Legendary Australia keeper-batter Adam Gilchrist has criticized the way Pakistan’s ace batter Babar Azam has performed with the bat in his first outings in the ongoing Big Bash League 2025-26 (BBL 15) tournament.  

Playing for the Sydney Sixers, Babar Azam has failed to produce his usual fluid performance and has scored only two fifties amidst a run of single-digit scores. He scored 2, 9, and 2 in five games, while his half-century—58 against Sydney Thunder—came in 42 balls, and his 58* against Melbourne Renegades came in 46 deliveries while opening the batting.

After Babar's half-century, the stadium exploded in delight, but former Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist questioned his approach during the chase.

While providing analysis for Fox Cricket, Gilchrist stated that Babar's "run-a-ball" tactic unfairly puts pressure on other batters.

“A lot of balls [off his shots] would go square of the wicket or behind just with a little touch. He is not known to have a really power-packed game. It’s not often he is going to hoick across the line and slog one over the boundary for a six. It’s all about building the innings. He’s got his foundation now, but he still has to be proactive. He can’t just think run-a-ball and then place all the responsibility on his batting partner to get it done,” Gilchrist said while commentating on Fox Sports. 

Babar, 31, has only scored two half-centuries in T20Is since the most recent T20 World Cup in the United States and the West Indies in mid-last year.

In T20Is this year, he has scored 206 runs in eight innings at an average of 34.33, with two half-centuries and a dreadful strike rate of 114.44. Babar Azam was left out of Pakistan's three-T20I trip to Sri Lanka, which begins on January 7, because of his poor 20-over form.