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Babar Azam and Shaheen Shah Afridi are two of the most overrated players in Pakistan cricket

Dr_Bassim

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There I said it.

They never perform when it matters.

Add Shadab the Showboater and Nawaz the choker and you already know the 4 players that will not do anything even before the matchday vs India.

Anyone who thinks Babar is a great or Shaheen is an ATG needs to stop watching cricket and start playing Go Fish or something easier.

Babar is in fact worse than Pathum Nissanka and the lot.

He is the worst player to ever don a Pakistan jersey.
 
What are you talking about? Our cricket is dead just see the level of our U19 batters and you will realize that in next 5 years we might not even qualify for worldcup let alone compete with big nations and blaming Shaheen and Babar will not going to revive our cricket.
 
We might replace them and we should do but the problem is there replacement will not perform as well.
 
What are you talking about? Our cricket is dead just see the level of our U19 batters and you will realize that in next 5 years we might not even qualify for worldcup let alone compete with big nations and blaming Shaheen and Babar will not going to revive our cricket.
Not entirely true.

We have some young exciting batters waiting for a chance.

Spinners bucket is full in all formats hence no issue there.

Pace bowling options look thin though.
 
Indians are too good for Pakistan to even compete.
Bitter truth is Pakistan will lose consequetively to India A even.
India is way way ahead at this moment.
It's really embarrassing to see this performance after a lot of drama . Indians will now troll big.
 
Yeah, let’s single them out when there are worse performers.

Shadab
Haris Rauf
Shaheen

All are absolutely woeful yet always make it to the team specially ICC tournaments.
 
Seriously how did we go from the likes of Imran, Wasim, Waqar, Akhtar, Inzi, Mo Yusuf to this bunch? heck even Afridi used to win us some games sometimes

Right?

You know things are bad when Afridi looks a brighter option than some of the chaff that we get to see nowadays.
 
Indians are too good for Pakistan to even compete.
Bitter truth is Pakistan will lose consequetively to India A even.
India is way way ahead at this moment.
It's really embarrassing to see this performance after a lot of drama . Indians will now troll big.
Yet our A side beat their A side recently, because they executed their skills better under pressure.

Our team will undergo wholesale changes after the inevitable exit soon, but you are shooting yourself if you are playing Babar at 4 in a T20 game.

Might work against associates, but top teams will rip you to shreds.
 
Every legend goes through a dip in form. Babar was at the top of his game from 2016-2019, his family should have gotten him married during that time after which he would have gone to the next level as a man and as a player.

Shaheen Afridi has just been unlucky with the injury. He gives his best but unfortunately the injury had an irreversible impact on his bowling.
 
Babar is the best all format batsman and the benchmark for the batsmen of this generation.

Shaheen is second coming ofthe great wasim Akram himself

Yeah.

The benchmark is probably 6 feet under the earth if Babar is being used as benchmark.

As for Eagle, Wasim probably chokes on his food everyday hearing this comparison.
 
Babar can stick to odi and tests. Forced selection after horrible record in bbl and even seeing records of lowest strike rate among batters over 500 runs in world t20 which mind include more minnow games then big team usually. Plus playing at 4 knowing he is more of timing player of newer harder ball and cant handle spin even worse.

Shaheen again proving useless particularly after injury shoved and persisted after clearly being outperformed by salman mirza in first game shows our seniority culture. Even Nasim could have been better based on recent form. Or just bowl 2 more overs of salman agha.

Shadab is till okay , has recently evolved batting bit more.

Nawaz also okay.
 
Fakhar Nafay and Salman can come in for Babar Shaheen and Faheem.... No need for Babar to score against Namibia and Agha starts praising him again.
 
Salman Ali Agha.

Our best batsman as he plays at number 3!

Has the world ever seen a worse number 3 batter in its entire history!?!?

Extremely limited with no range of shots, yet he is number 3 and our T20 captain!!!!


The more we do not fix the root cause, the more rot will happen.

- Agha the Captain is not a T20 player. Always fails in batting against any decent side.

- Shadab is a serial match loser.

- Shaheen is a serial match loser in tournaments.

- Nawaz and Faheem always fail in batting whenever the team needs them against non minnows

- Farhan is a blind hack who only knows how to swing towards long on and cow corner. Always will fail against non minnows.

- Babar — not a T20 batter!
 
Yet our A side beat their A side recently, because they executed their skills better under pressure.

Our team will undergo wholesale changes after the inevitable exit soon, but you are shooting yourself if you are playing Babar at 4 in a T20 game.

Might work against associates, but top teams will rip you to shreds.
My verdict is also that you should not play Babar in T20. Keep him in odis and tests,he will do okay if not brilliant.
But my point is if Indian A players (consisting of players other than present playing Indian eleven) play with main India team jersey against Pakistan they will outperform Pakistan. But why? I think Indians are not only better skillwise but also they are psychologically more stronger. And intensity brings best out of them.
 
My verdict is also that you should not play Babar in T20. Keep him in odis and tests,he will do okay if not brilliant.
But my point is if Indian A players (consisting of players other than present playing Indian eleven) play with main India team jersey against Pakistan they will outperform Pakistan. But why? I think Indians are not only better skillwise but also they are psychologically more stronger. And intensity brings best out of them.
There is nothing ‘mental’ about this game anymore, India is far and away the best T20 side in world cricket. They are not single faceted like England and Australia, they literally have every base covered. While the fans are complete uneducated idiots, this team is monstrous in it’s ability and it’s worth watching them play this format of the game.

