Two of the most consistent all-format players from Pakistan, and possibly the players with the most impact among modern Pakistan batters, are Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam. But like plenty of things within Pakistan cricket, the two players have had their fair share of struggles following them. For Rizwan, it might seem terminal, and while it’s pretty serious for Babar too, Pakistan isn’t in a position to let that be his end.
Here’s a comparison of their stats across formats:
T20Is:
Rizwan and Babar trigger two of the most heated debates in the T20 format. One of them is whether anchors should be part of a format as flamboyant as T20, and the other is whether strike rate should be given precedence in the shortest format, particularly in comparison to batting average. The two Pakistan batters bring a lot to the table, but Pakistan, as they found to their cost, are better off without two anchors in the team.
Rizwan and Babar differ marginally in terms of their strike rates but frankly, neither possesses the sort of figures that make them a non-negotiable in Pakistan’s T20I side.
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ODIs:
ODI is Babar Azam’s favourite format, at least that’s what the numbers reveal. He averages 53.43 in the format, his best among the three. That his dwindling form did not impact his ODI numbers as much as the Tests and T20Is points to two things. One, which has already been stated, that Babar is quite a decent ODI batter, which suits his natural game. Second, Pakistan, or the entire cricket world for that matter, does not play the format as much for it to have a significant effect on Babar’s figures.
Babar averages over 13 runs more than Rizwan in the format, having scored 20 hundreds in comparison to the latter’s four.
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Test:
Rizwan was recently among the contingent of players who were sacked from the side midway through the England tour. His batting woes have become more prominent in an increasingly struggling Pakistan middle-order.
While Babar’s issues in the format haven’t been scarce by any means, having last scored a Test century in 2022, his recent returns have put him in a better position than he was in the past three years.
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