Master Batter Babar Azam Is Inspiring A Grittier Pakistan Cricket Team

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Every time Babar Azam walks to the crease, giddy Pakistan fans chant his name at the top of their lungs as if a rock star is entering the arena. It feels very much like when Virat Kohli comes out to bat in India.

That is quite fitting because Babar has long been compared to Kohli with the Pakistani prodigy similarly boasting an unparalleled fusion of timing and power when he’s at the crease. The Pakistan skipper can caress boundaries through gaps that appear geometrically impossible but also has the ability to put the foot down and accelerate.

These traits have been evident during Babar’s masterclasses against Australia to flip the ODI series on its head with Pakistan recovering from a game one flop to win the series 2-1. Admittedly, Australia were shorthanded and their attack was probably third string but in some ways that only increased the pressure on hot favorites Pakistan who were hoping to rebound after losing the historic Test series 1-0.

At the halfway point of game two, Pakistan appeared to be on the brink of an embarrassing series loss when Australia racked up a huge 348 batting first. Bazar was set to face a torrid of criticism after once again deciding to bowl first in ideal batting conditions.

He had backed his bowlers but they had let him down so it was Babar who had to take control of the situation just when Pakistan were at the brink. Pakistan had never successfully chased a higher ODI score nor had any team chased down more in Pakistan, but Babar is quickly proving that he can conjure the miraculous.

Pakistan mowed down the target with relative ease thanks to Babar’s incredible ton and he fittingly enjoyed a defining stand with Imam-ul-Haq who notched his second straight century.

In game one, as he trudged back to the dressing room following a rash dismissal moments after he had hit a ton, Imam was greeted by a seething Babar who delivered a dressing down. Babar was seemingly furious that Imam had been merely content with a century when there was a game to win. His rebuke was aimed at lifting standards and hardening Pakistan who too often had a soft underbelly.

Generally in their proud cricket history, Pakistan have been known as mercurial and the Jekyll and Hyde of international cricket. They were the butt of many a punchline, but you feel Babar wants no part of that. He wants to build a hardened and more formidable Pakistan.

Shortly after Mickey Arthur had undertaken the daunting task of Pakistan coach, which had proven a poisoned chalice and in time would be for him too, I asked him about the challenge ahead. The innately affable Arthur finds positives in everything but he was genuinely excited about the precocious Babar and likened him to Ricky Ponting – who Arthur had worked with during an ill-fated brief stint as Australia coach.

There was, naturally, the batting comparisons – with Ponting as one of the greatest ever batters a lofty standard – but Arthur believed Babar had the type of hard-headedness that reminded him of the former Australia skipper.

Arthur, a disciplinarian, undoubtedly was an important influence on Babar, who eventually became captain of Pakistan across all three formats when only aged in his mid-20s.

But his furious spray at Imam spoke of Babar’s steely leadership – and undoubted passion – and provided a window of what he is trying to achieve. It did the trick because Imam was vital in Pakistan’s chases in game two and three as the hosts gained a consolation victory after their Test defeat.

Even during their Test series loss, Pakistan generally played with a type of gravitas that is not often associated with them. Of course, they haven’t totally shaken the ghosts of the past with horrific first innings collapses in the second and third Tests underlining there is still work ahead.

But, importantly, Pakistan didn’t implode and they provided rearguards – led by their determined skipper. In the second Test, Babar’s 196 in the fourth innings was one of the all-time greatest Test innings and while he couldn’t quite replicate that on the final day of the series, Pakistan at least showed fight and it took almost all of 15 days for Australia to finally break them.

Pakistan aren’t known as a gritty or plucky team but those characteristics are starting to mould under Babar’s watch. After a glory period in the 1980s and ‘90s – marked by winning the 1992 World Cup – Pakistan have struggled to recapture those heights and been derailed along the way by corruption scandals and having to play almost all of last decade away from home.

With Pakistan finally back home permanently, Babar has become the centre of attention in his cricket-crazy country and those rabid fans should rest easy knowing their hopes are in good hands.