Pakistan skipper Babar Azam is among the most prolific scorers in world cricket right now and is widely regarded as the best all-format player on the planet at the moment. This week, Babar Azam joined former India captain Virat Kohli in an exclusive list of batters who have scored 1,000 Test runs in a calendar year. His special feat came in the second essay of the third Test against England at Karachi's National Stadium as Babar Azam collected 54 off 107 balls, making him the first Pakistan skipper to reach 1,000 runs in the 12 months. Before him, Inzamam-Ul-Haq had accumulated 999 runs in seven Tests as captain in 2005.

In the years that followed, no Pakistan captain, including the great Younis Khan, Misbah-Ul-Haq, and the recently-retired Azhar Ali, couldn't achieve the milestone of 1,000 runs in a calendar year but Babar Azam finally achieved it against England at home.

In 12 Test matches in 2022, Babar Azam hit 1,009 runs, including four hundreds and six half-centuries, and is currently in the fourth spot behind Joe Root, Usman Khawaja, and Jonny Bairstow in the list of top run-scorers in 2022.

Overall, he's the 6th Pakistani to score 1,000 runs in a calendar year. In the past, Mohsin Khan (1982), Inzamam-Ul-Haq (2000), Mohammad Yousuf (2006), Younis Khan (2006 and 2014), and Azhar Ali (2016) have touched the landmark.

With this accomplishment, the Pakistan skipper matched the legendary Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, Steve Smith, and Virat Kohli.

It is pertinent to note that Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for making a thousand runs in a calendar year on six different occasions.

On the other hand, Australia's Matthew Hayden is the only cricketer to have achieved it in five years in succession – 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli went past the 1,000-run mark on three occasions in 2016, 2017, and 2018 and is among the two active players to breach the thousand-run barrier for three consecutive years. Australian Steve Smith is the other to smash 1,000 runs in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.

Despite his marvelous record with the bat in 2022, Babar Azam couldn't prevent England from completing a 3-0 whitewash against the home team as Ben Stokes and his boys defeated them by 8 wickets in Karachi.

That's why Babar Azam has been at the receiving end of severe criticism from several quarters, including fans and former cricketers who have lashed out at him for his side's poor display against the Three Lions.

While some have claimed that he doesn't deserve to be compared with Virat Kohli, others have urged him to step down as the Pakistan skipper.

 

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Former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria even called him a “big zero” after England's 3-0 clean sweep.

“People should stop comparing Babar Azam to Virat Kohli. The likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are very big players. Pakistan have nobody in their team who can be compared to them. If you make them talk, they will be a king. When you ask them to produce results, they'll be zero,” Danish Kaneria said on his YouTube channel.

“Babar Azam is a big zero as captain. He doesn't deserve to lead the team. He is not capable of leading the team, especially when it comes to Test cricket. He had a good chance of learning captaincy by looking at Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum during the series. Or, he could have kept his ego aside and asked Sarfaraz Ahmed how to captain,” he added.

Former Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi was not in favor of removing Babar Azam from captaincy and urged the country's cricket board to support him during these difficult times.

“This (replacing Babar as captain) is not the solution. The mindset of the captain needs to be changed. Management needs to change the mindset, they need to demand a certain style of cricket from the captain and his team. If you have to take the Pakistan team to the top, you need to change Babar's mindset. It's not only his mistake or responsibility. The management also has the responsibility, they are so much more senior. They need to make the players understand on the style of cricket they expect from them,” Shahid Afridi said on Samaa TV.

“So, if only Babar is being held responsible for this debacle, it would be very unfair,” the former talismanic Pakistan allrounder concluded.

After the loss in the third Test, even Babar Azam admitted that his team wasn't good enough to compete against England.

“Definitely disappointment as a team, we are not good enough to fight back. First innings, we lost back to back wickets, good in batches, but that moment cost us. Bowling, definitely, your best pacer is not fit so that cost us. A lot of positive things in this series, but also things that we lack,” he said in the post-match presentation.