Babar Azam's Short-Ball Struggles Continue Against England
On the flattest pitch of the series, with runs there for the taking and Pakistan desperate for a statement innings from their captain, Babar Azam walked straight back into the same hole he’s been digging all tour.
England didn’t need a masterplan. They just went back to the oldest, simplest trick in the book: bang it in short, set the field deep, wait for the mistake. Pakistan’s marquee batter obliged. Again.
A Flat Track, a Golden Chance, a Familiar End
Pakistan’s final Test against England has largely mirrored their series: patches of resistance, flashes of quality, but too often undermined by soft dismissals and brittle decision-making. On this occasion, though, the tourists did show fight, grinding their way past 400 in the second innings on a benign surface that offered little to the quicks.
This was the road everyone had been waiting for Babar to dominate. The kind of pitch where great batters cash in, bat long, and turn fifties into ruthless hundreds.
He reached 76. Pakistan were still 42 behind England’s imposing first-innings 453, but well placed to close the gap and potentially set a tricky final target. Their captain was in, set, and seemingly in control.
Then came Josh Tongue. Again.
Having removed Babar for just seven in the first innings, Tongue went back to the short-ball ploy that has increasingly defined this match-up. The trap was obvious. The response was not. Babar’s feet stalled, his options blurred, and another promising innings died in the same, predictable fashion.
On this surface, it wasn’t just a bad dismissal. It felt like a betrayal of the situation.
‘Masterclass’ From the Other End
The reaction was instant and unforgiving.
On commentary, former England captain Nasser Hussain cut straight to the heart of the issue, contrasting Babar’s muddled response with the clarity of his partner Saud Shakeel.
“You bowl short to Saud Shakeel, and he goes down straight away. You bowl short to Babar Azam, and he doesn’t know whether to pull, hook, or leave,” Hussain said. “At the moment, Saud Shakeel is giving him a masterclass.”
That was the damning part. This wasn’t an unplayable spell on a spiteful pitch. It was a senior pro, with over a decade of international experience, undone by the same tactic, in the same way, by the same bowler, on a surface tailor-made for a big score.
With deep fielders already in place, the warning lights could not have been brighter. Yet the moment the ball was dug in, Babar’s footwork froze and his decision-making vanished. Again.
Fans Turn as Frustration Boils Over
If former players were blunt, fans were brutal.
Social media filled with the same theme: this wasn’t just a dip in form, this was a chronic flaw being exposed in real time. One fan summed up the obvious: “Babar Azam got trapped in the short ball plan and gifted his wicket after playing a fine knock…” The word “gifted” did a lot of heavy lifting.
Another simply called it what it looked like: “ANOTHER EMBARRASSING WAY TO GET OUT, BABAR AZAM. - Literally threw his wicket away.”
There was disbelief that a batter of his stature, and Pakistan’s captain, could keep falling for the same ploy. “You’d have thought that Babar Azam would be too experienced to have repeatedly fallen into England’s short ball trap,” one fan posted, echoing a wider sense of exasperation.
The pitch only sharpened the criticism. “Babar Azam missed out on big runs. Flattest pitch of the year. He had an easy hundred for the taking. And possibly more,” another lamented, framing the dismissal not as a mere error, but a squandered opportunity to break a nagging century drought.
One supporter even pointed to the numbers, noting that debutant Razatullah would finish the series with a better average than Babar. It was offered half in jest, but it stung because it was true.
A Technical Flaw, a Mental Block, and a Wider Problem
Strip away the noise and the pattern is stark. This is no longer just about form. Babar’s repeated indecision against the short ball has become a glaring tactical and technical weakness that opponents are now circling in red ink.
At this stage of his career, with the field pushed back and the plan telegraphed, he should not be getting caught in two minds. Either commit to the hook and pull, or ride it, or leave. Instead, he is stuck somewhere in between, and international attacks are feasting on that hesitation.
Tongue’s success against him across the match underlines it. Same bowler, same method, same result. On a flat Edgbaston pitch, that simply isn’t acceptable for a player billed as the anchor of Pakistan’s red-ball batting.
His dismissal has left Pakistan exposed again, with England needing only 130 to win the third Test and complete a whitewash. In a series where Pakistan’s batting has too often crumbled under pressure, the captain’s failure to lock in and bat deep stands out as one of the defining shortcomings.
Until Babar confronts this flaw—technically, tactically, and mentally—every opposition captain will keep setting the same simple trap. The question now is not whether teams will test him with the short ball.
It’s how long Pakistan can afford for their best batter to keep walking straight into it.
