“Baadshah Babar”, a title given by the ICC speaks volumes of the class that the Pakistani cricketer has shown in his international run. A career spanning over 6 years, he rocketed to the top of the mountain with solid performances in the early stages of enterning the international cricket circuit.
Azam had the Akmal brothers - Kamran and Umar, by his side as he grew up the ranks while playing age-group cricket. He featured in the under-15 World Championship in the year 2008, and then represented Pakistan in the 2010 and 2012 ICC U-19 World Cup and ended up as their highest-run getter for Pakistan in the tournament.
He debuted in the ODI format in 2015 against Zimbabwe in Lahore and hit three consecutive centuries against the Windies in a later played series. This was his stepping stone to enter the T20I squad in September 2016 and then the Test side in the next month.
Since then, he has made a huge name for himself, standing today as Pakistan’s best batsman over all formats, dominating big nations and compiling records matches after matches.
He was appointed as the ODI and T20I captain in 2019, followed by leading the Test side in 2021. Here, we focus on Babar’s captaincy run in the T20I format, specifically the World Cup.
Babar Azam T20 Captaincy Record
| Span | Matches | Won | Lost | Tied | No Result | Win % |
| 2019-2022 | 61 | 36 | 20 | 0 | 5 | 64.28 |
Out of the 94 matches in his T20I career, Azam has played 61 games as captain, which includes World Cup games as well. He has had a major success while leading the team with 36 wins and a win percentage of 64.28 till now.
Babar Azam Captaincy Record in T20 World Cup
| Span | Matches | Won | Lost | Tied | No Result | Win % |
| 2021-22 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 62.50 |
Azam played his first T20 World Cup in 2021 in the U.A.E. This was a high stakes moment in his career as he was leading the side in an ICC tournament for the first time. Big hopes were tied to his shoulders to take the Pakistan team to glory and he had his biggest test as the opening one.
Pakistan played against India in their first league match. India were 5-0 up against them in T20 World Cup history and this was the time for Azam to win it for Pakistan and prove his worth as a captain.
After putting India into bat, Babar opted Shaheen Shah to open the bowling and he gave him the perfect start by dismissing both Rohit Sharma, and KL Rahul cheaply. Babar’s on-field choices were on point and apart from Kohli, and Pant, no one was able to counter-attack. India posted a target of 152 for Pakistan to win. With Rizwan and Azam as the opening batsmen, they demolished the Indian bowlers and achieved the target within 17.5 overs, without losing a single wicket. Azam scored 68* and Pakistan won their first-ever game against India in a T20 World Cup!
With a win in the first game, Pakistan then squared off against New Zealand, one of the toughest side in the competition. Just like the previous game, Babar used his bowlers to good effect and the New Zealand batsmen weren’t able to break the shackles, scoring only 134 runs in the 20 overs. Although Babar faled with the bat, scoring just 9 runs, Pakistan easily sealed the win, with 8 balls to spare.
They met Afghanistan in the third encounter and once again bowled first. This tournament saw Pakistan’s ultimate strength, their bowling, at full potential with impressive figures from young bowlers. Pakistan restricted the Afghan side to 147 in their 20 overs. Coming out to chase and win their third game in a row, the team lost Rizwan early on. But skipper Babar stayed on the crease and scored a fighting 51 runs, the highest out of all the batsmen. Pakistan won the game with an over in hand thanks to a quick-fire blister from Asif Ali.
Pakistan were in comfortable position and a victory against Namibia would ensure their place in the semis. Pakistan went out to bat first in the fourth match and the opening duo of Azam, and Rizwan put on a great show for the spectators with a 113-run partnership. Riswan scored 79 and Babar hit a fine 70 runs to hep Pkaistan reach 189 runs in 20 overs.
Pakistan were once again clinical with the ball and a all-round performance from the bowlers ensured Pakistan win the game with a comfortable margin of 45 runs.
Pakistan played their last match of the league stage versus Scotland. Winning the toss, Pakistan came out to bat and Babar led from the front, scoring 66 runs in just 47 deliveries. With a fifty from Malik, Pakistan set a target of 190 runs for the Scottish team.
Scotland in reply stumbled early on, with Richie Berrington being the only player to show some promise with the bat, scoring 54 runs. However, Pakistan were too good on the day and won the game by a massive difference of 72 runs to top the table and enter the semi-finals
In the second semi-final, Pakistan locked horns with Australia, their most difficult bout uptill now. Batting first, Azam layed a solid foundation with Rizwan, scoring 71 for the first wicket before he got out for 39 runs. Pakistan reached a good total of 176 runs after 20 overs.
With an early wicket of Aaron Finch, Pakistan looked well and truly in the game. But, Warner, Stoinis, and Wade had other plans, scoring 40+ runs and took the Aussies to victory, eliminating Pakistan out of the World Cup.
Altough Babar’s led Pakistan wasn’t able to lift the title, but they performed extremely well, as they entered the semis after two disappointing world cup editions. As the skipper, Babar was great in backing his team members and scored 303 runs in the six matches with four half-centuries to his name and ended as the team’s highest run-scorer.
In the ongoing 2022 T20 World Cup, Babar is leading his side for the second time in this championship as Pakistan is up to win the cup again after their 2009 triumph.
In the first match, Pakistan played against arch-rivals against India. Contrary to the previous edition’s encounter, Pakistan lost their openers, Babar, and Rizwan early on the innings. Babar went on back for a golden duck. With the help of Iftikhar Ahmed, and Shan Masood’s fighting half-centuries, Pakistan scored a toal of 159 runs on the board.
In reply, Indians struggled as Pakistani bowlers chipped in with early wickets and the scoreboard read 31-4 in 6 overs. Tgen came in Hardik Pandya to join Virat Kohli and the two stitched a record partnership of 113 runs. With a brilliant knock of 82 runs, Virat took India home and Pkaistan lost by 4 wickets in a dramatic finish to the match.
In the second match, Pakistan went against Zimbabwe. Pakistan were the favourites to win the match from the start. Till the first half, Pakistan were in control with a good bowling effort, restricting the opposition to a score pof 130 runs. The target seemed like a piece of cake for the Pakistani batting line-up. However, a twist in the tale occurred as Pakistan lost Babar for 4 runs and Rizwan for 14. Masood held onto the crease while other batsman kept losing their wicket. With Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza picking 3 crucial wickets, it all came down to the last over. Zimbabwe finally beat Pakistan by just one run in the final over to pull-off a major upset in the tournament.
Babar hasn’t been at his best with his decisions in this World Cup. He has failed with the bat in the two games and the team has lost the matches at a point from where they should have won. This raises questions over Azam’a leadership and only time will tell if the Pakistan team will be able to bounce back in the remaining matches to be played.
Babar Azam T20 Captaincy Record Runs
| Span | Matches | Runs | Highest Score | Average | Strike Rate | 50’s |
| 2021-22 | 8 | 307 | 70 | 43.85 | 122.80 | 4 |
