Babar Azam total centuries across all formats: ODI, T20I and Test

Babar Azam has scored a total of 31 centuries across all three formats of the game – Tests, One-Day Internationals and T20 Internationals. The man has come a long way ever since making his debut for the Pakistan cricket team at the top level back in 2015.

When he started playing the sport, Babar Azam was regarded as the next big thing in the country and he has stayed true to the reputation. Though he is already being compared to Virat Kohli, Babar Azam is in the league of his own carrying a fragile Pakistan batting line-up on his own smashing as many as 31 centuries.

Babar Azam’s centuries have often come at a time when Pakistan have been in deep trouble and more often than not, he has taken them to a win. While he has done well in Tests, ODI cricket and T20I cricket is where Babar has been great. He was also named the ICC ODI cricketer once.

Babar Azam total centuries in cricket

Test centuries

Babar Azam is yet to achieve that kind of greatness when it comes to Test cricket. It took him a bit of time to settle down in red-ball cricket but seems to have got a hang of it now. He has played 54 Test matches so far for the Pakistan team, scoring 3962 runs with as many as nine centuries to his name. His batting average of 44.51 is also brilliant but needs to be consistent in the long run to maintain it even after playing 100 Tests.

ODI centuries

Babar Azam loves the ODI format, that is for sure. He averages a staggering 56.72 in the 50-over format after featuring in 117 matches amassing 5729 runs for his country. Babar Azam has overall smashed 19 centuries in the fifty-over format with the highest score of 158. With a lot of players scoring double centuries in ODIs nowadays, fans will be backing Babar to become the second Pakistani batter to do the honours and score a double century in an ODI match.

T20I centuries

Babar Azam has played a massive 123 T20Is for Pakistan in the shortest format. He is fond of even this format opening the innings mostly with Mohammad Rizwan. He also played a crucial role in becoming the first captain of Pakistan to beat arch-rivals India in a World Cup match. In terms of centuries, Babar Azam has smashed three of them in T20I cricket amassing 4145 runs at a brilliant average of 41.03 which proves his supreme consistency in the format.

Outside of Pakistan, UAE has been one of Babar’s favourite venues with the Abu Dhabi cricket stadium giving him a lot of success. He has also scored runs in the Rawalpindi cricket stadium and has an ODI century in most places across the world.

Babar Azam most hundreds against each country

Test

In Test cricket, Babar Azam has scored nine centuries in 54 matches. He has scored three of them against Sri Lanka, his favourite opposition which is the most of his career. He has smacked two tons each against Australia and New Zealand. Bangladesh and England have borne the brunt of his centuries once each in the format. Babar Azam is yet to score a single Test ton against Ireland, West Indies, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

When it comes to scoring centuries away from home, Babar Azam has scored six of them in Pakistan, at home while the rest of the three tons have come in Australia, UAE (Pakistan’s home away from home) and Sri Lanka. Despite playing in 11 different nations, Babar Azam has not scored a Test century in seven of those countries.

ODI

Babar Azam might not have scored a single century in Tests against West Indies. But he loves the Caribbean bowling attack in the ODIs having pummelled five tons against them. Sri Lanka and Australia continue to be his other favourite oppositions with three ODI tons each against them while Babar Azam has scored two tons each against England and Zimbabwe. Against New Zealand and South Africa, the Pakistan superstar has crossed a ton once each so far. Interestingly, teams like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Ireland and the Netherlands have managed to keep him quiet.

T20Is

It is very tough to score a century in the T20 format but while opening the innings, Babar Azam has managed to stun oppositions three times. Babar Azam’s three T20I centuries have come against England, South Africa and New Zealand. Babar also leads his side in the Pakistan Super League and has been Pakistan skipper for a number of years.

Babar Azam centuries by year (all formats)

Ever since making his debut in international cricket, Babar Azam hasn’t dropped his guard even once scoring a century in almost every calendar year while playing for Pakistan. He couldn’t score a century in his debut season in 2015, but since then till the end of 2023, he managed to make an impact with the bat smashing three-figure scores on a consistent basis. However, 2024 hasn’t been as kind to him and he’s struggled big time.

The year 2016 witnessed Babar score three centuries in 20 international matches amassing 1063 runs at an average of 50.61. In the next couple of years, Babar Azam scored six more centuries – 4 in 2017 and 2 in 2018, but the average dropped below 50 having played 34 and 38 matches respectively in those two calendar years.

He had his best year in 2019 when Pakistan cricket’s batting superstar scored six centuries. After playing 36 matches, he scored 2082 runs at a staggering average of 57.61. The year 2020 didn’t have many matches thanks to COVID but Babar Azam was extremely consistent even then, averaging 69.58 in 15 international matches. However, he could add only two tons to his name in the year.

The year 2021 saw Babar hit only three tons across formats in 43 matches. He also averaged only 40.93 but remained Pakistan’s top batsman.

Then came the year 2022 when Babar Azam was in prime form. The man made it count, smashing a whopping eight centuries across three formats. In 44 international matches, Babar Azam scored 2598 runs at an average of 54.12 resuming his path to greatness.

In 2023, Babar scored only three centuries with captaincy also taking a toll on him. Behind the scenes activities were causing Babar’s batting to fail and he was also ousted from captaincy. The year 2024 has been the poorest for Babar where he has failed to score even one century across formats.

Babar Azam vs Virat Kohli centuries

Babar Azam is often compared to Virat Kohli. Perhaps, he is often called Pakistan’s Virat Kohli. Clearly, the comparison is unfair to both Babar Azam and Virat Kohli. The latter made his international debut way back in 2008 and has already achieved a lot at the international level. On the other hand, Babar Azam is destined to achieve greatness but hasn’t been able to do it. Fairly so, as he only made his debut in 2015 and has only played eight years of international cricket so far.

Clearly, the difference in the number of centuries between the two players is huge. Yes, Babar Azam will have to be supremely consistent in all formats of the sport to even get close to Virat Kohli. The former India skipper has so far hit 80 centuries in international cricket while Babar Azam’s century count is still 31. At the same time, one has to also consider that Babar Azam has only played 294 international matches while Virat Kohli has featured in 533 games at the top level of cricket.

FAQs

Babar Azam total ODI centuries

Babar Azam has so far scored 19 centuries in the ODI format after playing 117 matches since playing his first ODI match in 2015. He has also led Pakistan in the format and been one of the greatest players in the cricket world.

Babar Azam has the most centuries against which team?

Babar Azam has the most centuries against Sri Lanka crossing the 100-run mark six times against them in international cricket.

Babar Azam centuries against Zimbabwe

Babar Azam has overall scored only two centuries against Zimbabwe after playing a total of 18 matches against them across all formats.