Babar Azam centres on a firm defence from former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis, who described the under-scrutiny batter as one of the country's last true cricket superstars. Speaking on the cricket podcast Unplugged, hosted by Shubhankar Mishra, Waqar said Babar Azam and Pakistan ODI captain Shaheen Shah Afridi are the side's leading stars.
“Babar Azam is a superstar, Shaheen Afridi is a superstar,” Waqar said, when asked who Pakistan's last cricketing superstar was. The host had floated former fast bowler Mohammad Amir as a possible name.
Why Waqar says Babar is under so much pressure
Mishra pressed the point that Babar's strong numbers have not always translated into the kind of memorable match-winning moments linked with earlier Pakistan greats, naming players such as Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf and Shahid Afridi.
Waqar's answer focused less on Babar's skill and more on the cast around him. “The sad part for Babar is that he is alone. If there were four or five other big names alongside him, things might have been different, and there would have been less pressure on him,” he said. When a team's batting often turns on one player, he added, the pressure rises naturally.
He contrasted that with Pakistan's 1990s sides, when fans could readily name several top-order batters. Today, he asked, how many Pakistani batters beyond Babar come to mind as established names?
Tendulkar comparison and early-career expectations
Mishra compared Babar's burden with that of Indian batting great Sachin Tendulkar in the early 1990s. Waqar disagreed. “Sachin was never alone,” he said, pointing to early partners such as Sanjay Manjrekar and Navjot Singh Sidhu, and later to a deep Indian middle order that included Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag.
On Babar Azam news today, Waqar also linked the criticism to how quickly Babar set a high bar. Strong early performances, he argued, left supporters expecting excellence every time. He likened that scrutiny to the pressure around Virat Kohli, saying a short lean patch can spark talk that a star is finished.
Form, record and what the numbers show
The debate comes as Babar faces sharper questions over recent ODI returns even while his career record remains strong. He has 6,744 ODI runs at an average of 52.68, with 20 centuries — level with Saeed Anwar for the most ODI hundreds by a Pakistani batter. In his last seven ODIs, though, he has scored 243 runs at 34.71, with only one half-century in that stretch.
Waqar Younis on Babar Azam framed the issue as a team balance problem as much as an individual form story: one standout batter carrying too much of the load, with Shaheen Afridi named alongside him as the other clear superstar of the current Pakistan cricket team.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Waqar Younis ne kaha hai ke Babar Azam ab bhi Pakistan ka bada superstar hai. Unke mutabiq Babar ke saath batting mein mazeed mazboot players nahi, is liye pressure zyada hai. Shaheen Afridi ko bhi unhon ne superstar kaha. Fans ko yeh samajh aana chahiye ke team ke natije sirf aik batsman par nahi chalne chahiye.
