Babar Azam is a Pakistani cricketer who has done a lot in the field of cricket. In no time, he has achieved remarkable success in cricket and made several records. However, not a single introduction would be enough to define who’s Babar Azam. The captain of the Pakistan Cricket team in all three formats and in franchise cricket, the number one T20 and ODI batsman in ICC rankings. All these prestigious lines describe who’s Babar Azam.
If you want to unfold the complete biography of Babar Azam, including his complete story of achievements, this article will help you find everything about him.
Babar Azam Background
Mohammad Babar Azam, the son of Azam Siddique was born on 15 October 1994 in Lahore. Born in a Muslim family, Babar Azam grew up becoming a top-order batsman. Babar Azam age is 27 years, and it is glorious to own a multitude of achievements at such a young age.
He still remembers the streets of walled city Lahore where he spent his childhood and used to roam as a free bird.
Family Background
Many people are unaware of an interesting fact about Babar Azam that he belongs to a family of cricketers as he is the first cousin to the renowned cricketers Umar Akmal and Kamran Akmal, who played international cricket for Pakistan. Furthermore, he shared in his interviews that his cousins and their success stories have been an inspiration for him.
Babar Azam Story
As every success story requires a first step, Babar Azam took this first step by becoming the ball boy at Gaddafi stadium.
He was eager to watch Cricket live in the stadium and observe the international players. To eye witness the cricket match, although he lacked resources, he tried to fulfil his keen desire by becoming a ball picker in 2007 at Gaddafi stadium when Pakistan played home-series with South Africa.
Who knew that the boy standing at the boundary to merely pick the ball will become the number one batsman one day?
Despite the lacking resources, Babar Azam never let his circumstances derail him from the track. He was so passionate about cricket that he used to go from Gulberg to Gaddafi Stadium on foot. Neither he owned a car nor a bicycle, he used to walk to the stadium on foot just to perform the duty of a ball picker. For the world, he was a ball picker while for him it was his enthusiasm and obsession to watch cricketers playing international cricket.
Remarkable incidents as a ball picker
In his journey as a ball picker, Babar Azam shared that he eye-witnessed many remarkable and significant cricket incidents.
Fan of AB de Villiers
Babar Azam was a diehard fan of South African cricketer AB de Villiers since 2007. He said while standing at the boundary as a ball picker, he used to observe the fielding and batting of AB de Villiers. Even in over breaks, he used to stand near the South African cricket team just to observe his favorite cricketer.
Last test match of Inzamam ul Haq
Babar Azam shared that he was lucky enough to watch the last test match played by Inzamam ul Haq. In particular, he remembered the aggression in his batting as he scrutinized that moment live.
However, Babar Azam story and his journey from a ball picker to the captain of the international team is full of sacrifices, struggles, and determination.
Cricket Career
Initial Career
Babar Azam career started when he joined a cricket academy and met his first-ever couch Rana Sadiq. He trained Babar and educated him on the real terms of batting. He played the under-15 world championship in 2008 after which he made his way to the under 19 cricket team. In addition to the selection in the under 19 cricket team, he achieved a milestone by becoming the captain in the under 19 World Cup 2012.
ODI Debut
Baba Azam continued to struggle in cricket at the domestic level. Ultimately, he got a chance to make his international debut in 2015. He played the ODI against Zimbabwe and his remarkable innings as a debut player were unparallel. He played 60 balls and scored 54 runs. Babar Azam highest score in ODI is 158 runs.
Test Debut
As a good beginning is half the success, this distinctive debut permitted Babar Azam to pursue his career on an international level as it unlocked numerous opportunities for him. Consequently, he got a chance to make his test debut in 2016 against West Indies. Thus the journey continued at a high pace and Babar Azam cemented his spot in the world of international cricket.
T20 Debut
Babar Azam was expected to make his T20 debut in the Asia cup 2016, but it could not be his destiny as he got injured during the practice sessions of PSL. Ultimately, he got the chance in September 2016 to make his debut in the T20 international playing against England.
Pakistan Super League PSL
In 2017, Babar Azam was part of Karachi Kings in PSL and was second on the list of top run-scorers of the league. In 2018, he again played for Karachi Kings and ranked third in the top run-scorers list. Also, he made five half-centuries during the whole league.
In PSL 2020, he was recorded as the top-run -scorer scoring 473 runs at an average of 59.12. He was the captain of the team, and he made his team conquer the league. Also, he was awarded the man of the match award in the final of PSL 2020.
Read also: [Babar Azam – Captain or Batsman]
Records and Achievements
At a very young age, Babar Azam has achieved many records and surpassed many senior players. Some of his achievements are mentioned below.
Hattrick
Babar Azam did the hattrick of centuries in 2016 when he played 3 ODI’s against West Indies. In each ODI, he scored centuries consecutively and became the first batsman to score a hattrick of centuries.
Fastest T20 Player to score 2500 runs
Babar Azam achieved another milestone by becoming the world’s fastest T20 player who scored 2500 runs. He attained this accomplishment in 2021 while playing the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup against Australia. This compelled the audience to make a comparison of Babar Azam vs Virat Kohli. Before Babar Azam, this record was made by Virat Kohli and later Babar Azam surpassed him in this regard. Babar accomplished the task in 62 innings while Kohli did the same in 68 innings.
Most runs in ODI
Babar Azam is at the top of the list of the batsmen scoring the most runs in 25 ODIs. His score is 1306 runs. Babar Azam last 10 ODI innings, are magnificent and assisted him a lot to achieve this goal.
How many centuries Babar Azam have?
So far, Babar Azam has scored 20 centuries in his international cricket career. Out of these 20 centuries, 14 were made in the ODI format while 5 centuries were made during test matches. Lastly, the one century is made in T20 format.
Awards
Following awards are achieved by Babar Azam in his career.
- 2017- ODI player of the year by PCB
- 2018-T20 Player of the year by PCB
- 2020- PSL Player of the Tournament
- 2021- Captain of ICC T20 Team of the Year
- 2021- ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year Award
Seems like you are pretty clear now that Who’s Babar Azam. A successful cricketer, a great captain, and one who has achieved a lot in his career indeed.
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