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“They keep going on about the fab four, it’s the fab five and Babar Azam is in that”: Nasser Hussain

Babar azam has a problem with daddy hundreds which he hasn’t shown an in inclination for till now
 
Slog said:
Babar azam has a problem with daddy hundreds which he hasn’t shown an in inclination for till now
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Can’t expect him to score daddy hundreds in the current English conditions where both the teams are struggling to put 200 on the board each innings. Babar has easily been the standout batsman of the series so far and he will cash in with the big hundreds when he returns and plays more matches in the subcontinent. I expect him to really have a stellar upcoming 5 years where he’s going to play some huge innings all over the world.
 
Slog said:
Babar azam has a problem with daddy hundreds which he hasn’t shown an in inclination for till now
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He’s playing his 28th Test match.

After the same number of Tests, Kohli’s highest was 119. Williamson’s highest was 135.

Too soon to be having this discussion.
 
Forward Defensive Push said:
Can’t expect him to score daddy hundreds in the current English conditions where both the teams are struggling to put 200 on the board each innings. Babar has easily been the standout batsman of the series so far and he will cash in with the big hundreds when he returns and plays more matches in the subcontinent. I expect him to really have a stellar upcoming 5 years where he’s going to play some huge innings all over the world.
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Playing at home is another important point.

Kolhi has seven scores of 170+. Six are at home.

Babar has only played 3 Tests at home so far.
 
MP2011 said:
Because that's all Virat does in tests, playing a few fancy drives?
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Hell no virat is a legend but the point was being gritty in tests is extremely important and Smith is just that
 
Forward Defensive Push said:
Can’t expect him to score daddy hundreds in the current English conditions where both the teams are struggling to put 200 on the board each innings. Babar has easily been the standout batsman of the series so far and he will cash in with the big hundreds when he returns and plays more matches in the subcontinent. I expect him to really have a stellar upcoming 5 years where he’s going to play some huge innings all over the world.
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A pakistani batsman scored 150 plus in the last match and another team chased 270 plus in the 4th innings to win the match.
 
Forward Defensive Push said:
Can’t expect him to score daddy hundreds in the current English conditions where both the teams are struggling to put 200 on the board each innings. Babar has easily been the standout batsman of the series so far and he will cash in with the big hundreds when he returns and plays more matches in the subcontinent. I expect him to really have a stellar upcoming 5 years where he’s going to play some huge innings all over the world.
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No I’m saying generally he has shown inability to play daddy innings whether it’s domestics, tests in Asia or ODIs. He is a great player but this is an aspect he needs to get good at and show consistently before any premature talk of Fab 5
 
Slog said:
Babar azam has a problem with daddy hundreds which he hasn’t shown an in inclination for till now
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Kohli had the same problem until he hit like 4 double hundreds in one year alone.
 
Abdullah719 said:
He’s playing his 28th Test match.

After the same number of Tests, Kohli’s highest was 119. Williamson’s highest was 135.

Too soon to be having this discussion.
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Tendulkar's first double century came in 1999, after he had played 10 years of international cricket.

Double centuries are good to boost statistics but a quality player's first job is to become a consistent scorer, especially in marquee series.
 
Excellent player for his age but has been hyped a bit too much.

He does have the skills though.
 
Very impressive performance by Azam in the past couple of years. On his way to becoming an ATG.
 
Slog said:
Babar azam has a problem with daddy hundreds which he hasn’t shown an in inclination for till now
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Both england are pakistan are struggling to get 250 on the board in any innings in tough tough batting conditions and you want babar to make daddy tons

Yeh makes sense
 
Zaz said:
Both england are pakistan are struggling to get 250 on the board in any innings in tough tough batting conditions and you want babar to make daddy tons

Yeh makes sense
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It’s a general comment. The simple fact is he isn’t making his starts count as much as he should. Happened in first test too esp when Shan smashes Babars highest international
Score to smithereens
 
The fact that most here seem to be missing is that that delivery wouldve potentially gotten every one of the Fab4 out as well.. Absolute peach. Unplayable some would say.
 
He is excellent.

Give him time. Do you guys realize the burden this guy carries at such a young age every time he goes out to bat?

