Babar Azam finally ended an 800-plus days century drought last week. But barely days after being celebrated again as Pakistan’s batting standard-bearer, he now finds his name in a list that no top-order great ever wants to be in.
In the T20I tri-series opener against Zimbabwe in Rawalpindi on Tuesday, the star batter was trapped LBW for a three-ball duck by Brad Evans, an early wobble in a chase of 148 that Pakistan eventually won by five wickets. The dismissal not only continued a worrying pattern of top-order failure, but it also pushed Babar past Shahid Afridi for the most ducks by a Pakistan batter in T20Is.
Ninth duck, third in six innings
This latest failure was Babar’s ninth duck in T20Is. Afridi’s eight T20I ducks stood as the second-highest before this. Babar has now gone past that mark while still very much in his peak playing window.
Most ducks by a Pakistan Batter in T20Is
Saim Ayub – 10
Umar Akmal – 10
Babar Azam – 9
Shahid Afridi – 8
Kamran Akmal – 7
Mohammad Hafeez – 7
At the top of this list sit Saim Ayub and Umar Akmal with 10 T20I ducks each, followed now by Babar Azam on nine, Afridi on eight, with Kamran Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez next on seven apiece. It means Pakistan’s modern-day batting fulcrum now finds his name clustered with two mercurial hitters and a freewheeling all-rounder on a table most top-order gretas would hope never to visit.
What makes it more uncomfortable is the recent trend. This Rawalpindi duck was Babar’s third in his last six T20I innings, a run that has turned an obscure number into a genuine talking point. For years, his T20 record was defined by reliability with very few failures. Now, with this record, he is entering into a zone of growing loss of entropy.
At the same time, he has played far more T20Is than most names on that list, which naturally increases the chances of ducks piling up. On frequency, Saim Ayub’s 10 ducks in far fewer games paint a harsher picture than Babar’s nine across a long career. But perception rarely bothers with that nuance. The fact that Pakistan’s star batter is trying to make a comeback in the shortest format of international cricket and is failing in the venture will be highlighted a lot more.
For Pakistan, the concern is less about one bad day against Zimbabwe and more about what it hints at ahead of bigger challenges. This tri-series is part of their build-up to the next T20 World Cup; their most experienced batter in the format is still the one they want walking out at number three, still the one they expect to anchor the innings. The problem is that every time he walks back with a failure, it feels like Pakistan is gradually losing one of its best talents in modern times.