Babar Azam has to be the most ridiculed cricketer of all time. Multiple things have gone wrong for him in the last few years. Just as his form went down, social media picked up. Pakistan not doing well in most spheres has also added to his misery. Struggling countries also struggle at sports, more often than not.
In the last few years, he has been called a fraud. He has been called incompetent. As Pakistan captain, he was accused of creating a coterie, an inner sanctum of players to serve their own interests, pushing everything important to the back, including the interests of the team.
But Babar is not a fraud. There was a time when he was scoring a lot of runs across all formats. He is the highest run-getter in the T20Is, ahead of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, which is no ordinary achievement. He was once an integral part of the Fab Four or the Fab Five. He has been the number one player in the world in T20Is and ODIs.
His cover drive brought him universal accolades. Those were not exaggerated claims; he really played some beautiful shots, probably still can, but probably in a favourable atmosphere.
This is where he has failed! PCB also aided and abetted his downfall
Not a fraud for sure. It’s just that he has failed to move on from a bad phase. So when former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali, whose batting style was once compared to that of the legendary Javed Miandad, calls Babar mentally unfit, it’s worth looking at that remark.
There is just one way to confront a bad phase. Lie low, work harder and make your critics eat humble pie over time. Lie low is not necessary, but working harder is important. Looking at his batting in the last couple of years, he has failed to work harder.
Forget working harder on his batting, he couldn’t even keep himself in shape in line with the requirements of international cricket. A top player can’t afford to carry a paunch for long.
His strike rate in T20Is was questioned, but he could do nothing about it. What he could have then done was not play the format at all. He could have focused on Tests and ODIs, but he chose to continue out of sheer egoism. There is no other explanation.
Kane Williamson, Joe Root, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and Rohit Sharma took that route at different points in their careers, and that’s why they are still relevant. The PCB also failed to convince him to that end, like the abovementioned big players may have been influenced by their respective boards.
They also made things worse by first removing him from captaincy and months later by bringing him back to it. But then the PCB also gets a revamp with every new government. So, things are murky; in fact, they have always been so in Pakistan cricket.
By the looks of things at present, it doesn’t look like he will stage a grand comeback. He will keep getting opportunities due to a lack of options in Pakistan cricket, but there is no guarantee that he will flourish again as a batsman. He, as well as the Pakistan cricket system, is to blame. You really feel for Babar. Nowadays he looks as if he has been bullied in no small proportions. What an epic waste of talent.