All the Fab 4 except Root have openers that provide them with a nice platform.

Not to mention they all play Test cricket on a much more regular basis and at home. Something which Babar has just begun to do.

So shut up for a while.
 
Nitpicking, but 2nd inns failure hit Pak badly.
Even 45mins-1hr of Babar in middle might have inspired Pak to about 40-45 more runs with bat
 
Grunge101 said:
The fact that most here seem to be missing is that that delivery wouldve potentially gotten every one of the Fab4 out as well.. Absolute peach. Unplayable some would say.
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No, you can’t say that - it was a fantastic leg cutter which moved in air as well,!but Babar came shuffling in to play the ball through onside, then got squired up. First thing is, he misjudged the movement of the ball, otherwise top batsmen when set shouldn’t get beaten inside out with chest facing the bowler. That ball won’t have bowled him and I am sure at least Williamson & probably Smith would have left it on length. Had it hold its line, it would have slides down to avoid lbw - only way on leave a batsman could have been out was had it kept low from back of length and straightening on line. I know, it’s not that easy, much tougher to do than blogging in PP - but Fab Four is one such class which is not so easy to enter either.

Babar is a fantastic player, but his Test best is still under 150 for a reason. His defence is poorest among the five (you can add Pujara as well, that makes 6), and his concentration still is not that focused - otherwise he won’t have got out for 70 in first Test, on that track, of that ball - any of the four, a century was almost written (or may be excluding Root).

He can form another set of fab with his contemporary batch, but still long way to catch at least top three of the so called Fab Four.
 
i posted this in another thread but this is more apt place for it.



Babar is a good young batsman.. but he is no where near Fab4 yet in Tests, ODI or even T20's.....
Babar is what, 25-26 years old..
By that age :
Kohli has 5 Test Centuries in Australia, 103 and 97 in South Africa, Match Winning 50 vs SA under pressure in 2014 WC Semi-Final as well as man of series performance there.

Steve Smith had a double century at Lords, Centuries in multiple countries outside Australia, WC Quarterfinal 50 and Semi final 100, 93 on a Square turner vs India in India.

Williamson had centuries in India at debut, vs South Africa in SA, vs Australia in Australia in tests as well as ODIs, and decent scores in T20is.

Babar had one standout innings vs NZ in world cup, and couple of centuries against hapless Bangladesh and Sri Lankan attack at his home ground....Nothing of Standout in abroad tests except a few pretty 50s.
Please do not hype him upto the moon. Let him achieve something. Pretty 50-60s in abroad tests do not make him a Top level batsmen yet. Test cricket standards are not that low.
Yes ingredients are there.
Needs a consistent run of centuries as others i mentioned have done.
Till then, he is no where near even top 5 batsmen playing in current era. Warner, Rohit, even Finch in ODIs and T20's have more achievements.

But as usual, hype to the moon and don't let facts and statistics get in your way.
 
Abdullah719 said:
He’s playing his 28th Test match.

After the same number of Tests, Kohli’s highest was 119. Williamson’s highest was 135.

Too soon to be having this discussion.
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Precisely. Long way before it becomes Fab 5 and Babar is in it.
 
Grunge101 said:
The fact that most here seem to be missing is that that delivery wouldve potentially gotten every one of the Fab4 out as well.. Absolute peach. Unplayable some would say.
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He could have easily have gotten out half a dozen or more times this innings before his actual dismissal. He was wafting at ball way outside off and missing a lot. He was very lucky to miss all of them

He needs to curb these shots till he gets settled down. Thats what kohli did on his last tour, he left all outside off balls till he was well settled
 
Imo that was one of the best innings Babar has player in his young career. Absurdly difficult conditions to bat in, quality bowling attack, and Pakistan on the verge of a first innings collapse. He did well to play pretty much only at straight balls and I don't remember him even attempting a cover drive which shows real application.
 
