Babar Azam comes out of form slump, scores first Test fifty in more than two years but century drought continues

Babar Azam scored his first Test fifty since December 2022. It took him 19 innings to once again score a half-century.

Pakistan batter Babar Azam on Saturday notched up his first Test half-century since December 2022 during the first match of the Two-test series against South Africa in Centurion. The right-handed batter reached the milestone off 80 balls; however, he was unable to go further in his innings as he was dismissed by Marco Jansen on 50.

Babar Azam scored fifty against South Africa in the first Test. It is his first Test half-century since December 2022. (Photo by PHILL MAGAKOE / AFP) (AFP)

Babar Azam's innings was studded with 9 fours, and he batted at a strike rate of 58.82. In Pakistan's second innings, he faced a total of 85 balls.

The right-handed batter's last fifty-plus score had come against New Zealand in December 2022, where he played a knock of 161 in Karachi.

Since then, Babar witnessed an astounding slump in form, failing to surpass the 50-run mark in his last 19 Test innings. His highest score during this period was a 79-ball 41 against Australia in Melbourne in 2023.

Before scoring this fifty against the Proteas, Babar recorded scores of 14,24,27,13,24,39,21,14,1,41,26,23,0,22,31,11,30,5 and 4 in his previous 19 Test innings.

Babar Azam was recently dropped from Pakistan's Test squad after scoring just 30 and 5 against England in the first match of the three-Test series. He was then omitted from the squad for the last two games of the series, which Pakistan eventually won 2-1.

Babar Azam first Pakistan batter to score more than 4,000 runs in all three formats

During the first Test against South Africa, Babar Azam also became the first Pakistan batter to score more than 4000 runs in all three formats of the game.

Overall, he is the 12th Pakistan batter to surpass the 4000-run mark in Test cricket. Babar also has 9 centuries to his name in the longest format of the game.

In 128 T20Is, Babar has scored 4223 runs. While in ODIs, the right-handed batter has registered 5957 runs.

Coming back to the first Test between South Africa and Pakistan, the match is on a knife's edge. Earlier, South Africa had won the toss and opted to bowl first.

If South Africa win the first Test then the Proteas will qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final, irrespective of what happens in the second match of the two-Test series.