Pak vs SA: A look into Babar Azam's 'woeful' stats in World Cup 2023 so far

Pakistan's skipper Babar Azam, who is also the top-ranked one-day international (ODI) batter, has so far been unable to shine with below-par statistics in the ongoing World Cup 2023 so far.

The 29-year-old batter has only averaged 34.50 with a modest strike rate of 79 scoring 207 runs in the six matches of the tournament so far.

With three half-centuries to his name, the Green Shirts' skipper has the lowest strike rate among the batters with scores in excess of 50 runs.

His innings against South Africa today came at a strike rate of 76.92 and faced 66 balls to score 50 runs.

Babar scored with a strike-rate of 80.43 against Afghanistan while against India his strike-rate was 86.20.

On the other hand, emerging batter Abdullah Shafique is also on the list as he scored 58 runs off 75 balls with a strike rate of 77.3.

Earlier in the day, after winning the toss and opting to bat first, Pakistan were restricted to a 270-run total as they struggled to score big and were bowled out in the 47th over in the must-win game to remain in the World Cup 2023 semi-final race.

It must be noted that the Pakistan cricket team is on thin ice after losing three consecutive matches against India, Australia and Afghanistan. A loss in today's match can end their hopes of playing the semi-final of the mega event.

Earlier, Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and opted to bat in their World Cup match against in-form South Africa.