Babar Azam Captaincy Record in Cricket World Cup

The much-awaited 2023 ODI Cricket World Cup is scheduled to be held in India from October 5 to November 19. The tournament will be played in a round-robin format between 10 teams. Pakistan will begin their World Cup campaign against the Netherlands at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday, October 6.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam will lead Pakistan for the first time in a 50-over World Cup as the Men in Green chase their only second title. Pakistan last won the trophy in 1992 when the Imran Khan-led side beat the hosts Australia in the World Cup final.

The Sarfaraz Khan-led side failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup by the finest of margins due to a low Net Run Rate (NRR) despite having equal points to fourth-placed New Zealand, who reached the final but failed to win the World Cup.

In this article, we’ll discuss Babar Azam’s performance as skipper ahead of the ODI Cricket World Cup.

Babar was named Pakistan's skipper ahead of the Zimbabwe tour of Pakistan in May 2020. His appointment came after Azhar Ali stepped down from the role following a humiliating 4-1 defeat against Australia in an ODI series away from home earlier that year.

Babar started off his captaincy with a 2-0 win as the third game was tied. He won Player of the Series for scoring 221 runs in three matches, with best score of 125.

After a convincing win at home, Babar guided Pakistan to a 2-1 win in South Africa in April 2021. In the series, he smashed his 13th ODI century in his 76th innings, becoming the quickest to reach the landmark, eclipsing Hashim Amla, who took 83 innings to achieve the feat. Following the series, he dethroned Virat Kohli to become the World No.1 batter with 865 points.

The Men in Green, though, suffered a blow when they were whitewashed 3-0 in England in July that year.

Babar then helped Pakistan bounce back with three consecutive series wins. They beat Australia 2-1 before clean sweeping West Indies 3-0 both at home. They also registered an easy 3-0 series win in the Netherlands.

In 2023, Pakistan lost a three-match series 2-1 in January but made up for it with a 4-1 win in a five-match series in May. With the win, the Men in Green also became the World No.1 ODI team for the first time after 33 years.

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Babar recently led Pakistan to a 3-0 win against Afghanistan in the three-game ODI series in Sri Lanka (Afghanistan’s home venue) ahead of the ongoing Asia Cup 2023.

Overall, Babar has led Pakistan to 22 wins in 32 games, including eight losses, at a win percentage of 68.75. One game ended in a tie, while the other didn’t yield a result.

Babar has been equally effective with the bat after becoming skipper. He recently surpassed former India captain Virat Kohli (36 innings) to become the fastest skipper (31 inns) to reach 2,000 runs in ODIs. He was also the fastest to reach 1,000 runs in ODIs as skipper (13 inns).

The right-handed batter has amassed 2,011 runs in 32 ODIs at an average of 64.87, including eight centuries and 13 half-centuries.

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Babar, who made his ODI debut against Zimbabwe in 2015, had previously amassed 3,359 runs in 74 ODIs at an average of 46.65, including 11 centuries and 15 half-centuries.

Babar holds the record for scoring the highest runs in a single edition of the World Cup, having amassed 474 runs in eight games, including a century and two fifties in 2019. He recently became the fastest batter to reach 5,000 runs (97 innings) during his 18th ODI ton.

In addition, Babar also holds the record for highest individual score for a Pakistani captain in ODIs with 158 against England in 2021. The reigning World No.1 batter will be key to Pakistan’s success in the ODI Cricket World Cup.