- Babar Azam has scored 6570 runs in 138 ODI innings at the time of writing.
- He also has the joint most centuries for Pakistan in the format with 20.
- We look at why Pakistan should build their 2027 World Cup squad around Azam.
As of this writing, Babar Azam has scored 6570 runs in 138 ODI innings, the tenth highest such tally for a Pakistan batter. He has done so at an average of 53.9 and a strike rate of 87. The right-handed bat from Lahore has also registered 20 hundreds and 38 fifties in the format.
To put those numbers into context, no other batter in Pakistan’s top 10 run-getters has played in fewer than 200 ODI innings. Mohammed Hafeez has played the next fewest innings in that list. His 6614 ODI runs have come in 216 innings.
Azam’s 20 centuries are the joint most among all Pakistan batters, alongside Saeed Anwar, who was an opener. No Pakistan batter to have played more than 10 ODIs averages more than Azam’s 53.9 in the format.
An aspect of Azam’s game that is normally criticised across the white-ball formats is his striker rate. However, his 87 runs per 100 balls is the fifth highest such rate among Pakistan batters with at least 1000 runs in the format.
Babar Azam criticism a product of recency bias?
Former Pakistan captain Babar Azam has been the subject of criticism across media, both social and traditional, in recent years. And a lot of it has been valid too. The stylish batter has struggled to build on good starts and score big since late 2023.
In fact, after scoring 151 against Nepal in August 2023, Azam went on a 33-innings run where he failed to score an ODI century. That run would come to an end with an unbeaten 102 against Sri Lanka in November 2025.
And while those 33 innings were heavily criticised, further scrutiny shows that the lean patch wasn’t as lean. Make no mistake, a player of Azam’s stature shouldn’t be going that long without an ODI hundred.
However, a closer look at the spell shows you that he had nine 50+ scores in that period. He also averaged 33.7 in ODIs in that time. Not ideal for a batter that good, but not too bad for a period of struggle either.
Things are different now, of course. A century against Sri Lanka and the Peshawar Zalmi captain looks like the Babar Azam of old again. Although it came in the shorter format, his confidence showed during the 2026 PSL season.
Strangely enough though, Azam was dropped for Pakistan’s 2-1 series loss in Bangladesh. A decision this writer found to be baffling at the time. Given how Azam performed in the PSL, those feelings were vindicated too.
The current home series against Australia comes as an opportunity for Azam to set the record straight. And so far, he’s done just that. In the first ODI, when a couple of wickets threatened to derail a fairly straightforward chase, Babar Azam got together with Ghazi Gori to put on a 124-run partnership, ensuring a comfortable win for the Shaheens in the end. A 38th half-century in the bag for Azam.
What next for Azam in ODIs?
Given that we’re entering the second half of 2026, most cricket teams are now likely to shift focus to the 2027 Men’s Cricket World Cup. And so too should Pakistan.
With one eye on the global tournament, it would bode well for Pakistan to build around their best batter. And as far as this writer is concerned, Babar Azam is undoubtedly still the country’s best ODI batter.
It also helps that Azam has pretty good numbers in South Africa. 571 runs while averaging 57.1, with a fifty-plus score in almost every second one of his 11 innings. One can’t ask for much more from your premium batter.
The numbers certainly suggest that Babar Azam is among the best ODI batters to come out of Pakistan. And they also certainly say that he is still among their current best batters in the format. While it may not be a decision I have to make, Azam definitely needs to be on that plane to South Africa next year if Pakistan are to have a good tournament.
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