3 Reasons Why Babar Azam Should Be Dropped From 1st T20I Vs South Africa

Anurag Dasgupta

Reasons why Babar shouldn't be in playing XI for 1st T20I [Source: @SalmanAsif2007/X.Com]Reasons why Babar shouldn't be in playing XI for 1st T20I [Source: @SalmanAsif2007/X.Com]

The wait is almost over as Pakistan are set to collide against the home side, South Africa in a riveting multi-format series, starting from December 10. The T20Is will commence first as the visitors will look to cause an upset against a strong Proteas side.

Pakistan are coming into this series on the back of a victory Vs Zimbabwe in the 20-over format. However, the Men in Green lost the final T20I of the series and that surely would have dented their confidence. Some key players like Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi are back in the scheme of things for the T20Is, however, is there a place for Babar in the T20I team?

We at OneCricket have jotted down 3 key reasons as to why Babar Azam should be dropped from the playing XI for the first T20I vs the Proteas.

3) Strike-rate and power game a big cause of worry

T20I cricket has evolved nowadays. No longer it is about increasing your average and putting personal milestones above team's interest. Babar is a class player, and will go down as Pakistan's best batter, but his game in the T20I cricket is not upto the modern standards.

In 22 matches this year for Pakistan, Babar has accumulated 707 runs, but the strike-rate is questionable, at just 133.40. Surely he gets a lot of runs in this format, but more often than not, it backfires on the Pakistan side. His overall strike-rate in 126 T20I matches is just 129.22.

2) Hasn't score anything significant this year

The T20I World Cup took place this year and Babar Azam was the captain of the side and he failed to deliver the goods. In the 4 matches that he played, the former skipper only scored 122 runs, with a questionable strike-rate of 101.67.

Post that, South Africa played against Australia and he couldn't deliver the goods as the team lost the T20I series. As a result of his poor performance, he had to step down from the captaincy role and was also dropped from the Test team as well.

1) Pakistan need to alter their approach to accomodate Babar

Post the T20I World Cup, Pakistan wanted to play an aggressive brand of cricket in T20Is, and in that role, Babar doesn't fit in well. Often he slows down the tempo and that affects the team.

He is still a supreme timer of the ball and is the best in the business, but the former skipper lacks the power-game and Pakistan nowadays demand their players to have the explosive strength to clear the field with ease. He struggles to hit big sixes and T20 cricket demands the batters to take more risks, which he doesn't take.