Babar Azam’s bat once again did not workImage Credit source: Getty Images
Pakistan cricket team’s star batsman Babar Azam has still not been able to return to his form. Babar, who recently returned to Pakistan’s T20 team and led the team to victory by scoring a strong half-century, could not maintain that rhythm. There has been no big innings from Babar Azam’s bat for the last three years and this trend continues in the ODI series against South Africa as well, where he was once again dismissed cheaply in the second match. In this way, he was out without scoring a century in the 80th consecutive innings.
In the first ODI match played in Faisalabad, Babar Azam was out after scoring only 7 runs. In such a situation, once again the eyes were on the former Pakistani captain in the second ODI match. Especially in the last match of the T20 series, Babar had raised hopes of returning to form by playing a match-winning half-century, but as soon as the ODI series started, Babar again found himself in the same situation as he has been in for the last 3 years.
In the second match of the series, the Pakistani team came out to bat first and its first wicket fell in the first over itself. In such a situation, Babar Azam had to come to the crease soon. This was a good opportunity for Babar to play a big innings but he failed and was out on the ball of Nandre Berger after scoring only 11 runs. With this, Babar failed in another innings and his wait for a century could not end again.
This is Babar Azam’s 80th consecutive innings in international cricket, in which he could not reach a century. During this period, the Pakistani batsman definitely scored some half-centuries but he could not convert any innings into a century. Be it Test match, ODI or T20, Babar Azam is continuously failing to end the wait for a century in all three formats. Babar’s last century came in the Test match against New Zealand in December 2022. But now it seems that before scoring a century in any match, Babar will score a century only in innings without a century.