On the international circuit there are a few batsmen who are dominating world cricket with their performances in all formats of the game. Indian captain Virat Kohli, Australia’s Steve Smith, England’s Joe Root, New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson and Pakistan captain Babar Azam are among them.

Babar is the youngest among this elite group. He is one of the very few players who have performed consistently in all three formats of the game. But his current form in Test matches has significantly impacted Pakistan’s performance in recent times.

The performance of a team is not solely dependent on one player, but Babar’s performance is crucial for Pakistan. It’s also worth noting that cricket is an unpredictable sport, and players can bounce back from slumps in form at any time.

Babar Azam’s poor run with the bat continued in the ongoing three-match Test series against Australia. In the first two Tests he scored only 77 runs, averaging 19.25.

Babar Azam should take a break amid his poor run of form. In the recent past, he faced challenges such as losing the Asia Cup, the World Cup, and subsequently losing the captaincy that created pressure on him.

When a player realises that he is not in a good touch and mentally disturbed, he should take a break of two or three matches. When Virat Kohli was out of form, he took a break, and since then, he hasn’t faced the same struggles. The management should have taken ownership and advised Babar to take rest.

Before the third Test at Perth, Babar Azam had played 12 Test matches against Australia, scoring 876 runs, averaging 39.81 with two hundreds.

So far in Australia, he has played seven Tests in which he managed 355 runs including one century at an average of 25.35. As skipper Babar Azam’s average was 78 against Australia in three Tests he played in Pakistan.

Overall, Babar Azam has played 51 Tests since his debut against West Indies in Dubai in October 2016. Last year he scored 204 runs in 10 Test innings. His average was just 22.5. Babar ended 2023 without a Test fifty. His struggle with the bat continued till the last Test of the year in Melbourne. His year’s highest innings score was 41.

In One-day Internationals, Babar completed 1000 runs in a calendar year. He scored 1,065 in 25 ODIs with two hundreds and 10 fifties at an average of 46.30.

Last year Babar played only five Twenty20 Internationals in which he scored 130 runs including one hundred against New Zealand in Lahore, at an average of 43.33.

The year 2022 was a remarkable one for Babar Azam. He scored the most international runs in a calendar year in that year. He was also the highest run-scorer in Test cricket in 2022, surpassing England’s Joe Root (1098) on the list. He also had the highest fifty plus scores (25) as captain in a calendar year (2022), surpassing former Australian captain Ricky Ponting’s record of 24 half centuries in 2005.

In 2022, Babar became the most successful Pakistani batsman across the three formats.

Overall Babar has an impressive ODI average of 56.72. In 117 ODIs, he has scored 5,729 runs with 19 hundred and 32 half-centuries. In the ICC ranking of ODI players, Babar is on top with 824 points.

In the 2019 World Cup, too, Babar’s performance was remarkable. He surpassed Miandad’s record of 437 runs in a single World Cup (1992). Despite Pakistan’s early exit, Babar finished with 474 runs. He hit a century against New Zealand and three 50s.

In January 2017, Babar was also the joint-fastest player in history to score 1,000 runs in ODIs. He reached the landmark in just 21 innings, joining West Indies great Viv Richards, England’s Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott, and South Africa’s Quinton de Kock.

With the hundred in the second ODI against Australia last year, Babar became the first Pakistan captain to score an ODI century against Australia. Before him Imran Khan’s 82 was the best captain’s knock from Pakistan — at Brisbane in 1990.

For his outstanding performance against Australia, Babar was adjudged as “Player of the Month” for March 2022. He beat West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite and Australian skipper Pat Cummins in the contest. He is the first player to have won the ICC Men’s Player of the Month award on two occasions. He previously did it in April 2021.

He was the second fastest player to 2000 ODI runs and the second quickest to 1000 T20I runs.

Despite his heroics with the bat, Babar came under scrutiny for his captaincy. Under him, Pakistan suffered a whitewash against England in a home Test series in 2022 for the first time in the history.

There are several reasons why people believe that Babar is not a good captain, especially in the Test format. Some experts suppose that he lacks tactical intelligence and struggles to make the right decisions at the right time on the field. He was criticised for not being aggressive enough in his captaincy and for not being able to come up with a game plan to outsmart the opposition.

But during Babar’s leadership, the Green-shirts reached number one position in the ICC ODI ranking, but there was a sharp decline in the team’s performance before the World Cup in India.

There is no doubt that Babar is a much better player than a captain. After the World Cup debacle last year in India, Babar Azam stepped down from the captaincy in all three formats. Babar scored 320 runs in nine matches during the World Cup - the third highest for Pakistan - at an average of 40 and strike rate of 82.90.

Undoubtedly he is an excellent batsman, technically compact with good temperament. But he needs to prove his mettle for some more time, especially tough conditions with consistent batting to be crowned the best.

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