Stuart Broad speaking to the press about Babar Azam:

"No doubt that Babar Azam is a really classy player which you can see by some of the shots he played"

"We knew he would be a big wicket and I was pleased to get him out"
 
MMHS said:
First thing is, he misjudged the movement of the ball, otherwise top batsmen when set shouldn’t get beaten inside out with chest facing the bowler. . I know, it’s not that easy, much tougher to do than blogging in PP - but Fab Four is one such class which is not so easy to enter either.
.
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Anyone can get squared up facing a jaffar and its happened to Tendulkar,Lara and the current greats plenty of times even when they're fully set the crease. It happens to everyone occasionally.

Also with plenty of rain/bad light breaks its much more difficult to get settled down. His dismissal happened shortly after lunch and that can happen to greats as well, where its like starting from scratch after every break.

That ball won’t have bowled him and I am sure at least Williamson & probably Smith would have left it on length. Had it hold its line, it would have slides down to avoid lbw - only way on leave a batsman could have been out was had it kept low from back of length and straightening on line
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Not even sure were seeing the same thing here. How could he possibly have left that ball?. It was heading straight towards his pads and the wickets had it not moved. Williamson or Smith wouldnt have left it either because it wouldve been idiotic to do so.

His defence is poorest among the five (you can add Pujara as well, that makes 6),
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His defense in general is top notch and is certainly not inferior to Root or Kohli IMO. He looked comfortable all day yesterday on a pitch that was seaming all the way, new ball or old ball.

He can form another set of fab with his contemporary batch, but still long way to catch at least top three of the so called Fab Four
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Im actually in agreement with you there. I do not believe he can be rated with the Fab 4 (or 3 in my opinion barring Root) just yet. On current form yes, he doing as well or even better than them, but he needs to do that for another couple of years consistently and get big hundreds to be placed in the same league. Ive seen him get out shortly after a 100 way too often, he needs to be mentally tough one to carry on after that into something bigger
 
hoshiarpurexpress said:
Babar is what, 25-26 years old..
By that age :
Kohli has 5 Test Centuries in Australia, 103 and 97 in South Africa, Match Winning 50 vs SA under pressure in 2014 WC Semi-Final as well as man of series performance there.

Steve Smith had a double century at Lords, Centuries in multiple countries outside Australia, WC Quarterfinal 50 and Semi final 100, 93 on a Square turner vs India in India.

Williamson had centuries in India at debut, vs South Africa in SA, vs Australia in Australia in tests as well as ODIs, and decent scores in T20is.
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Babar is not in the same bracket for sure, but that's a very high benchmark. Babar simply needs to capitalize on good starts to go big and help his team win tests. I think once he gets 1-2 big scores, it will then come more frequently.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Babar Azam is currently the only batsman in the top five of the ICC Batting Rankings in all three formats:<br><br>1 in T20Is<br>3 in ODIs<br>5 in Tests<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1295685881899167745?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 18, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
In hindsight, Nasser spoke too soon and jinxed Babar. Should have let the youngster complete the series or be even half way there before making such a statement and putting him under pressure.
 
freelance_cricketer said:
In hindsight, Nasser spoke too soon and jinxed Babar. Should have let the youngster complete the series or be even half way there before making such a statement and putting him under pressure.
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This could be like the Kohli 2014 tour of England for Babar.

Need to see how he comes back from this.
 
Varun said:
This could be like the Kohli 2014 tour of England for Babar.

Need to see how he comes back from this.
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In the first inning itself, he ensured he didn't have a failure like Kohli in 2014.

Kohli 2014 was not a failure. It was a catastrophe of the level of Inzamam scoring 23 runs in 2003 world cup.
 
Babar still hasn't come to the levels of Fab four. I will put him alongside the same lines of Quinton de kock. He is much more technically solid but his outputs are similar to QDk when you consider that he keeps gloves as well.
 
Pakistan pretty much gave up this match once England crossed 300. Dont read too much into the individual scores, the game is done and they know it. Only those fighting for their spot will have any motivation left.
 
Babar Azam had 4 innings and in 2 of them he managed to get in. In these conditions and against this attack that was excellent by any standards. Now let's consider the two innings in which he got set:

- 2nd Test he did nothing wrong, the ball kept swinging from over 1 to 80 and it took an absolute peach to get him out, he was praised by all the analysts for how he battled out there.

