Babar Azam

Babar Azam is a Pakistani right-handed top-order batter, born 15 October 1994 in Lahore, who plays all three international formats for Pakistan. Across his career he has scored 15,993 international runs in 354 matches, with 32 centuries and 111 fifties as of September 2026 — a record built on classical technique and consistency rather than power hitting. This page brings together his full batting and bowling stats, career milestones, records and honours in one place.

Babar Azam’s 15,993 international runs break down as 6,626 in ODIs, 4,771 in Tests and 4,596 in T20Is. His 32 international hundreds include 20 in ODIs, 9 in Tests and 3 in T20Is — a rare, even spread across all three formats. He is the fastest batter from Asia to reach 10,000 international runs and a former world No. 1 ranked ODI batter.

Babar Azam, full name Mohammad Babar Azam, is one of the four batters often grouped as cricket’s modern “Fab Four”, alongside Virat Kohli, Joe Root and Kane Williamson. He is a right-handed top-order batter who occasionally bowls right-arm off break, and he represents Pakistan across all three formats.

He came through Pakistan’s domestic system and captained the Pakistan Under-19 side at the 2012 Under-19 World Cup before his senior debut. His reputation is built on classical technique and timing rather than brute power, a style that made him a fixture at the top of the ICC rankings through the early 2020s.

Babar captained Pakistan across Tests, ODIs and T20Is and led the side to the 2022 T20 World Cup final. He stepped down from the all-format captaincy after the 2023 ODI World Cup and returned as Pakistan’s Test captain in July 2026. He also leads Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League.

Babar Azam’s batting record is strongest in ODIs, where he averages 53.43 with 20 hundreds — one of the highest averages among active one-day batters. In Tests he averages 42.98 with a career-best 196, and in T20Is he has 4,596 runs at a strike rate of 128.06. The format-by-format breakdown is below.

Babar Azam has scored 32 international centuries — 20 in ODIs, 9 in Tests and 3 in T20Is. His three T20I hundreds are the most by any Pakistan batter, and his even spread across formats is rare among modern batting greats.

Early in his ODI career he became only the third Pakistani, after Zaheer Abbas and Saeed Anwar, to score three consecutive ODI centuries. His nine Test hundreds include a career-best 196 against Australia in 2022. That century haul places him fourth on Pakistan’s all-time list of international centuries, behind Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq.

Babar Azam’s records are defined by the speed at which he reached major milestones. In 2022 he became the fastest batter from Asia to reach 10,000 international runs, getting there in 228 innings and edging past Virat Kohli’s 232. He is also among the fastest batters to several one-day landmarks, including the fastest to 5,000 ODI runs.

He first reached No. 1 in the ICC ODI batting rankings on 1 April 2021 and held the top position for roughly two years before the 2023 World Cup. At his 2021-22 peak he was, for a spell, ranked inside the top five of all three ICC batting formats at the same time — a spread rarer than a single number-one ranking. He is also the only Pakistani to win the ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year award, which he claimed in both 2021 and 2022.

Babar Azam’s senior international career began in 2015 and expanded across all three formats within eighteen months. He made his ODI debut against Zimbabwe in Lahore in May 2015, a series that marked international cricket’s cautious return to Pakistan, and scored a fifty on debut. His T20I debut followed against England in September 2016, and his Test debut came in Dubai in October 2016, where he made 69 in the first innings of a day-night match.

Three things stand out once his numbers are set side by side. First, his case rests on average and consistency in an era that increasingly rewards the opposite. His ODI average of 53.43 is elite, yet his T20I strike rate of 128 is modest next to the 140-plus marks of the openers who now define the shortest format. His value has always been a high floor rather than a high ceiling — which is why his ODI record, not his T20I hitting, carries his reputation.

Second, his 32 hundreds are split unusually evenly across formats — 20 ODI, 9 Test and 3 T20I. Most modern greats dominate one format; Babar’s balance, including three T20I hundreds for Pakistan, is his real signature and the reason he sits fourth on Pakistan’s all-time century list.

Third, stepping away from the all-format captaincy in 2023 did not trigger the decline many predicted. His pure batting stayed steady once the leadership workload was removed, and his return to the Test captaincy in 2026 suggests the board still sees him as the spine of the side rather than a fading name.

Babar Azam remains one of the defining batters of his generation. His career signature is balance — 32 hundreds spread across three formats, a former world No. 1 ODI ranking, and a place inside the global top order well into 2026. He is a batter valued for consistency and technique rather than spectacle, and his return to the Test captaincy underlines his standing as the anchor of Pakistan’s batting.

• Identity: Mohammad Babar Azam, born 15 October 1994 in Lahore; right-handed top-order batter for Pakistan.
• Runs: 15,993 international runs in 354 matches — 6,626 ODI, 4,771 Test, 4,596 T20I.
• Centuries: 32 international hundreds (20 ODI, 9 Test, 3 T20I) — 4th on Pakistan’s all-time list.
• Records: Fastest Asian to 10,000 international runs; former world No. 1 ODI batter.
• Captaincy: Returned as Pakistan’s Test captain in July 2026; leads Peshawar Zalmi in the PSL.

• Babar Azam centuries — full list by format
• Babar Azam vs Virat Kohli — head-to-head comparison
• Peshawar Zalmi — PSL 2026 squad & profile
• Pakistan cricket team — players & profiles