Factfile on Pakistan captain Babar Azam ahead of the Cricket World Cup which gets underway in India on Thursday:
Age: 28
Playing role: Batsman
International ODI career
Matches: 108
Runs: 5,409
Highest score: 158
Average: 58.16
100s: 19
50s: 28
— The world’s top-ranked ODI batsman, Babar is captain across all three formats and has amassed more than 12,500 international runs, boasting multiple centuries in each category.
His staggering ODI average of 58.16 betters even that of India superstar Virat Kohli while his 19 centuries for Pakistan is just one behind the all-time best set by Saeed Anwar.
Babar is also Pakistan’s biggest run-maker in T20 internationals and boasts the highest score of 122 in the format.
Despite failing to get out of the group stage at the 2019 World Cup, Babar shone as he became the fastest Pakistan batsman to reach 3,000 ODI runs.
Against Bangladesh, he broke Javed Miandad’s record of most runs in a World Cup by taking his total to 474 in eight innings.
In May this year against New Zealand, he became the fastest man to make 5,000 ODI runs, the mark coming in his 97th innings.
