Babar Azam resigns as Pakistan's all-format captain: Decoding his stats
Babar Azam has resigned as Pakistan's captain across formats following the team's poor run in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup. The Men in Green failed to make it to the semi-finals, having lost five of their nine league games. Though Babar will continue to serve as a batter across formats, he has relinquished the leadership role. Here we decode his captaincy stats.
Pakistan's run in the WC
After winning their first two games in the competition, the Men in Green lost five of their next seven matches and finished fifth in the table. Babar blew hot and cold in the competition and scored 320 runs. He had an average of 40 and a strike rate of 82.90. Babar said he is determined to extend his support to the new skipper.
Pakistan's most successful skipper in T20Is
With 42 wins and 23 defeats in 71 games, Babar is the joint-second-most successful skipper in T20Is. While only England's Eoin Morgan (44) boasts more wins in the format, Babar shares the second spot with India's MS Dhoni and Afghanistan's Asghar Afghan (including Super Over wins). Under Babar, Pakistan reached the final of the 2022 T20 WC and semi-final of the 2021 edition.
Second-most runs as T20I skipper
Babar's tally of 2,195 runs as T20I captain is only second to Australia's Aaron Finch (2,236). His average and strike rate read 37.84 and 129.49, respectively. Babar owns the most tons as a skipper in the format (3). His tally of 23 scores of 50 or more is also the most for any captain in T20 Internationals.
26 wins in ODIs
Babar led the Men in Green in 43 ODIs and returned with 26 wins and 15 defeats. The tally includes 2,370 runs with the help of eight tons and 17 fifties. His average of 60.76 is only third to India's Virat Kohli (72.65) and South Africa's AB de Villiers (63.94) among captains with at least 2,000 runs in the format.
Here are his Test numbers
Babar led the team in 20 Tests, returning with 10 wins and six defeats. He smoked 1,727 runs while leading the team at a brilliant average of 50.79. The tally includes four tons and 11 fifties. His tally of 1,184 runs in nine Tests in 2022 is the most by a Pakistan skipper in a calendar year. His average read 69.64 last year.
