Babar Azam strike rate debate reignites as criticism grows

Not even able to perform at home ground, which king is this? The Babar Azam strike rate debate has exploded once again.

The debate around Babar Azam’s T20I career has picked up again and this time the numbers speak louder than any opinion. Whenever his place in the team is questioned, supporters quickly bring up his 4000+ T20I runs, using the total runs narrative to defend him.

But in modern T20 cricket, runs without pace are as damaging as low scores, and this is where the real problem lies.

Most T20I Innings with Strike Rate Below 125 (Minimum 20 balls faced)

• 31 – Babar Azam*

• 26 – Kane Williamson

• 24 – Mahmudullah

  
  

This list alone tells a story: while strike-rate struggles were once acceptable for anchors like Williamson or Mahmudullah, they are becoming a burden in 2025 cricket — and Babar leads this chart by a big margin.

Modern T20 Cricket Has Changed But Babar Has Not

Today’s T20 bowlers are not obsessed with taking wickets every ball. Their mindset is simple:

• Bowl dots

• Keep batters quiet

• Restrict them to 5–6 run overs

A dot-ball pressure sequence of 6–8 balls is more valuable than a wicket in many situations.

This is why a batter who makes 50 off 39–40 balls is not helping the team — he is helping the opposition.

Strike rate has overtaken runs as the most important metric for top-order batters.

Strike rate problem

Despite the hype around his T20 batting:

• He has played most of his career at his favourite position (opening)

• He has played regularly against weaker bowling attacks

• He has rarely been rested, even against sides like Zimbabwe

• Yet his overall T20I strike rate is only 128.9

This is below the standard for a modern opener in 2025, where players like Head, Suryakumar, Salt, Rohit, Kohli (in his prime), Butler, Pooran, and Klassen operate in the 140–160 zone.

The World Cup Numbers — The Biggest Red Flag

In ICC tournaments:

• Babar has never hit a six in the Powerplay

• He has the lowest strike rate for any opener in T20 World Cup history (min games)

• His overall SR in World Cups is around 110

• His average in tournaments is under 30

These are tournament numbers, the biggest games, the toughest moments — and they are simply not good enough for a T20 opener in 2025.

And Yet… He Still Makes a Comeback

This is where fans are confused.

Because even after all these flaws:

• He still returned to the T20I side

• Still walks back into the XI without upgrading his range-hitting

• Still receives a PR push branding him as “Pakistan’s best T20i player”

  
  

All this while another player, Mohammad Rizwan, who has been performing consistently was not preferred.

Babar’s Performance After His Recent Comeback

Since re-entering the T20I side:

• 5 innings

• 95 runs

• 92 balls faced

• Average: 19

• Strike rate: 103

These numbers show that nothing has changed. No range improvement. No strike upgrade. No shift to modern T20 gears.

A Career Built on Low-Stakes Runs?

Critics argue that:

• He dominated military-medium pacers.

• Scored most of his big knocks in low-stakes bilateral games.

• Rarely performed when pressure peaked.

• And in big tournaments, his defensive style hurt Pakistan more than it helped.

This is why fans believe his comeback is not performance-based, but politics + PR based.

The core argument

Runs alone do not define a legacy.

Impact does. Strike rate does. Pressure-overs output does. Team value does.

And in a T20 era where 130 SR from an opener is a crime, Babar’s numbers look weaker than ever.