Babar Azam closing in on two years without fifty-plus score in Test cricket

It was a good day for Pakistan in Multan in the first Test against England but it wasn't the same for talismanic batter Babar Azam. The former Pakistan captain's lean run in the format continued as he fell for a 71-ball 30 on Day 1 in Multan. Centuries from captain Shan Masood and Abdullah Shafique helped the hosts finish the end on 328/4 in 86 overs.

Babar shared a 61-run stand with Saud Shakeel as he came on after the dismissal of Abdullah Shafique. The latter had shared a mammoth 253-run stand with Masood that came in just 338 balls for the second wicket.

Just as he seemed to be looking good enough to carry his bat through to the end of the day, Babar was trapped LBW by Chris Woakes. Moreover, he wasted a review despite the dismissal looking plumb in front of off stump.

That was the 15th consecutive time Babar was dismissed for a score below 50 in Test cricket. The last time he registered a score above 50 in a Test match was back in December 2022, making it nearly two years since Babar managed to go past that mark. That was also the last time Babar scored a Test century as he made 161 in the first innings of the first Test against New Zealand in Karachi.

Babar's extraordinary dip in Test cricket

Notably, Babar has managed to cross 40 just once in the Test matches he has played since then. That came in the second innings of the second Test against Australia in Melbourne, December last year, when he scored 41 in Pakistan's 79-run defeat. His other scores in this period read 14, 24, 27, 13, 24, 39, 21, 14, 1, 26, 23, 0, 22, 31, 11 and 30.

Babar used to average above 50 in Tests before the start of this dry phase. He scored 1184 runs in nine Tests with four centuries and seven fifties in a bumper 2022 at an average of 69.64. But this has been followed by 204 runs in five Tests at 22.66 in 2023 and 143 runs in four Tests at 20.42 thus far in 2024.