Babar Azam ineffective against Zimbabwe in tri-series opener, falls for 9th duck to surpass Shahid Afridi on this list

UPDATED: Nov 19, 2025 09:05 AM IST

Babar Azam ineffective against Zimbabwe in tri-series opener, falls for 9th duck to surpass Shahid Afridi on this list

Pakistan's Babar Azam reacts after getting out lbw to Zimbabwe's Brad Evans in tri-series opener in Rawalpindi on November 18.

Story Highlights:

Brad Evans got rid of Babar Azam with an inswinger.

Babar's T20I average has dropped below 40.

Pakistan’s top-order batter Babar Azam got the monkey off his bat with his first century in international cricket in the recently-concluded ODI series against Sri Lanka. However, the game of cricket is a great leveller. In the T20I tri-series opener, Babar fell for a three-ball duck to Zimbabwe pacer Brad Evans in the run chase of 148 at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on November 18.

This was Babar’s ninth duck in T20Is. He surpassed former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi who had eight ducks from 99 T20Is. Now, Babar is only behind two batters on the list of most T20I ducks for Pakistan. Umar Akmal has 10 ducks from 84 T20Is. Babar's current teammate Saim Ayub has 10 ducks from just 52 T20Is.

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The top spot belongs to former Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka with 14 ducks from 114 T20Is. Shanaka will be in action in Rawalpindi as well in their first T20I of the tri-series against Zimbabwe on November 20.

Babar recently made his T20I comeback. He scored his 37th T20I half-century earlier this month. Currently, he is the highest run-scorer in T20Is but his average has dropped below 40 (39.46).

Babar fighting for a spot in T20 World Cup squad

Babar will have to prove himself if he wants to retain his spot in the squad for next year's T20 World Cup. After missing the series against South Africa, Fakhar Zaman made an impressive comeback. The southpaw batted at no.5 and scored 44 runs from 32 balls. Pakistan will face Sri Lanka in their next clash at the same venue on November 22.

Pakistan survive Zimbabwe scare

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe gave Pakistan a scare despite posting a non-threatening total of 147/8. Pakistan openers batted like ODIs with Sahibzada Farhan scoring 16 off 15 balls and Ayub managing 22 runs from 26 deliveries. After failing to use the powerplay overs, they lost four wickets for 54 runs in the 10th over. Captain Salman Agha departed after scoring just one run.

Zaman pushed the scoring rate. Later, wicketkeeper-batter Usman Khan and in-form all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz ensured that Pakistan got over the line with four balls to spare.