It was still morning when Babar Azam came in to bat at Edgbaston. The Test was only 45 minutes old but you could already see which direction it was heading. Pakistan were three wickets down.
The floodlights were on, a thick smear of black cloud was moving slowly over the ground, there were odd spots of rain in the air. Ollie Robinson was bowling from one end, with the keeper standing up and five slips spread in a line just behind, and Jofra Archer was on at the other, four overs into his spell and only just warming up. It was a hell of a time to be batting.
Once upon a time, and not so very long ago, Babar was one of the very best batters in the game. In the space of eight Tests in 2022 he scored 196 against Australia in Karachi, 119 against Sri Lanka in Galle, 136 against England in Rawalpindi, and 161 against New Zealand back in Karachi. He finished that year with a Test batting average of 49, third in the world rankings, and as the ICC’s Men’s Cricketer of the Year.
But he hasn’t scored a Test hundred since. In his past 20 Tests, his top score is 88 and his batting average is 29. Still, if you shut your eyes a moment and played out the day in your head you could just about imagine that he would be able to steer his team through this, the way he often used to be able to do when he was at his best.
And then you opened them again. Babar set himself for Robinson’s first ball. He seemed uncertain of whether or not to play it, and pulled his bat inside the line at the very last moment.
The next delivery beat his outside edge, then he clipped the third through square leg to score his first couple of runs. Second over, Babar slashed at a short ball from Archer, but missed it. Third over, he was up against Gus Atkinson, and was beaten twice before squirting an edge away for four.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
