02/11/2025
There are numbers, and then there is Babar Azam. 457 fours in T20 internationals, 73 sixes, a strike rate brushing 129 hardly explosive by the templates of our times, yet not ordinary either. In the light of what surrounds him, it almost feels elevated. Because around him, Pakistan’s T20 batting isn’t a garden; it’s a patchy, drought-ridden field with two-and-a-half cultivators, Sahibzada Farhan, a fresh sprout of resolve; Saim Ayub, bold yet unrefined, his edges sharper than his judgment. And then there is Babar, the exception, the constant, the calm amid the self-inflicted noise. He was ousted, wrongly, noisily, in the usual fog of ‘process’ that never quite exists. And, without so much as a caress of introspection, brought back again. Pakistan, forever running the same play removing their best and replacing him with the idea of someone half as good. Yet here he is, winning matches on return, restoring order with the inevitability of class. One must agree, his return to T20s was again without process & unjustified. But this victory, this series, it’s a deceptive comfort. South Africa’s side was a stand-in band, not the orchestra. Pakistan still needs tuning. The top order needs muscle, two, maybe three proper batters. Mohammad Nawaz at four might work; Shadab Khan must return; Faheem Ashraf should either bat properly up the order or not at all. Abrar Ahmed shouldn’t be wasted. He is rare, a spinner for the white-ball age. Shaheen Afridi, though, he has the air of a captain, the stride, the poise, the anger. Make him the T20 leader. Give him Saim or Shadab as his deputy. And, for the love of all things logical, find a real wicketkeeper-batsman, not a patched-up version of Sahibzada or an experimental Usman Khan. How did we get from Mohammad Rizwan to Mohammad Haris to this? This is Pakistan, a team that can win at home against a depleted opponent and still look incomplete. A team that promises brilliance, delivers drama, and demands faith. The stock must be chosen wisely. The best available, not the most convenient. And somewhere in that mix is Usman Tariq, awkward, exciting, possibly game-changing. His action might yet be questioned, his spirit shouldn’t be. Today he looked shackled, a fraction of himself. But free him, and who knows, the story might yet twist again, as it always does in Pakistan cricket. 🏏👏💪🔥