Should Pakistan drop Babar Azam from Test team?

Babar Azam scored his third consecutive single-digit score at Edgbaston in the ongoing ENG Test series.

Babar Azam has been one of Pakistan’s most important batters of the modern era, but his red-ball career has entered a very difficult phase. Once regarded as the centrepiece of Pakistan’s batting lineup, the right-hander has struggled to produce runs consistently over the past few years. It was his technique and consistency that once made him one of the leading batters across formats. 

However, Babar’s lack of form has also cost Pakistan to a large extent, as the team have had horrific Test runs ever since the start of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC). Pakistan’s Test failures have been rather humiliating rather than mere defeats. The ongoing England Test series has only intensified the debate around Babar Azam’s place on the side.

Pakistan entered the series under pressure following a drawn Test series against West Indies. However, the Pakistani cricketers were left humiliated by the two consecutive losses and their batting’s awful performance in England. Babar Azam, who returned for the second Test after missing the first with an injury, could not provide enough resistance during the Lord’s defeat. 

Should Pakistan drop Babar or continue to back him in red-ball cricket?

The Pakistan Cricket Board took a massive decision to hand back the captaincy of the red-ball side to Babar Azam, despite his ordinary form in the longest format of the game. Against England in this series, not only has he returned with low scores but has also struggled at the crease. 

Pakistan need reliable middle-order runs, and continuing with an out-of-form batter indefinitely could prevent the team from giving younger players an opportunity. However, dropping a player of Babar’s stature is not a straightforward decision, especially after his career record seems very impressive alongside a career average that is now placed around 43. 

In the Lord’s Test, Babar returned with scores of 8 and 6 and then followed it with a 7 during the first innings of the Edgbaston Test. It implies that Babar has managed 21 runs across three innings and is currently averaging seven in the England tour. This immediately calls for the Pakistan team management to reconsider their decision to back Babar. 

However, Pakistan’s batting struggles have not been limited to just one cricketer’s poor form. The entire batting unit has collapsed on multiple occasions. They have failed to cross the 200-run mark in a single innings in the three-match series against England. 

Therefore, the better option for now seems to be to retain Babar and excuse him of any pressure of treating him as the solution to Pakistan’s batting concerns. However, if this awful form continues for the legendary cricketer, then the selectors will have to make the difficult call. 

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