SIMILARITY

For Pakistan, a big factor in 1992 was their captain Imran Khan, who was ageing at 39, but was still a talismanic force that could bind a team of supreme, but unpredictable, talents. The history of Pakistani cricket shows stability in captaincy is a much-needed glue, but also elusive. Khan retired from cricket immediately after winning the 1992 World Cup, but his Pakistani record of 139 ODIs captained still stands. Since his departure, only Wasim Akram, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Misbah-ul-Haq have had tenures of notable length. Babar Azam is shaping in their shoes. Just 28, he has remained prolific as a batsman. While these are still early days for him in Tests and ODIs, he has already captained Pakistan in 65 T20 matches — the most for a Pakistani captain in the new format. Among all captains, he is ranked fifth in a list led by Australia’s Aaron Finch (76 matches) and has the highest winning percentage among the five (67%).