Babar Azam is not merely a cricketer; in Pakistan, he is an emotion that beats with every heartbeat of the game. The batter who remains the linchpin of the national team is celebrated for a cover drive that borders on artistry, timing that seems effortless, and a technique refined by discipline and grace.
Let’s delve deep into his cricketing journey, how it began with a gifted young boy and evolved into the making of one of Pakistan’s finest cricketers.
Early life and family background
Babar, whose full name is Mohammad Babar Azam, was born on October 15, 1994, in Lahore, Pakistan. His father, Azam Siddique, owned a small watch repair shop in Lahore, while his mother, Maira Azam, was a homemaker.
Babar’s family has strong cricketing ties, with his cousins Kamran Akmal, Umar, and Adnan having represented Pakistan at the international level.
In 2007, when the South African cricket team toured Pakistan, Babar got the role of a ball boy at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, where he got the chance to watch his idol, Proteas’ star batter AB de Villiers, from touching distance.
Start of cricketing journey
Babar Azam decided to become a professional cricketer at the age of 12. He started his journey with street cricket using a tennis ball.
Babar used to play night cricket under streetlights with his brothers and cousins every Saturday night, which he also mentioned in his interview with former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen.
“When I was 12, I asked my dad, ‘ Now I want to start professional cricket,” Babar said during an interview on Pietersen’s YouTube channel, The Switch | Kevin Pietersen.
“Every Saturday night, we used to play a match, like a night match, starting at 10 or 11 pm till 3 or 4 o’clock in the streets under lights.”
Babar Azam’s youth cricket career
At the age of 14, Babar Azam got his first break when he was selected for the Pakistan Under-15 team.
Babar featured in the ICC Under-15 World Championship for Pakistan in the West Indies in 2008, where he scored 436 runs in seven innings, including one century and four fifties, finishing second most run scorer behind Kraigg Brathwaite of the host nation, who was the top run scorer with 538 runs in eight innings.
At the age of 15, he represented Pakistan in the 2010 ICC Under-19 World Cup. Babar stamped his authority on the big stage as well, scoring 298 runs at an average of 59.60, becoming the top scorer for Green Shirts in that event.
Pakistan reached the final of the 2010 Under-19 World Cup, where they were defeated by Australia.
Babar and Under-19 World Cup captaincy
Babar Azam was named captain of the Pakistan Under-19 team for the 2012 Under-19 World Cup. He started the tournament brilliantly with a 75-run inning against Afghanistan.
He then went on to play another match-winning inning in the event against Scotland Under-19s, scoring 106* on 121 balls. The star batter was also named player of the match in that game.
Babar scored one more fifty against arch-rivals India Under-19s in the quarter-final, but unfortunately lost that match and the remaining two matches as well, finishing in fifth and seventh place.
The 2012 event was not a good one for Babar as a captain, but he top-scored for Pakistan in his second consecutive Under-19 World Cup, with 287 runs in six innings at an average of 57.40.
Beginning of professional cricket career
Babar Azam became a professional cricketer in 2010 when he joined Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL).
He shone at the 2014/15 domestic season, scoring 429 runs in eight innings at an average of 53.62 for State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in the Quaid-e-Azam Silver League.
His highest first-class score (266) also came in the final of the tournament played at Faisalabad against Habib Bank Limited (HBL), earning him the player of the match award.
In the President’s Gold Cup 2015, while playing for SBP, Babar became the top run scorer of the competition with 487 runs in seven innings at 97.40, including three centuries.
From domestic excellence to Pakistan call-up
Following a stellar performance in the 2014 and 2015 domestic seasons, Babar Azam earned a national call-up for the Zimbabwe series, which also marked the return of international cricket to Pakistan after the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team.
Babar made his One Day International (ODI) debut in the third match of the series on May 31, 2015, against the visitors Zimbabwe in Lahore, scoring a half-century (54 runs).
Rise of Babar Azam
Babar started his international career impressively with Pakistan, scoring six half-centuries in his first 15 ODIs. His first century came against the West Indies in the first One Day International of the three-match series on September 30, 2016, scoring 120 off 131 balls. He then scored two more centuries in the second and third matches, making it three in a row.
He became the third Pakistani player, after legendary cricketers Zaheer Abbas and Saeed Anwar, to achieve the feat of scoring three consecutive centuries in ODIs.
Babar then repeated the same in 2022, scoring two centuries in a row against Australia in Lahore in March and April, and then adding the third one against the West Indies in Multan in June.
Later on, Fakhar Zaman also achieved that milestone by scoring three tons in a row against New Zealand in a home series in 2023, becoming the fourth Pakistani batter to score three centuries in a row in ODIs.
Babar Azam: making records left, right, and centre
Babar Azam holds numerous records, and he currently ranks sixth on the all-time ODI batting average list with 53.73.
Stellar ODI Record
Babar reached 6000 runs in ODIs in 123 innings, becoming the joint fastest along with South Africa’s Hashim Amla and faster than Virat Kohli, who achieved the feat in 136 innings.
He is third on the list in scoring six consecutive fifties, fastest to 5000 runs, doing it in just 97 innings, and second fastest to 4000 runs in 82 innings.
Babar Azam is the joint highest century-scorer for Pakistan in ODI cricket, alongside Saeed Anwar, with 20 centuries.
The former Pakistan captain scored his 20th hundred in international cricket against Sri Lanka in the 2nd ODI of the three-match series at Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi, while chasing 289 in November 2025.
Babar was the top run scorer in the 2019 ICC ODI World Cup for Green Shirts, becoming Pakistan’s highest run-scorer in a single World Cup edition, surpassing Javed Miandad, who scored 437 runs in the 1992 World Cup.
