2019 was a year of dismal lows for Pakistan cricket dispersed with a few flashes of brilliance. The biggest, brightest, and the shiniest of these flashes has been the advent of Babar Azam. In every high point that Pakistan has had this year, the chief architect has been Babar Azam.
Test cricket returned to the country this year with a mostly rained out game in Rawalpindi. But even as Abid Ali made history by scoring a hundred on the final day of the dead test, the crowds were chanting Babar. And when he walked out there, he did not disappoint, scoring an effortless hundred like it was nobody’s business. The game was a draw, but for the packed crowds, it was a dream return.
Misbahul Haq and Younis Khan were admirable leaders for Pakistan’s near decade long winter of discontent in exile, now it is the summer of Babar Azam, who ends the year ranked 6, 3 and 1 in Tests, ODIs, and T20s respectively with a world cup hundred to boot.
No matter that he is the cousin of the Akmal brothers – the sin of that association has been atoned for in thousands of runs. We have been spoiled for pace and spin often enough, but this is special. This is finally a real batsman, and all that matters is that cover drive, and how it is being heard around the world.
