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Are pakistan players losing popularity?

J

jnaveen1980

Test Captain
Joined
Mar 19, 2016
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Even Oman, Bangladesh players have featured ahead of Pakistan players in the cricinfo fan's rating. Top 10 is dominated by Srilankans. or they don't follow much?

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www.espncricinfo.com
 
Not sure about popularity but Pak players are losing their bearings for sure.
 
I have watched cricket for four decades and have seen and met many past Pakistani superstars. Only reason to be on this site is that nostalgia. Even with that passion and following, in this current team i struggle to recognize anyone apart from Shaheen and Fakar. Shaheen also due to his height and left arm bowling. A bit of Rauf as I saw him a few times here in MLC. Others are also absolute nobodies in terms of recognition. They all have no standout performances or personalities that attract fans to the ground. Unfortunately they are becoming like BD, boring and mediocre.
 
Babar is the only one who's "popular" among active players. And that too based on past performances.

Growing up watching so many legitimate stars in the 90s and 2000s makes the current lot quite depressing. None of these guys are even remotely close to the star power of an Afridi, Akhtar, Wasim, or even prime Inzi.

Win or lose, those guys brought attention to the matches just by being in the team.

The fact so many younger Pakistani fans missed that entire era is sad. They're left having to watch players with the entertainment level of a doormat.
 
I'm not sure of how the fan ratings work and whether it is accurate.

But fans of sports are fickle. One or two wins and they will back players again and pretend they never stopped supporting.

Popularity comes from wins and success. In cricket you have extra advantage in that your team doesn't even need to win but you can get lots of personal success. Unfortunately at the moment Pakistan is getting neither big wins nor players who can perform well individually.
 
No. Pakistani players are not losing popularity.

It may seem that way to blind Indian nationalists. They are out of touch with objective reality. :inti
 
If hypothetically Pakistan go on to win this tournament and Nawaz, Abrar, Saim etc perform well they all will gain massive popularity.

When they are losing and are newcomers in team they won’t have that much popularity or connect with fans.
 
kingusama92 said:
Babar is the only one who's "popular" among active players. And that too based on past performances.

Growing up watching so many legitimate stars in the 90s and 2000s makes the current lot quite depressing. None of these guys are even remotely close to the star power of an Afridi, Akhtar, Wasim, or even prime Inzi.

Win or lose, those guys brought attention to the matches just by being in the team.

The fact so many younger Pakistani fans missed that entire era is sad. They're left having to watch players with the entertainment level of a doormat.
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Past players has performance, charisma and skills. Current once look a temu version of the old ast players. There is not a single player who will bring in crowds due to their own charisma and performance. Whatever popularity they have is due to social media promotions by their PR team.
 
SportsWarrior said:
Past players has performance, charisma and skills. Current once look a temu version of the old ast players. There is not a single player who will bring in crowds due to their own charisma and performance. Whatever popularity they have is due to social media promotions by their PR team.
Click to expand...
West Indies atleast has that going for them. There are massively popular players still there.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
West Indies atleast has that going for them. There are massively popular players still there.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah. WI players are massively popular. Even in Australia and England they are very popular and always in demand in IPL. Most of them are also pretty committed hardworking players. I met pooran couple of years back and he was so humble and happy to talk to. I also met Rauf last year and he seemed to think he was doing a favor by signing a cap. I thought it would as because I was an Indian, but he was behaving similarly with Pakistani fans too who got ****ed and starting howling kohli.
 
I can't speak for Pakistani folks but on a world stage, 100%. Most are no name guys on a world stage. The guys that were known, you guys kicked them out of the team (for betterment or worst - I can't even tell anymore, lol). Only world stage known name in your team is Afridi. To top it off, no one really stands out - character wise. When you had past characters like Afridi, Akram, etc and compare them with these guys. This is not only a Pakistani issue, this is the same thing that's happening with SL and BD at the moment. Apart from couple of the guys, no one really knows much about the rest.
 
Too much rotation did that. Only a couple of pacers known in current squad
 
There's few internationally recognisable stars in Pakistan Cricket today. I personally have no idea what this Pakistan squad looks like except Shaheen who stands out for obvious reasons. :stokes
 
Being a foreign player who consistently does well in the IPL and gets picked at handsome amounts is very good for your international profile and stardom among the Indian population which translates into global stardom.

Pakistani avg players are only so called super stars in Pakistan but no one rates them outside Pakistan
 
I could barely name 2-3 Pak players in the XI yesterday.

Pakistan is now on the same road as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, West Indies etc where there are way too many players tried out thanks to shallow talent pool and so there are less players registered in neutrals' minds.
 
It's been a slow and steady decline and the interest from the public is a reflection as well. We now go into matches against India in the same way Bangladesh went into matches against us in the 90s and 00s. The gulf really is that big.

What do we do and what do we have that is better than the India cricket team and structure? From top right to root level - India are way ahead of us. It's not men against boys. It's men against toddlers.

India could field their D, E and F teams and they would compete better than our first team.

Yesterday was the 3rd time in a row now that I didn't plan my day around the Pakistan India match. Whereas 15 years ago - my entire week would have planned around the fixture. We were losing back then too - often in the biggest matches - but there was at least some fight, some skill, some planning.
 
I think the non competetion between India and Pakistan is becoming a new normal.

There is a huge gulf of difference in mindset, body language and skill sets between both side players.

I always called salman agha a nonserious character really and will call him same. He has no sense of what he is doing. Making big claims but results are worst than previous ones.
 