- 1st Test 1st innings, that was the big moment of failure from Babar. He got in and was set for a 100 but he played a rash shot on 69 in the first over of the day. That one mistake made the entire difference. Had he restrained himself there and went on to score a 100 everything would be different here. Pakistan would likely have won the test, the series would be ending in a draw, his ranking would be 4 or maybe even 3. This thread would be bumped for all the right reasons.

His first innings remains my only disappointment from Babar on this tour, that mistake changed everything. The rest he has been absolutely fine so far and anyone who has watched the series and knows the game would agree.

He has one innings left but even a 100 there wouldn't turn this series around for him I think. This should make him realize how important it is to capitalize on starts and what sort of consequences missing out on those moments can have. Playing for Pakistan the cards are already stacked against him, he has no support in batting and his bowlers are below par. His challenges are much bigger than any of the other 4 but that also means that his performances will be valued that much more.
 
Getting out early in Eng can happen to anyone but getting two great starts out of four inns and not converting is criminal for a batsman of Babar's quality.

This has been a below par tour and he has one last inns to salvage pride.
 
Babar might be a fine batsman but he still upholds that old Pakistani superstar tradition of bringing yourself down to ordinary level as soon as others notice you are extraordinary.
 
Bobby is playing his 29th and is around 2 months short of his 26th b'day and Virat had played 29 tests after the 2014 tour of England and was 3 months shy of his 26th b'day. Difference is Bobby averages 44.04 now and Virat was averaging 39.46 back then so clearly Bobby is actually ahead at this stage of his career . No need to put extra pressure on him right now. he may well become a 55 + averaging beast in another 6 years. Putting extra pressure on your best player especially considering the woeful lack of talent in pakistan is unfair to everyone involved.
 
Nikhil_cric said:
Bobby is playing his 29th and is around 2 months short of his 26th b'day and Virat had played 29 tests after the 2014 tour of England and was 3 months shy of his 26th b'day. Difference is Bobby averages 44.04 now and Virat was averaging 39.46 back then so clearly Bobby is actually ahead at this stage of his career . No need to put extra pressure on him right now. he may well become a 55 + averaging beast in another 6 years. Putting extra pressure on your best player especially considering the woeful lack of talent in pakistan is unfair to everyone involved.
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Top class post.

Indians on a roll :14:
 
Varun said:
This could be like the Kohli 2014 tour of England for Babar.

Need to see how he comes back from this.
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Babar performance in this tour cant compare Kohli 2014 tour.

Kohli 2014 tour was a disaster. Disaster is very small word :))
 
He can still be a part of Fab four.
Just look at Joe roots performance in this series and the series against West indies ,babar is better.
 
Babar Azam will make up for this in next inning he will score a 100. Babar Failure in this series is because opener cant even bat 15 overs so the new ball can be seen off. Babar will not score every series he is human after all and still young in this format. Even Grt Kohli failed in England before going on to become a great player.
 
lahoriyah1234 said:
Babar Azam will make up for this in next inning he will score a 100. Babar Failure in this series is because opener cant even bat 15 overs so the new ball can be seen off. Babar will not score every series he is human after all and still young in this format. Even Grt Kohli failed in England before going on to become a great player.
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This is pathetic excuse.
 
Mamoon said:
So Babar didn’t end Anderson’s career after all.
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lol

what do you think? Is babar Azam only to become a great limited overs player or will he ever make his mark in test cricket?
 
Very hard to come to this forum to read stuff when players are knighted and ****** on after every success or failure
 
Major said:
lol

what do you think? Is babar Azam only to become a great limited overs player or will he ever make his mark in test cricket?
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He is too good a batsman not to. I don’t think he will scale the heights of the two greatest batsman today (Smith and Kohli), but he will definitely produce numbers similar to Root and Williamson.

People who compare him to Kohli are only setting themselves up for disappointment though. Kohli is a great among the greats, and Babar doesn’t need to match him to have an illustrious career.
 
Looked very shaky and nervous today.

Difficult time to bat and not being helped by 2 terrible openers and an out of form number 3.
 
Saj said:
Looked very shaky and nervous today.

