Babar Azam set for T20I return under Agha Salman; A look at his stats under all skippers

Babar Azam batting vs Pakistan - (Source: AFP)

On Tuesday, October 28, Pakistan are all set to lock horns against South Africa in the 1st of three-match T20I series. The upcoming match will mark Babar Azam's return to the side in the shortest format of the game after a long time.

Before the series, there were a lot of speculations about the squad because of recent failures in the Asia Cup 2025. However, the PCB stuck with Salman Ali Agha as captain, but made a few tough calls, such as replacing Fakhar Zaman with Babar Azam in the team. 

Azam has big shoes to fill as he is also eyeing a massive milestone in the 1st T20I. The right-handed batter is just nine runs away from pipping Rohit Sharma as the leading run-getter in T20I history.

Meanwhile, the upcoming match will also mark Babar's first game under Agha's regime as regular full-time captain. Thus, this article will look at how the right-handed batter has performed under every captain and which era was his best.

Babar Azam's performance with bat under various captains

Babar Azam has played under six captains, including himself, and overall, the right-handed batter has scored 4223 runs in 121 innings. Now, let's look at how he has done under every captain.

Rise under Malik, Sarfaraz Ahmad

Babar started his career under leadership of Malik and Sarfaraz Ahmad, where he shone and made a name for himself. Alongside scoring runs, Babar also maintained a great strike-rate which was 145+.

Peak under his own captaincy

Babar Azam has played most of his T20I career under his own captaincy and has done extremely well. Looking at his stats, he averages 37.74, and amassed 2642 runs in 78 innings, which also includes three centuries.

A Dip in form under Rizwan, Shaheen

Babar's worst tenure with the bat came during Mohammad Rizwan's tenure, where he played four matches but scored just 37 runs, averaging 9.25. Further, during Shaheen Afridi's tenure, Babar scored three fifties, but his still searching for his triple-figure score.

Pros and cons for Babar playing just as a player

As stats prove that Babar's best has been under his own captaincy, which reflects that the right-handed batter likes to have freedom to make his own decisions. Azam has performed well while managing a team, but despite the runs, his strike-rate failed to cross the 130+ mark ,which is the need of the hour.

However, under other's captaincy, Babar Azam doesn't feel the pressure of answering media and fans on team results and can focus on just his batting. Thus, if we see, then under others captaincy, Babar's strike-rate has gone up, which is the current need of the team.

However, not being the captain, also allows others to take a call on Azam and experiment with his batting position, which was also seen during Rizwan's era, where runs just stopped for Babar because of not having a say in team's decisions.

Conclusion

To conclude, Pakistan are again experimenting with Babar's position and are putting him for No.3 slot, asking him to bat with intent and manage a 130+ strike-rate. Now, for Babar to do so, it could mean that the fans might not see those big runs and consistency from the former Pakistan captain.

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