Babar Azam has been considered a great of T20I cricket. Currently ranked 4th in the ICC T20I batting rankings, he has played numerous memorable innings in the 20-over format. In 114 matches, he has scored 3823 runs with a decent strike rate of 130.
Among cricket fans, there has been much debate between the supporters of India’s great Virat Kohli and the fans of Babar Azam regarding who is the best. With the World Cup ringing bells and set to start on June 2. There is a lot of anticipation surrounding Babar Azam, as people expect him to perform well in the upcoming T20 World Cup.
Let’s take a look at three top-quality memorable knocks he has played in past T20 World Cups.
Babar Azam innings in T20 World Cup
| Against | Runs | Year |
| India | 68(52) | 2021 |
| Afghanistan | 51(47) | 2022 |
| New Zealand | 53(42) | 2022 |
68-run innings that still hurts Indian fans the most!
Babar Azam played one of the greatest knocks in T20 World Cup history against arch-rivals India in the 2021 edition held in Dubai. After restricting the Indian team to 151 runs in 20 overs, Babar and Rizwan came to bat and decimated the Indian bowling lineup. Babar Azam, in particular, was in sublime touch that day.
As a result, Pakistan defeated India by 10 wickets, marking India’s first T20 World Cup defeat to Pakistan. His 68-run innings still haunt many Indian cricket fans to this date.
Hitting the neighbors
Azam was really in great touch with the bat in the 2021 T20 World Cup edition. After playing an amazing innings against India, he went all guns blazing against another neighbour, this time against Afghanistan in the group stage match. Once again, he provided a strong start for Pakistan, along with Mohammed Rizwan. Although he didn’t finish the game, his important innings of 51 runs off 47 balls helped finishers such as Asif Ali to snatch the game from Afghanistan in a nail-biting encounter.
Decimated Kiwi bowlers
Babar Azam stamped himself as the big-match player when he played a match-winning inning against the Black Caps (New Zealand) in the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.
Pakistan surely struggled in this World Cup initially. First, they lost a nail-biting encounter by the barest of margins to India. Then, they were humiliated by the Zimbabwe team, who defeated them by a run. But after that, everything went well for Pakistan. When they faced the Kiwis in the knockout stage, Azam again went all guns blazing and played a memorable knock of 53 runs while chasing 152 runs. With this innings, he stamped himself as a big-match winner, and as a result, Pakistan qualified for the T20 World Cup 2022 finals.
Babar Azam’s stats in the ICC T20 World Cups
| Matches | Runs | Average | 50s | Best |
| 13 | 427 | 35.58 | 5 | 70 |
Editors pick
