Karachi Kings lost their 5th match and are yet to register a win in this season of the Pakistan Super League. In their 4th match against Peshawar Zalmi, Babar Azam, who was undefeated on 90 (63), could not manage to win the game for his team. However, at one stage, Azam was playing on 65 (54), and a late flourish gave his strike rate a much-needed boost. Azam has a strike of 122.9 as an opener in PSL, and in this piece, we try to analyze his T20 batting approach by putting team dynamics into play.
PSL
Five players have more than 1000 runs as an opener in PSL, and Azam’s strike rate is the lowest at 122.9. If we combine the returns of these five players, the strike rate is at 138.4. Azam is way behind, but he does provide much more consistency with a high average of 47.74.
Overall in PSL, 11 players have managed to cross the 1000-run mark, and only Ahmed Shehzad (120.06) has a lower strike rate than Azam’s 121.26. But T20 is not only about strike rate, as he has the most number of fifties in PSL, 22, which is the total number of fifties of the next two players.
Team
The entire batting unit of Karachi Kings has been a failure. No other player except Azam has an average of above 30. Without consistency, there is no point in talking about strike rates. In five matches, the batting unit has managed only three 50-plus stands – all of them had Azam as one of the batters. The dependency for the stability of the innings has further put pressure on Azam, who has to curb any attacking shots even when the opportunity is there.
Comparing the performance of the top four run-getters for Karachi Kings to the previous season, we see the difference in strike rate for Azam as the other three batters are performing consistently and have a high strike rate. All of them have an average of above 30. A performing batting order allows an opener like Azam to change batting gears when needed. The performance was also reflected in the tournament as Karachi Kings reached the eliminator before losing that knockout game.
Rizwan to the Rescue
The captain of the Pakistan team is the second-highest run-getter in T20Is since the start of Jan 2021. Amongst seven openers with more than 500 runs, Azam has the second-lowest strike rate of 130.17. Mohammad Naim of Bangladesh strikes at just 100. Azam is not way behind – even Quinton de Kock strikes at 131.32.
Mohammad Rizwan was recently named 2021’s ICC Men’s T20 Player of the Year. His batting was a perfect match for Azam. Rizwan provided consistency and accelerated as the innings progressed. Both the openers were able to score the majority of the runs for Pakistan, which shielded a stat that no other player with 250+ runs had an average exceeding even 25.
Both the players accelerate as the innings progresses. Rizwan usually bats at around 125-135 till the 16th over, and he is consistently striking well in the last overs, whereas Azam has failed to do so. It can backfire if he’s the only performing batter in the team.
Conclusion
An opener who is anchoring the innings can be due to many team dynamics as discussed above. Underperforming batting lineup, the absence of a consistent and attacking partner at the other end, and add to that being the captain of the side. It can be said that Azam easily will be the second-best batter in the team in terms of what he brings to the table. Add his skills to a batting lineup that has a mixture of attacking and consistent players, you make him the backbone of your team, otherwise, the player will struggle to find the right gear for his innings.