Former Pakistan captain Babar Azam continues to struggle in international cricket as he has now gone without a century in 83 innings across formats. His last century came against Nepal in 2023 during the Asia Cup when he scored 151 runs, but he has struggled to touch the three-figure mark in any format. In the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi, Babar came out to bat in the fifth over itself and had a chance to go big.
But the 31-year-old couldn't buy a run easily early on in the innings and played a laboured knock of 29 runs off 51 deliveries before being castled by Wanindu Hasaranga with a brilliant googly. Babar played all around the delivery only to see his stumps shattered, leaving the sparse crowd heartbroken.
Babar's form in the ODI format is fast becoming a concern for Pakistan as he is averaging only 13.83 in the last six innings, mustering only 83 runs. Moreover, his strike rate is also only 61.94 during this period. Babar Azam also scored his runs at a strike rate of 56.1 in the first ODI hitting only three fours during his stay in the middle.
Babar Azam completed 15000 international runs recently
Recently, Babar Azam completed 15000 runs in international cricket, becoming only the fifth Pakistan cricketer to do so. But not long ago, the man was expected to touch greater heights for his country. However, things have turned upside down for him, especially since the World Cup in 2023. Under his captaincy, Pakistan also lost to the USA in the T20 World Cup 2024 and he had also lost his place in the T20I team. He returned for the series against South Africa after Pakistan's batting struggled throughout the Asia Cup when they lost to India three times in 15 days.
Given the kind of fan following he has, Babar Azam's century drought will be certainly leaving fans worried now and the man needs to score big runs soon across all formats.