Records in T20I cricket
Babar made his T20I debut for Pakistan against England at Manchester on September 07, 2016, and currently leads the list of leading run scorers in T20I cricket, scoring 4429 runs at an average of 39.54. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are behind him at 2nd and 3rd positions, respectively. The former Pakistan captain has also scored three centuries in the 20-over format at international stage.
He has also scored the most fifties in T20 international cricket, leading the chart with 41 at the time.
Babar is the fastest to 2000 and 2500 runs in T20Is; reached them in 52 and 62 innings, respectively. He also holds the record of most consecutive matches (55) as captain of a team in T20Is.
Babar’s Test record
Babar Azam’s red-ball career mirrors a sea wave, beginning with a slow start in Tests, rising sharply, and then experiencing a dip.
Despite his stature in international cricket, the Test record has been comparatively modest. He has amassed 4366 runs at an average of 42.38, in 112 innings of 61 matches. His highest score is 196, and his tally includes nine hundreds and 30 half-centuries.
Babar as Pakistan captain
Babar has proven himself as one of the best batters in the world time and again, but his captaincy has been a subject of debate. He has led Pakistan to the finals and semi-finals of various tournaments and has a strong record in terms of wins, yet a major trophy remains the only omission from his resume.
Following the 2019 ICC ODI World Cup failure, the Pakistan cricket team suffered a 3-0 defeat to Sri Lanka in the T20I series at home in October.
In the aftermath of the setback, the captain of the Green Shirts at the time, Sarfaraz Ahmed, was initially replaced by Azhar Ali, before the leadership torch was passed to Babar Azam in 2020.
Performance under Babar’s leadership in Asia Cup
Under Babar’s leadership, Pakistan reached the final of the Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2022, which they lost to Sri Lanka by 23 runs.
In the 2023 ODI Asia Cup, Babar’s Pakistan failed to reach the final, losing the virtual semi-final in the Super 4 stage to Sri Lanka.
Babar Azam’s captaincy record in ICC competitions
Babar’s biggest achievement as a captain was to beat India in the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup in Dubai, which was the first time that the Green Shirts had defeated their arch-rivals in any World Cup match.
Pakistan reached the semi-final of that 20-over format World Cup, where Australia knocked them out, the champions of that edition.
In 2022, Pakistan reached the final of the ICC T20 World Cup but again failed to lift the trophy, losing to England by five wickets.
The 2023 ICC ODI World Cup was also not a good one for Babar, as the Green Shirts finished the campaign in fifth position among 10 teams, accumulating eight points with four victories.
The most disappointing results under Babar Azam’s captaincy came in the 2024 T20 World Cup, where Pakistan was eliminated in the first round.
Babar has led Pakistan in 20 Test matches, with 10 victories to his name, six losses and four draws. In the ODI format, he captained the team to 26 wins, 16 defeats and one tie/no result, while in T20 Internationals, he has a record of 48 wins in 85 matches and 29 losses.
Babar Azam’s downfall
Babar, once Pakistan’s premier batter, has endured a steady decline in recent years, marked by the loss of the captaincy, a century drought spanning 83 international innings, and being dropped from the Test and T20I squads.
Pakistan have lost to several lower-ranked teams under Babar, including Zimbabwe in the 2022 T20 World Cup, Afghanistan in the 2023 ODI World Cup, Ireland in the T20 series, and the USA in the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Following the 2023 ODI World Cup, he was sacked as captain across all formats, but was once again handed the leadership of the team before the 2024 T20 World Cup and was removed again after the mega event.
He was also dropped from the Test squad against England in October 2024 and from the T20I team in March 2025 for the tour of New Zealand following Pakistan’s group-stage exit from the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Babar Azam recently ended his century drought after 83 international innings, scoring a ton against Sri Lanka. The last time he scored an international century was in the ACC Men’s Asia Cup match against Nepal in 2023, and since then, he has been unable to score one across all formats, despite scoring many half-centuries.
Former cricketers’ praise for Babar
Former England captain and commentator Nasser Hussain has said that Babar will end up one of Pakistan’s all-time greats, and he has been a fan of the former Pakistan captain’s cover drive.
“I think he will end up one of Pakistan’s all-time greats,” Nasser said in an interview with Cricwick.
Australia’s World Cup-winning captain, Aaron Finch, has also lauded Babar as one of the best in the world.
“You’ve got one of the best players that I’ve ever played against. I played against Babar in Pakistan, and it was almost impossible to get him out,” Finch said.
“I know he’s been a little bit more quiet in the last 18 months, but he’s a world-beater at his very best.”
Australia’s former cricketer, Tom Moody, has also words of appreciation for Babar Azam.
“He [Babar Azam] has emerged over the last year or so into something that is going to be so special. We talked about how Virat Kohli is so good on the eye as a batsman. If you think Virat Kohli is good to watch, have a look at Babar Azam bat. My gosh, he is something special,” said Moody.
Grant Flower said Babar will be one of the best Pakistan have ever produced.
“He is very special. I believe he is going to be one of the best that Pakistan have ever produced. He’s really hungry, is fit and still very young,” he said.
“I think he’ll have a really good career if he keeps his feet on the ground, which I think he will.”
One could say Babar Azam’s cricketing journey mirrors Pakistan’s broader sporting landscape, rich in talent and promise, yet often hindered by external and environmental factors.
The ace batter has seen phases of struggle, dominance, and decline, highlighting both individual battles with form and instability surrounding Pakistan cricket. Ultimately, Babar remains a defining figure of his era, one whose legacy will be shaped not just by his peaks but by how he responds to adversity.
READ: Babar Azam ends century drought after 83 international innings