“I’m 90% fit.” It’s not unequivocal but Babar Azam’s self-assessment of his chances of returning for Lord’s was not exactly equivocal either. Moreover, it would be odd (but not beyond the realms of this Pakistan era), that a player – let alone captain – not about to play turns up to deliver the pre-Test press conference a day before the Test. Odd, and troll-y.
Maybe, as the smile suggested, it was a little bit of coyness from Babar; pointless, you’d think, given England are hardly going to stay up sweating their plans after Headingley. Perhaps it was just some caution from Babar, as he was about to go and bat in the nets, and who knows what might happen in there.
He looked relaxed, much as a man whose value has increased simply by dint of not playing the last Test might; as a batter who was not part of 171 and 135 all out might; and as a captain who missed the loss that has prompted questions about whether this is a) the weakest Pakistan ever, b) the weakest Pakistan side to tour England or c) both of the above.
Such is the desperate place Pakistan finds itself in right now that Babar’s return is about all the hope they can cling on to. Because, to repeat, on current form it is not a lot to cling to. His last Test hundred, remember, came in December 2022. But his very current form is better. He may be nearly four years without a Test hundred, but he has four fifties in his last four Tests. Given he
averaged 24 across two years till those last four Tests, it represents progress. If not for a mix-up with Abdullah Shafique at Port of Spain, we may not have still been talking about a century drought.
If this little run has appeared to bring back plenty of the old Babar, it’s also worth cautioning that he never looked haplessly out of touch during the rut. The number of times he reached 20 (17 in 27 innings) or batted for at least an hour (12 out of 27) attest to that.
Nobody has been able to put up a truly convincing explanation for what has ailed him in this time. Too much cricket. Not enough cricket. Too much social media. (Nobody will say not enough social media.) He got out to spin, he got out to pace, he got out to poor deliveries, he got out to unplayable ones. He got out on flat surfaces. He got out on Aqib-ball pitches. He got out, he got out and he got out again.
In the absence thereof, it seems as reasonable a take as any to suggest that losing the captaincy back in 2023 has had an as-yet unmeasured mark on him. It’s still easy to recall how big a figure he had become in those years, partly because, even without the captaincy, he’s never stopped being that figure in the intervening years. Indeed, with the distorted amplification of social media, it could be argued he was probably as celebrated as any superstar in Pakistan ever has been.
But his
batting record as captain suggests he needs the official validation for it. So yes, Pakistan will cling to whatever his return to runs represents. And to be fair to this side, they are hardly the first – and nor will they be the last – to live and die by the feats of their superstars. That is kind of how Pakistan has lived its entire cricket life.
And there is, of course, the little bit of attendant pageantry and sense of occasion, that accompanies a batter of his stature whenever he arrives at a ground of this stature. The venue, its honours board, almost demands it of the best batters. So much so that those who don’t get on it are remembered as clearly as those who do: Tendulkar, Lara, Kallis and Ponting, to name a handful, who never did. The prospect of Babar hitting a hundred at Lord’s? Can you imagine your timelines and scrolls if that does happen?
But for a brutal short ball from Ben Stokes that broke his forearm, he may have done it on his first appearance here, back in 2018. Those were still good days. Mohammad Abbas was younger and slightly nippier, Hasan Ali was fresher, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq and Sarfaraz Ahmed – remnants of the MisYou era – were comfort blankets and Babar’s 68 – as assured and elegant as a black tie – confirmed precisely why he was so highly valued.
Pakistan could do with something far more substantial in this Test. Pakistan fans too. Beautiful Pakistani batters doing beautiful Pakistani batter things in England holds a cherished place in the Pakistani imagination. Zaheer Abbas’ 274 at Edgbaston, which no doubt will be recalled as he rings the bell at Lord’s on Thursday; the Lord’s doubles of Mohsin Khan and Mohammad Yousuf; Salim Malik’s 99 at Headingley in 1987, on a devilish surface (and his pair of 80s five years later at the same venue were even better); these are part of a Pakistani folklore that treasures the aesthetics of these innings as much as other piddling details, such as the result of those games or series.
Times and results are such that Babar breaking into this lineage might be solace enough.
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