Rarely, if ever, does Babar Azam go under the radar in Pakistan. It was only natural, then, that he stole the headlines in Qualifier 1 of the 2026 PSL with a second century of the season. After that game, Babar’s season tally stands at 588 runs, the joint-most by anyone ever in a single edition of the league. Peshawar Zalmi have lost just one of their 11 games, and now have the chance to win their first trophy since 2017. Also read: Four wickets in three balls: Pakistani teenager hits 149kph to claim rare PSL hat-trick Babar himself, mercifully, has looked a far cry from the batter he did over the past 12 months or so. He was in Pakistan’s T20 World Cup squad, but not without being told by head coach Mike Hesson that his strike rate in the Powerplay was not what the team needed. Against Namibia, after Pakistan had gotten off to a good start, he was not required to bat at all. What has dogged Pakistan’s star throughout his lean patch has been an air of rigidity. “He’s very much in his own world with his batting… not open to much suggestions,” Herschelle Gibbs said in 2022 , after having worked with him at Karachi Kings. Last year, Shoaib Ak