing his first Test match in Asia in eight years, trapped him squarely in front.
Babar immediately walked up for the review, but he did so more out of desperation than anything else because the ball-tracker indicated that he would have to walk back to the pavilion after receiving three reds. Babar was even more dismayed to learn that there were just nine deliveries remaining before Stumps, on top of the pitch being an absolute belter to bat on. Babar’s search for a score higher than 50 in the longest format is getting closer to two years with this dismissal.
Babar Azam is on the most despised list.
Since the beginning of 2023, Babar—who recorded his final half-century in a Test match in December 2022—has gone 16 innings without scoring 50 or more. Shreyas Iyer, who has 12, KS Bharat, who has 10, James McCollum, who has 8, and three batters on seven are among the others in the directory.
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It’s interesting to note that Babar’s century in the longest format was lost in December 2022. Before this lean phase began, Babar’s average was consistently above 50. Currently, it is only 44.51.
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