Difficult time to bat and not being helped by 2 terrible openers and an out of form number 3.
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Worst part is that he usually looks comfortable the whole time, even vs good balls that go past his bat he seems assured and only plays the line of the ball, doesn't follow it. Then just one ball he plays bad and he's off. Meanwhile, Azhar will play and miss about 400, jump around and glove or thigh pad every ball at his legs and still somehow stays in. So so so frustrating for Babar.
 
Nikhil_cric said:
Bobby is playing his 29th and is around 2 months short of his 26th b'day and Virat had played 29 tests after the 2014 tour of England and was 3 months shy of his 26th b'day. Difference is Bobby averages 44.04 now and Virat was averaging 39.46 back then so clearly Bobby is actually ahead at this stage of his career . No need to put extra pressure on him right now. he may well become a 55 + averaging beast in another 6 years. Putting extra pressure on your best player especially considering the woeful lack of talent in pakistan is unfair to everyone involved.
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Basically this.

Even YK was almost always opening test innings with likes of Hafeez as openers

Babar is good. Pak should back him up and he should end his career with 50+ average and 10k test runs.
 
Saj said:
Looked very shaky and nervous today.

Difficult time to bat and not being helped by 2 terrible openers and an out of form number 3.
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What is your say on night watchman point. Should have used to protect Babar for a long inning tomorrow?
 
Be patient with Babar. He is a once in a generation talent. But you can't expect him to play well every time he goes on to bat.
 
One thing is worrying is that we as fans don't have confidence Babar will get big 100 scores. We make excuses that he is young etc. He is 25 and played nearly 30 tests. He really should have 1/2 scores of over 150.

If you people want Babar in the fab 4 conversation he needs to get big 100s.

People will think I am criticising Babar, he is not exempt from criticism. I want him to be the best he can be. He needs to get improve in getting big scores.
 
Hasan123 said:
One thing is worrying is that we as fans don't have confidence Babar will get big 100 scores. We make excuses that he is young etc. He is 25 and played nearly 30 tests. He really should have 1/2 scores of over 150.

If you people want Babar in the fab 4 conversation he needs to get big 100s.

People will think I am criticising Babar, he is not exempt from criticism. I want him to be the best he can be. He needs to get improve in getting big scores.
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I agree. I have a feeling that such scores are not very far, he was struggling big time at the start of his test career in terms of producing performances but, at the same time everybody knew he is too good to not be performing in tests in due time.

He just needs to keep on working hard and maintain a positive mindset. With bit more maturity, polish, responsibility of being the captain of two formats currently and hopefully with few decent players around him in the team he can grow further.
 
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Hasan123 said:
One thing is worrying is that we as fans don't have confidence Babar will get big 100 scores. We make excuses that he is young etc. He is 25 and played nearly 30 tests. He really should have 1/2 scores of over 150.

If you people want Babar in the fab 4 conversation he needs to get big 100s.

People will think I am criticising Babar, he is not exempt from criticism. I want him to be the best he can be. He needs to get improve in getting big scores.
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Spot on here. He has a long way to go before he can establish himself to be on par with the likes of Root and Williamson, let alone Smith and Kohli.

His test record is solid but he has largely scored soft runs in Asia.

I'm sure we can agree that scoring 150+ in South Africa is a big ask when we consider the nature of the conditions. They were bowling friendly but he should have at least scored one ton. He will get another chance in the 2nd innings I'm sure, so we'll see what he can come up with.
 
Titan24 said:
I agree. At the same time I have a feeling that such scores are not very far, he was struggling big time at the start of his test career in terms of producing performances but, at the same time everybody knew he is too good to not be performing in tests in due time.

He just needs to keep on working hard and maintain a positive mindset. With bit more maturity, polish, responsibility of being the captain of two formats currently and hopefully with few decent players around him in the team he can grow further.
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Very true. Trying to carry the likes of Azhar Ali and being his subservient doesn't help his cause either.
 
Titan24 said:
I agree. I have a feeling that such scores are not very far, he was struggling big time at the start of his test career in terms of producing performances but, at the same time everybody knew he is too good to not be performing in tests in due time.

