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Babar Azam's downfall explained [Source: AFP]
Babar Azam was once Pakistan’s answer to India’s legendary Virat Kohli. He had every tool in the arsenal to succeed at the international level, and interestingly, he started off well, dominating the proceedings across formats. However, he witnessed a great downfall and was recently dropped from the ODI team.
On Wednesday, Pakistan revealed its ODI squad for the Bangladesh series, and in a not-so-surprising decision, Babar was snubbed by the selectors. At one stage during his career, Babar was at the peak of his powers, but now he finds himself out of the squad.
Here is an entire timeline explaining Babar’s downfall for Pakistan, and how he went from Pakistan’s hero to their out-of-favour player.
Rise as Pakistan's new superstar (2015-18)
Babar made his Pakistan debut in 2015, and instantly, everyone knew there was something special in him. Slowly and steadily, he broke through the first XI, and in the next couple of years, he became one of their key batters.
The right-handed batter played a key role in Pakistan’s Champions Trophy win in 2017, having scored crucial runs in the final. In the first five years, he racked up runs for fun and started to be compared with Virat Kohli.
The run-machine (2019-2023 mid)
Babar’s breakthrough year came in 2019, when the world took notice of his talent in the World Cup that year. He scored 474 runs in eight matches for the team, and it also included a stellar century against the Kiwis.
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By 2020, he had become the undisputed best in ODIs and also the captain of the team across all formats. From 2020-2022, he slammed 1305 ODI runs, at an average of 84, and a strike rate of 97.39. He broke several Kohli records and was getting the King shouts from his fans.
2023 was the last good year for Babar as he scored truckloads of runs, and even crossed the 1000-run mark in the ODIs. However, the downfall began after 2023.
The great downfall (2024-current)
Pakistan crash out of T20 WC 2024, captaincy lost
Babar Azam entered the T20 World Cup 2024 as Pakistan’s captain, and the Men in Green were expected to deliver the goods in the tournament. The team lost against India and the USA, and crashed out in the group stage.
Moreover, Babar had a shambolic tournament, scoring 122 runs, with a strike rate of just 101.67. As a result of Pakistan and Babar’s poor performance, he was removed as the white-ball captain.
Poor performance in Champions Trophy, and removal from T20I team
He continued to be a part of the Test, ODIs, and T20I squad, but the performances dipped across formats. The Pakistan selectors reached their breaking point during the Champions Trophy 2025.
Babar played sluggish knocks and could only add 87 runs, with a strike rate of 75 as Pakistan once again crashed out of the group stage in an ICC event.
As a result of his performances, he was kept in the ODI and Test team, but was abruptly kept aside from the T20Is, and was shockingly removed from the Asia Cup squad alongside Mohammad Rizwan.
He was brought back in the T20I setup, but he was never the same as he struggled to score runs at a rapid rate.
Poor T20 World Cup 2026, removal from ODIs
Surprisingly, Babar was picked in the T20 World Cup 2026 squad, and he failed to deliver once again. Moreover, he was dropped from Pakistan’s last Super 8 match, as the breaking point arrived for the selectors.
On Wednesday, the selectors revealed the ODI squad for the Bangladesh tour, and Babar faced the selectors’ wrath as he was dropped from the ODIs due to his poor outing in the T20I format.
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