All posts tagged: Babar Azam

Another day, another set of records fall to Virat Kohli in IPL 2026 masterclass vs KKR

Another day, another set of records fall to Virat Kohli in IPL 2026 masterclass vs KKR

Published by Webster

3 min readUpdated: May 14, 2026 12:15 PM IST Virat Kohli came into Wednesday’s Indian Premier League (IPL) match with two back-to-back ducks behind him. He ended up staying unbeaten on 105 off 60 balls and engineered Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) six-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). In the process, the 37-year-old put up a few firsts in the format. This was Kohli’s 10th T20 century. He is the first Indian to have scored as many tons in the shortest format, and just the fourth overall after Chris Gayle (22), Babar Azam (13) and David Warner (10). Over the course of the innings, Kohli also completed 14,000 runs in the format. He has got there in 409 innings, breaking Gayle’s record for the fastest to 14,000 T20 runs. The West Indies great had got there in 423 innings. This was Kohli’s 279th IPL match, making him the player with most appearances in the league. He was tied with Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni until Wednesday, with both players tied on 278 matches. Kohli also …

‘Tension na lein, teeno format kheloonga’: Babar Azam shuts down talk of him not playing all 3 formats for Pakistan | Cricket News

‘Tension na lein, teeno format kheloonga’: Babar Azam shuts down talk of him not playing all 3 formats for Pakistan | Cricket News

Published by Webster

4 min readMay 4, 2026 10:03 AM IST After dragging his team Peshawar Zalmi to the Pakistan Super League (PSL) title as the captain and the top scorer in the league, Babar Azam has shut down talk that he could focus on select formats. In his press conference after Zalmi won the PSL 11 title — thanks to a five-wicket victory over Hyderabad Kingsmen — Babar cut short a reporter’s question asking him if he would focus on specific formats. ‘Tension na lein, teeno format kheloonga (Don’t stress, I will play in all three formats),’ Babar told the journalist after interrupting his question. Babar then continued: “It’s not for the player to decide [which format to skip]; a player’s job is to play. In my opinion, every player should play every form of cricket. You shouldn’t focus only on the white ball or T20s. Red-ball cricket gives you immense experience. It teaches you how to build an innings and gives you patience. When you play four-day cricket or any domestic circuit, you gain the experience …

‘Personal attacks’: Babar Azam doesn’t hold back, goes off on the 90s vs current Pakistan players debate

‘Personal attacks’: Babar Azam doesn’t hold back, goes off on the 90s vs current Pakistan players debate

Published by Parlour News

Salman Ali Agha-led Pakistan had a dismal T20 World Cup 2026 campaign, failing to qualify for the semi-finals. However, apart from the poor performance on the field, the Pakistan squad’s players were seen having back-and-forth with former cricketers, and Shadab Khan was right at the centre of a major controversy. After the loss against India in Colombo, Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Yousuf called for Shadab to be dropped from the team, and in response, the all-rounder questioned the credentials of the two, saying they had never been part of a team that beat India in the World Cup. Pakistan’s Babar Azam runs between the wickets. (AFP) Two months after this row, Pakistan batter Babar Azam, who is currently leading Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2026, weighed in on the constant tussle between former and current Pakistan players, saying there needs to be respect and one shouldn’t resort to personal attacks. Babar sided with Shadab, saying he doesn’t understand why a controversy is created when a current player speaks up for himself, but …

Babar Azam matches record held by Virat Kohli, Abhishek Sharma with blistering 2nd century in 4 PSL matches | Cricket News

Babar Azam matches record held by Virat Kohli, Abhishek Sharma with blistering 2nd century in 4 PSL matches | Cricket News

Published by Webster

2 min readUpdated: Apr 29, 2026 06:27 PM IST Babar Azam’s incredibly long dry run has made the former Pakistan captain the subject of multiple jokes and headlines but the 31-year-old has recently shown signs of a revival. Playing for Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League, Babar is the highest run scorer so far in the season having made 588 runs in 10 innings at a strike rate of 146.26 and average of 84. He scored his second century in four matches on Tuesday and with that, he equalled a record was held jointly by India’s Virat Kohli and Abhishek Sharma. Babar’s 103 in 59 balls was his eighth T20 century in matches played in Pakistan. That is level with Kohli and Abhishek for most centuries by a player in a single country in men’s T20s. It was also Babar’s fourth PSL century, which makes him the joint-most prolific centurion in the PSL along with Usman Khan. Additionally, this was Babar’s ninth century as a captain of a team in the format. It broke …

Pakistan cricket crisis: Aaqib Javed stands by Babar Azam selection, launches probe Into Fakhar Zamaan injury mystery | Cricket News

Pakistan cricket crisis: Aaqib Javed stands by Babar Azam selection, launches probe Into Fakhar Zamaan injury mystery | Cricket News

