Babar Azam looked in pristine touch during the Tri-Series final against New Zealand at the National Stadium in Karachi on Friday before tossing away his start. Batting on 29, Babar offered a regulation caught-and-bowled opportunity to seamer Nathan Smith before Pakistan’s innings progressively collapsed and ended at 242 all out. The hosts suffered a second successive defeat to the Black Caps to concede the Tri-Series title ahead of their Champions Trophy opener at the same venue next week.
Babar, who slotted into the opener’s role alongside Fakhar Zaman in the absence of the injured Saim Ayub, finished the series with 62 runs in three innings. His last ODI century dates back to 21 innings ago in the Asia Cup in 2023 against Nepal. His struggles without an international hundred across formats has extended to over 60 innings.
However, interim Pakistan head coach Aaqib Javed has backed Babar to adapt to his new ODI role ahead of the Champions Trophy. “Our rationale behind the change was that if you look at the away series against South Africa, Babar Azam had to bat in the first over in all games. Then Saim got injured, and he had to open in Tests too. These pitches are not troubling the batters at the start, we wanted our best batter to make good use of the powerplay, that suits us more,” Javed said at the post-match press conference after Pakistan’s five-wicket defeat.
“So, I think, in these conditions, Babar should open and I am hopeful that he will play a big innings in important matches,” he added.
Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali had criticised team’s decision to elevate Babar as an opener.
“If you had won the tri-nation series, then your confidence level would have been high, every boy’s confidence level would have been high,” Ali said on his YouTube channel. “Who is the one who told Babar Azam to open? I am surprised who he is. What crazy people are they? He was performing well at number three, scoring 50-70 against South Africa, but they stopped that too,” Ali lamented.