He just needs to keep on working hard and maintain a positive mindset. With bit more maturity, polish, responsibility of being the captain of two formats currently and hopefully with few decent players around him in the team he can grow further.
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I don't know how far off they are but right now it is a big worry. We can't just keep saying he is young etc. He is 25 and the best batter in the team. He should be thriving with the responsibility. I won't judge him off today. The worry was in the first test when he got a start and didn't kick on . On what was a good wicket for batting at that point.
 
topspin said:
Spot on here. He has a long way to go before he can establish himself to be on par with the likes of Root and Williamson, let alone Smith and Kohli.

His test record is solid but he has largely scored soft runs in Asia.

I'm sure we can agree that scoring 150+ in South Africa is a big ask when we consider the nature of the conditions. They were bowling friendly but he should have at least scored one ton. He will get another chance in the 2nd innings I'm sure, so we'll see what he can come up with.
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I don't see him being on Kohli and Smith level. But I don't see why he can't match or surpass Root and Williamson.

He needs to score big and I would like to see him improve against spin as well.

I won't judge him off today. It was in the first test, he got a good start and didn't turn it into a big score. On that wicket if it was Smith,Kohli,or Williamson they turn that into 150 at least.
 
The pressure of expectation on babar is insane and I think he is taking it a bit too personally and it is showing. He should just play normally.
 
Babar doesnt have the technique to be anywhere near fab four or five. Scoring 50 or 60 is nothing when your team needs heavy partnership. Anderson bowls around 84-86mph. Why couldnt babar batted outside crease or with stride to negate in swing? What are coaches even doing? Misbah is very clever. He knew there would be questions on the batting after this tour, so younis khan was hired to put blame of failure on him later. That way he will continue being head coach till his contract. The only thing misbah is sincere about is his beard.
 
There is no fab 4. I don't like this term fab 4.Steve Smith is undisputed no.1 in tests and virat is 2nd but overall in tests and odi.virat is much better than steve.Joe root is not good enough to be discussed with both the guys.Kane Williamson is not good enough.
 
As far as Babar is concerned.He is under a lot of pressure and it can bee seen on his face and the way he plays.He should just take it easy and play his natural game.He can be better than Joe overrated root and Kane Williamson.
 
lahoriyah1234 said:
Babar Azam will make up for this in next inning he will score a 100. Babar Failure in this series is because opener cant even bat 15 overs so the new ball can be seen off. Babar will not score every series he is human after all and still young in this format. Even Grt Kohli failed in England before going on to become a great player.
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Yea but when Kohli failed in England, no one called him a part of fab 4. Naseer wants babar to be called part of fab 4 not based upon performance but based upon pakistan fans perception.
 
If nasser believes in every word he said about Babar, then where is the masterclass show on Sky with Babar Azam. He did one with Kohli, Smith and even Root. He is blaming rest of the world for not creating the hype. He can start doing it by making a masterclass show with him to further increase his profile.
Babar is a decent bat.. but to say that World does not talk about him because he is not from India/Australia/England is ludicrous. Players get hyped and talked about based on their performances.
Babar does not have a single breakthrough series against Top 4 oppositions.. neither in tests nor in ODI's.
Heck Virat Kohli made his name by first Scoring a glut of centuries against top bowling attacks. He was not hyped up before that. Give the lad some time to come up with some genuinely world class performances.
Not pretty 40s and 50's against top bowlers and centuries against minnow attacks.
 
Mamoon said:
He is too good a batsman not to. I don’t think he will scale the heights of the two greatest batsman today (Smith and Kohli), but he will definitely produce numbers similar to Root and Williamson.

People who compare him to Kohli are only setting themselves up for disappointment though. Kohli is a great among the greats, and Babar doesn’t need to match him to have an illustrious career.
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Hmm..And what's your take on Quinton de kock and KL Rahul?
 
Azam just needs to just breathe and relax a little bit. Getting pinned LBW on the back foot (as he did last night) is a classic dismissal for a guy who is failing to open his shoulders and is letting the pressure get to him.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a second innings century from him in this match if he gets himself in the right mindset. Unless Anderson or Broad has one of their occasional raving spells, Azam is clearly Pakistan’s best batsman and he is more than good enough to score runs against these English bowlers.
 