Published by Webster

Chief selector Aaqib Javed fronted a combative press conference alongside Misbah-ul-Haq and Sarfaraz Ahmed on Saturday, defending the decision to take Babar Azam to the T20 World Cup, announcing a formal inquiry into the post-tournament injuries of Fakhar Zamaan and Naseem Shah, and urging Pakistan’s cricketing public to break its habit of demanding wholesale change after every defeat. Babar’s recall to the T20 squad despite poor form in the format was the sharpest line of questioning. Javed said the thinking was rooted in Sri Lanka’s spin-friendly, low-scoring conditions, where an anchor batter capable of holding an innings together had tactical value — regardless of strike rate. “Being in the 15 does not mean he had to play every match. The coach and captain had the freedom to use him where conditions demanded a technically sound batsman,” Aaqib Javed said. Babar is currently sidelined with a finger injury and unavailable for the ongoing Bangladesh series. Javed turned the question around: “If we had reached the semi-finals, would he even have been fit to play? That is …

Babar Azam mentally unfit, not injured — Basit Ali

Babar Azam mentally unfit, not injured — Basit Ali

Published by Webster

3 min readMar 14, 2026 07:44 PM IST Former Pakistan batsman Basit Ali has flatly rejected the official explanation for Babar Azam’s absence from the national squad, saying the star batter is dealing with a mental problem — not a physical injury. Basit told his YouTube channel BasitAliShow that Babar’s batting and fielding showed no signs of a physical ailment, attributing the slump to poor man-management and the decision to bat him at number four. He said Babar has a fragile confidence and that whoever is currently in his ear has too much sway over his state of mind. “Babar Azam is mentally unfit,” Basit said. “Physically unfit he is not.” (Babar Azam mentally unfit hai. Physically unfit nahin hai.) He added that it was for the best Babar had not been selected — he would not have performed in his current state of mind anyway. Basit was equally blunt about white-ball head coach Mike Hesson, the former New Zealand coach appointed by the PCB in May 2025, accusing him of overstepping his role by …

Salman Ali Agha responds to ‘dummy captain’ jibe after Pakistan’s exit

Salman Ali Agha responds to ‘dummy captain’ jibe after Pakistan’s exit

Published by Webster

6 min readMar 1, 2026 02:19 PM IST Pakistan cricket team captain Salman Ali Agha was grilled by journalists from his home country in a testy press conference after the team was eliminated from the running in the Super 8 stage, which meant that for the fourth time in as many years, Pakistan had failed to qualify for the semi-finals of an ICC event. In the aftermath, Agha faced a firing squad of journalists from his country, who asked him questions like whether he was ‘dummy captain for coach Mike Hesson’ and ‘if he would step down himself or wait for the Pakistan Cricket Board to sack him’. Despite the provocative tone of the questions, Agha navigated the choppy waters of the press conference with remarkable restraint. Here’s a look at the two confrontational questions (and Agha’s measured responses to them): Question: “It is very disappointing that the Pakistan team has been knocked out. You showed great intent playing at number three during the Sri Lanka and Australia series, but this entire tournament hasn’t gone …

Mohammad Amir reveals Pakistan players were laughing ‘like nothing happened’ just one hour after historic USA defeat in 2024 | Cricket News

Mohammad Amir reveals Pakistan players were laughing ‘like nothing happened’ just one hour after historic USA defeat in 2024 | Cricket News

Published by Webster

4 min readUpdated: Feb 25, 2026 02:00 PM IST Pakistan’s passage to the semi-finals of the ongoing T20 World Cup seems unlikely after their two-wicket loss against England in their Group 2 Super 8 encounter at Pallekele on Tuesday night. During the previous edition of the T20 World Cup in 2024, Pakistan had failed to get past the group stage, where they lost against the USA and India before winning against Canada and Ireland. Former Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir, who was part of the 2024 T20 World Cup Pakistan team, has now revealed how some players in that 2024 Pakistan team, led by Babar Azam, were still laughing just an hour of the loss against USA and behaved as if ‘nothing has happened’. “Those who feel they cannot sleep for the whole night. I was very hurt. Post the USA loss, there were players who were indulging in laughter. Our flight was one hour later after the match and there were 2-3 players in the team who would indulge in laughter. Like nothing has happened. …

‘Pakistan coach speaks about modern cricket… does he even know its definition?’: Salman Butt on Mike Hesson | Cricket News

‘Pakistan coach speaks about modern cricket… does he even know its definition?’: Salman Butt on Mike Hesson | Cricket News

Published by Webster

Former Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt has slammed Pakistan cricket team after their two-wicket defeat to England in the Super 8 on Tuesday which leaves them on the edge of an exit from the T20 World Cup. Butt singled out Pakistan’s coach Mike Hesson for criticism. “I honestly don’t understand the coach’s logic. Who is in the team, who is out, what is someone’s batting order? When to give someone the ball, when to take them off? Who to bowl against whom? He has just memorized a few non-cricketing terms like ‘match-ups.’ He talks about strike rates and ‘modern cricket,’ but neither he nor the others actually know the definition of modern cricket. He talks about power hitting, but look at the work they’ve done with these boys—where is the power hitting? Who is hitting sixes? Our players can’t seem to hit a single shot other than toward mid-wicket,” Butt said in a video on his YouTube page. He then turned the spotlight on the Pakistan cricket team’s shortcomings. “Let’s discuss a few things that I’ve …