Babar Azam was born on October 15, 1994, into a Punjabi Muslim family. He was born in the city of Wallet and remembers the memories of “playing cricket and wandering like a free bird in those streets”. His cousins Kamran and Umar Akmal, who are older than him, were the reason he was drawn to cricket and their stories and his success inspired him. So he decided to take up cricket. He had been a ball boy at Gaddafi Stadium before joining a cricket academy and starting his national cricket career there and was featured during Pakistan’s home series between 2006 and 2008. He took charge of his first coach Rana Sadiq who taught him what to beat is. He later joined Pakistan’s Under 19 configuration.
Babar initially played national cricket for the Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited cricket team and for Islamabad Leopards as an up-and-coming player. For the next two years, he played first-class cricket for the State Bank of Pakistan cricket team and the Sui Southern Gas Company cricket team in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy respectively. In May 2015, Babar was included in the ODI’s Pakistani squad for the home series against Zimbabwe. He made his ODI debut in the third ODI on 31 May and scored an impressive fifty by scoring 54 points out of 60 balls. His impressive debut earned him a spot on both the Test and ODI squads selected for the away series against Sri Lanka. He was not selected to play in the Test series.
During the ODI series, Babar only scored 37 points in the two games he played. Babar was included in the squad for the overseas ODI series against Zimbabwe in September 2015. In September 2019, Babar was named captain of fledgling Central Punjab for the 2019-2020 national season. His team won the trophy by beating Northern in the final. Babar led his team in the 2019-20 National T20 Cup. He marked a century for his team in the first game, becoming the first Pakistani cricketer to score three centuries and more than 1500 points in the T20. He has been held by Central Punjab for the 2020-21 national season, both as a player and team captain. On 12 October 2020, during the match against Balochistan, he became the fastest hitter to score 1000 points in an inning (27) in the history of the National T20 Cup. In October 2021, in the National T20 Cup 2021-22, he became the fastest hitter to score 7,000 points in T20 cricket in terms of innings. Under Babar’s leadership, Pakistan’s never-ending losing streak against India was also interrupted in the 2021-22 T20 World Cup. In short, Babar is a pearl for the Pakistan cricket team. He had inspired many teenagers with his outstanding performance. For this reason, the Pakistani cricket team has many new and talented growing players.