Babar Azam is easily the best batsman Pakistan produced since Inzamam. His technique and talent is comparable to the best at the moment viz. Kohli and Smith. But to consider him to be at par with them when he is yet to play a substantial innings of any cause (win or hard fought draw) in unfavourable conditions is a bit of a stretch.

What is detrimental to him is that the Pakistani batting is too fragile. While Smith and Kohli have a plethora of batsmen who can do the holding job at the other end, almost always Babar ends up being the one remaining at the crease to sail Pakistan out of misery.
 
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Babar Azam in Tests

[table=width: 500, class: grid, align: center]
[tr][td] Babar Azam [/td][td]Span [/td][td]Mat [/td][td]Runs [/td][td]HS [/td][td]Ave [/td][td]100 [/td][td]50 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]overall [/td][td]2016-2020 [/td][td]29 [/td][td]1982 [/td][td]143 [/td][td]44.04 [/td][td]5 [/td][td]14 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]in Australia [/td][td]2016-2019 [/td][td]5 [/td][td]278 [/td][td]104 [/td][td]27.8 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]1 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]in England [/td][td]2018-2020 [/td][td]4 [/td][td]200 [/td][td]69 [/td][td]50 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]2 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]in Ireland [/td][td]2018-2018 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]73 [/td][td]59 [/td][td]36.5 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]1 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]in New Zealand [/td][td]2016-2016 [/td][td]2 [/td][td]142 [/td][td]90* [/td][td]47.33 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]1 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]in Pakistan [/td][td]2019-2020 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]405 [/td][td]143 [/td][td]202.5 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]1 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]in South Africa [/td][td]2018-2019 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]221 [/td][td]72 [/td][td]36.83 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]2 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]in U.A.E. [/td][td]2016-2018 [/td][td]8 [/td][td]527 [/td][td]127* [/td][td]40.53 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]4 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]in West Indies [/td][td]2017-2017 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]136 [/td][td]72 [/td][td]27.2 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]2 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]home [/td][td]2019-2020 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]405 [/td][td]143 [/td][td]202.5 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]1 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]away [/td][td]2016-2020 [/td][td]18 [/td][td]1050 [/td][td]104 [/td][td]35 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]9 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]neutral [/td][td]2016-2018 [/td][td]8 [/td][td]527 [/td][td]127* [/td][td]40.53 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]4 [/td][/tr]
[/table]

So far Babar Azam has good test career so far but he is still bit away from 50 overall average. He also needs to step up his away record. He has done well in England and New Zealand. His record in Australia is pretty poor but he has a 100 there , so the chances of him doing well in Australia looks good. The biggest problem with him so far is poor conversion rate in converting 50's into 100.
In comparison Kohli has 27 100's to 22 50's. Smith has 26 100's and 29 50's.
 
For our standard Babar is very good batsman but nowhere near to Williamson, Root, Smith or Kohli in terms of skill or talent. He needa a professional batting coach to overcome his limitation.
Also, Babar has lack of test temperament to stay on crease and score big. At the moment he is not a player to score 150 either in test or ODI. Also power hitting is another limitation of Babar in LOI matches.
 
Slog said:
The pressure of expectation on babar is insane and I think he is taking it a bit too personally and it is showing. He should just play normally.
Click to expand...

You, me and everyone else is responsible for the pressure mounted on him. Being the only good batsman produced by a country that has not seen a single decent batsman in a decade is his curse. He’s a great batsman really but now with added captaincy pressure, more burden is about to fall on him.
 
Slog said:
The pressure of expectation on babar is insane and I think he is taking it a bit too personally and it is showing. He should just play normally.
Click to expand...

Forward Defensive Push said:
You, me and everyone else is responsible for the pressure mounted on him. Being the only good batsman produced by a country that has not seen a single decent batsman in a decade is his curse. He’s a great batsman really but now with added captaincy pressure, more burden is about to fall on him.
Click to expand...

It is something new for Pakistanis to acknowledge but any contender for being considered world's greatest batsman is always under immense pressure.