DeadlyVenom said:
I'm not sure of how the fan ratings work and whether it is accurate.

But fans of sports are fickle. One or two wins and they will back players again and pretend they never stopped supporting.

Popularity comes from wins and success. In cricket you have extra advantage in that your team doesn't even need to win but you can get lots of personal success. Unfortunately at the moment Pakistan is getting neither big wins nor players who can perform well individually.
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Not accurate

There was a game where Rizwan scored a quick fire 50 and Babar got like 20 runs and he had a much higher rating. People with agenda go on there and intentionally skew the ratings
 
Alot of nonsense posted as usual.

The popularity was because of the entertainment industry.

In the past, as everything was considered a sin on pakistani tv, so our entertainment industry was non existent. Cricket stars were popular because it was the only sport we were good at and featured international and in global media.

Pakistans media and the internet social media has changed since 2016.

When entertainment shifted from tv to internet, people got more options.

Even Wasim Akram is not as popular today as a tiktoker is, and this is Akram himself admitting to based on a recent event in UAE.

Babar is famous, because of global recognition. Pakistanis dont watch cricket now as there is more entertainment option. They only watch world cup or india pakistan matches, thats it.

Its based on whats trendy. There arnt that many true cricket fans here
 
Major said:
Alot of nonsense posted as usual.

The popularity was because of the entertainment industry.

In the past, as everything was considered a sin on pakistani tv, so our entertainment industry was non existent. Cricket stars were popular because it was the only sport we were good at and featured international and in global media.

Pakistans media and the internet social media has changed since 2016.

When entertainment shifted from tv to internet, people got more options.

Even Wasim Akram is not as popular today as a tiktoker is, and this is Akram himself admitting to based on a recent event in UAE.

Babar is famous, because of global recognition. Pakistanis dont watch cricket now as there is more entertainment option. They only watch world cup or india pakistan matches, thats it.

Its based on whats trendy. There arnt that many true cricket fans here
Click to expand...

Acha, means India has less entertainment options than Pakistan and hence Cricket is still popular in India ? While only Genius Pakistanis discovered Internet. India main toh abhi bhi 90s wale TV entertainment hi chal rahi hai.

Every Country in the World follows some Sport despite Internet and other multi options, only Pakistanis are unique na hi kisi Sport main ache hai aur na hi koi Sports dekhte hai, Cricket bhi nahi.
 
DeadlyVenom said:
I'm not sure of how the fan ratings work and whether it is accurate.

But fans of sports are fickle. One or two wins and they will back players again and pretend they never stopped supporting.

Popularity comes from wins and success. In cricket you have extra advantage in that your team doesn't even need to win but you can get lots of personal success. Unfortunately at the moment Pakistan is getting neither big wins nor players who can perform well individually.
Click to expand...
Champions trophy 2017, same ******** happened.

We lost the group stage match, and the whole indian social media and the ex cricketer brigade started this bakwas, that ohh these guys are soo bad. They used to be soo good, what has happened to them, this and that. They went on to say the same bakwas that our b team can beat them, oh the level of competation is disbalance between both teams.

We someone make it to the final, kicked the Indians in the ass, and they all stood shut. Infact, many of them ran away from the stadium and from these forums.

So yes, the moment they start winning, alot of people take u turns.
 
liam26 said:
Acha, means India has less entertainment options than Pakistan and hence Cricket is still popular in India ? While only Genius Pakistanis discovered Internet. India main toh abhi bhi 90s wale TV entertainment hi chal rahi hai.

Every Country in the World follows some Sport despite Internet and other multi options, only Pakistanis are unique na hi kisi Sport main ache hai aur na hi koi Sports dekhte hai, Cricket bhi nahi.
Click to expand...
What nonsense are you posting?

This is pakistan that is being discussed here, why is an indian taking offence at what we like and what we dont like?

Oh, and pakistan holds a gold in javelin, so dont come barking in next time.
 
Mesozoic said:
I could barely name 2-3 Pak players in the XI yesterday.

Pakistan is now on the same road as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, West Indies etc where there are way too many players tried out thanks to shallow talent pool and so there are less players registered in neutrals' minds.
Click to expand...
To be honest I'm the same with all teams including India when it comes to T20 Xi. In tests I generally know them. But T20 lots of random players come and go. Don't think this is a uniquely Pakistan issue.
 
Major said:
Champions trophy 2017, same ******** happened.

We lost the group stage match, and the whole indian social media and the ex cricketer brigade started this bakwas, that ohh these guys are soo bad. They used to be soo good, what has happened to them, this and that. They went on to say the same bakwas that our b team can beat them, oh the level of competation is disbalance between both teams.

We someone make it to the final, kicked the Indians in the ass, and they all stood shut. Infact, many of them ran away from the stadium and from these forums.

So yes, the moment they start winning, alot of people take u turns.
Click to expand...
In 2040. Pakistanis will still talk about 2017 win……
 
Even if I thought any of our players were popular. No player in the world is popular enough for Pakistanis to interact with cricinfo - and that might be your answer.
 
Major said:
Dont be butt hurt. Understand the context of the post
Click to expand...
Just kidding bro. Honestly 2017 was an insane resurrection from the dead tourney.

Outstanding performance in key matches. Very clutch at the time.

As for the performances post that? It’s more to do with t20 and the easy money it generates for players.

Why would someone focus on tests and develop skills to earn less when they could just go around the world play in leagues and win lucrative t20 contracts where the game is easier and less strenuous. They can prolong their t20 careers till they reach 40 even.
 
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