Pakistan vs England: The pit gets deeper for Babar Azam

Pakistan endured yet another humiliation at home as England thrashed them by an innings and 47 runs in the first Pakistan vs England Test in Multan. The team’s performance seems to have hit the deepest of pits with Pakistan extending their losing streak to 11 in home Tests. However, the only thing that appears in an even worse condition than Pakistan’s Test performance is the form of their former skipper, Babar Azam. Even on a pitch that has been bashed left, right, and Center for its flat nature, Babar couldn’t redeem his batting form. The Multan track hosted 5 centuries in the first Test with 3 of them coming from the bats of Pakistan batters in the opening innings. However, Babar, who recently relinquished his white-ball captaincy, continued his struggle with the bat.

Babar Azam extends his lean patch to the first Pakistan vs England Test

Babar Azam’s last notable knock in the longest format came back in 2022 when he scored a century against New Zealand. The batter, however, has now spent over two years without registering even a single three-figure score. Moreover, Azam has now gone over 18 innings without managing to touch the half-century mark. For a player of Azam’s calibre, who was once rightly counted among the best batters in the world, the lean patch is proving frustrating. Even if the century stat is neglected, it has now been almost a couple of years since Azam has attained a half-century in Test cricket.

Prior to the Pakistan vs England series, Pakistan endured a shock defeat against Bangladesh at home. Bangladesh, until the 2024 tour of Pakistan, had not won a Test match against Pakistan ever. However, coming to Pakistan in 2024, Bangladesh completed a 2-0 whitewash over the hosts. With the team down under, Azam’s incompetency amplified the woes of Pakistan. In the Pakistan vs Bangladesh series, Azam managed just 64 runs across 4 innings.

In the Pakistan vs England first Test, Azam scored 30 off 71 in the first innings where Shan Masood, Abdullah Shafique, and Agha Salman piled up centuries. The Multan track, moreover, was subject to unreal beating when England’s turn to bat arrived. Joe Root smashed his sixth double ton and Harry Brook followed by smashing his maiden triple century. However, despite the Multan track providing an unreal advantage to batters, Azam failed to produce even a single notable strike. The second innings witnessed Pakistan tumbling down at the score of 220 and Babar Azam, once again, proved of no help as he departed at the lowly score of 5 off 15.

Can Babar Azam remain in the Pakistan team going forward?

For a player of Azam’s calibre, the lean patch is generally calculated by the stretch spent without scoring a red-ball century. However, the loss of form for Babar has depleted to a level where the batter has now gone over 600 days without registering any half-century in Tests. Furthermore, Azam’s struggle isn’t limited to just the longest format but the batter has been struggling to produce impact even in white-ball cricket. The batter relinquished his position as the white-ball captain of Pakistan ahead of the Pakistan vs England clash. However, despite being free of the leading responsibility, Azam displays no signs of improvement in his batting.

Over the recent past, Pakistan team has witnessed multiple shuffles. The squad went from having Babar Azam as the captain to Shan Masood. The Bangladesh Tour of Pakistan staged the dropping of ace bowler Shaheen Afridi from the team after an abysmal performance in the first Test. However, Pakistan continues to back Babar Azam in the team. The former captain has been consistently included in Pakistan’s assignment. But it remains to be seen if Azam can regain his batting form before Pakistan finally starts to vie for other options to try in his position. For now, Babar Azam is likely to be included in the Playing 11 for the remaining two Pakistan vs England fixtures.