You can still be a Kallis, Sangakkara, Dravid, Inzamam level batsman and stay below the radar for an entire career and score tons of runs with a decent average.

But when a claim.is made that you're the greatest batsman of the generation then things change dramatically. It is precisely why Ricky Ponting fell apart.

Ricky Ponting emerged from being under the shadow of Tendulkar, Lara to be #1 in the world from 2003-2006. Around 2005-06 is when people and experts really started becoming vocal about Ponting being the greatest of the generation and that is exactly when Ponting fell apart.

When the stakes are too high, even 100s do not satisfy fans who then ask for iconic performances, to dominate the best bowlers in the world, to win matches single handedly.

I am very hopeful Babar Azam can cope with this because he's by nature a very grounded person. It is and will always be his biggest strength.

From Australia tour onwards, I have not missed a single test inning of Babar Azam. He's a class apart but guys like Nasser should refrain from jumping to conclusions l, making political statements and putting unnecessary pressure on a young batsman.
 
babar's first 5 tests in england were more successful than kohli's first 5.
But babar averages 27 on flat roads in australia for some reason. Kohli's fame came in australia
 
Every top batsman has excellent support batsmen. Kohli has Pujara and Rahane, Smith has Warner and Labuschagne, Kane Williamson has Taylor and BJ Watling, Root has Stokes and Buttler/Bairstow, even QDK has Faf and Amla. Babar has none. Only when the other batsmen raise their game will Babar succeed. Even Sachin, he was always a great batsman but excelled when Dravid, Ganguly, Sehwag and VVS came along.
 
jeetu said:
Babar Azam in Tests

[table=width: 500, class: grid, align: center]
[tr][td] Babar Azam [/td][td]Span [/td][td]Mat [/td][td]Runs [/td][td]HS [/td][td]Ave [/td][td]100 [/td][td]50 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]overall [/td][td]2016-2020 [/td][td]29 [/td][td]1982 [/td][td]143 [/td][td]44.04 [/td][td]5 [/td][td]14 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]in Australia [/td][td]2016-2019 [/td][td]5 [/td][td]278 [/td][td]104 [/td][td]27.8 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]1 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]in England [/td][td]2018-2020 [/td][td]4 [/td][td]200 [/td][td]69 [/td][td]50 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]2 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]in Ireland [/td][td]2018-2018 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]73 [/td][td]59 [/td][td]36.5 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]1 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]in New Zealand [/td][td]2016-2016 [/td][td]2 [/td][td]142 [/td][td]90* [/td][td]47.33 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]1 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]in Pakistan [/td][td]2019-2020 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]405 [/td][td]143 [/td][td]202.5 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]1 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]in South Africa [/td][td]2018-2019 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]221 [/td][td]72 [/td][td]36.83 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]2 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]in U.A.E. [/td][td]2016-2018 [/td][td]8 [/td][td]527 [/td][td]127* [/td][td]40.53 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]4 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]in West Indies [/td][td]2017-2017 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]136 [/td][td]72 [/td][td]27.2 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]2 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]home [/td][td]2019-2020 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]405 [/td][td]143 [/td][td]202.5 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]1 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]away [/td][td]2016-2020 [/td][td]18 [/td][td]1050 [/td][td]104 [/td][td]35 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]9 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]neutral [/td][td]2016-2018 [/td][td]8 [/td][td]527 [/td][td]127* [/td][td]40.53 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]4 [/td][/tr]
[/table]
Click to expand...
Pretty mediocre away record to be called one of the best batsmen today.
 
sharmaji said:
Every top batsman has excellent support batsmen. Kohli has Pujara and Rahane, Smith has Warner and Labuschagne, Kane Williamson has Taylor and BJ Watling, Root has Stokes and Buttler/Bairstow, even QDK has Faf and Amla. Babar has none. Only when the other batsmen raise their game will Babar succeed. Even Sachin, he was always a great batsman but excelled when Dravid, Ganguly, Sehwag and VVS came along.
Click to expand...
Lol, Wrong on so many levels.
 
So as per sharmaji, Tendulkar started succeeding only from mid '90s.
 
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