The difference in skill gap between India and other top teams is steadily increasing, forget about this aadhi langri lulli Pakistan side that is playing Babar Azam as a middle-order bat in T20 cricket.

People will not like this, but it’s an honest fact. Our players can barely compete on skill-sets on a good day, they will disintegrate completely when the ‘rivalry’ pressure is thrust upon them.
 
Every legend goes through a dip in form. Babar was at the top of his game from 2016-2019, his family should have gotten him married during that time after which he would have gone to the next level as a man and as a player.

Shaheen Afridi has just been unlucky with the injury. He gives his best but unfortunately the injury had an irreversible impact on his bowling.
what? :ROFLMAO:
 
There is nothing ‘mental’ about this game anymore, India is far and away the best T20 side in world cricket. They are not single faceted like England and Australia, they literally have every base covered. While the fans are complete uneducated idiots, this team is monstrous in it’s ability and it’s worth watching them play this format of the game.

The difference in skill gap between India and other top teams is steadily increasing, forget about this aadhi langri lulli Pakistan side that is playing Babar Azam as a middle-order bat in T20 cricket.

People will not like this, but it’s an honest fact. Our players can barely compete on skill-sets on a good day, they will disintegrate completely when the ‘rivalry’ pressure is thrust upon them.
Add to that, 0 discipline and game awareness. Fitness on top of that, probably went back to the hotel and had nihari cooked for them.
 
Add to that, 0 discipline and game awareness. Fitness on top of that, probably went back to the hotel and had nihari cooked for them.
Yes, but honestly these lads can have the best discipline and the most astute game awareness, but we will still lose. We might not get dismantled like this, but India is still beating us 9/10 times.

Tell me something, are we confident that we can dominate England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand? Well this Indian team has destroyed those teams recently, so that gives us a perspective as to where we stand.

I’m not disappointed in the slightest honestly, our players are just not good enough.
 
There I said it.

They never perform when it matters.

Add Shadab the Showboater and Nawaz the choker and you already know the 4 players that will not do anything even before the matchday vs India.

Anyone who thinks Babar is a great or Shaheen is an ATG needs to stop watching cricket and start playing Go Fish or something easier.

Babar is in fact worse than Pathum Nissanka and the lot.

He is the worst player to ever don a Pakistan jersey.
Dr sahib I’m disheartened by your words. RizBarRauf-SSA are the future of Pak cricket. The youngsters need proper guidance from the seniors. The quad can provide that.

See the light!
 
Pakistan is not the best team on paper that's why we must utilize all options yes Fakhar will fail too but he's more likely to score a 40 of 25 balls.
 
There I said it.

They never perform when it matters.

Add Shadab the Showboater and Nawaz the choker and you already know the 4 players that will not do anything even before the matchday vs India.

Anyone who thinks Babar is a great or Shaheen is an ATG needs to stop watching cricket and start playing Go Fish or something easier.

Babar is in fact worse than Pathum Nissanka and the lot.

He is the worst player to ever don a Pakistan jersey.
Dr sahib I’m disheartened by your words. RizBarRauf-SSA are the future of Pak cricket. The youngsters need proper guidance from the seniors. The quad can provide that.

See the light
 
PCB must invest and prepare:

1) Sameer Minhas

Do everything they can to polish him under best coaches. County deal at a minimum. Send him Aus and England.

2) Shamil Hussain

3) Abdul Subhan
 
Babar can stick to odi and tests. Forced selection after horrible record in bbl and even seeing records of lowest strike rate among batters over 500 runs in world t20 which mind include more minnow games then big team usually. Plus playing at 4 knowing he is more of timing player of newer harder ball and cant handle spin even worse.

Shaheen again proving useless particularly after injury shoved and persisted after clearly being outperformed by salman mirza in first game shows our seniority culture. Even Nasim could have been better based on recent form. Or just bowl 2 more overs of salman agha.

Shadab is till okay , has recently evolved batting bit more.

Nawaz also okay.
LOL NO.

Babar should not be near the TEST team. Do some research and check his record.
 
For the first in Pakistan history they found a guy who could find himself in top 10 ranking in all 3 formats. WHen he reached that spot T20 format was played differently. Also Pakistan always relied on bowling more than batting. Now things have changed. He is also regressing. Probably he is older than stated age. That could explain his poor reflexes
 
For the first in Pakistan history they found a guy who could find himself in top 10 ranking in all 3 formats. WHen he reached that spot T20 format was played differently. Also Pakistan always relied on bowling more than batting. Now things have changed. He is also regressing. Probably he is older than stated age. That could explain his poor reflexes
When was he anything special?
 
They are overrated because the players of the past were much better.

However, reality is, we are declining decade by decade. Afridi and Babar will be appreciated once we hit the period where we have no quality players in the team and are struggling to reach qualifiers etc. Enjoy whilst it lasts.
 
Shaheen was a very good bowler. I think he was rated appropriately but has regressed recently.

Currently I dont think anyone overrates Babar. He should have been buried after the BBL.

Shaheen there is still hope that perhaps injury was limiting him but for most that has faded.

If you did a poll of most Pak fans before the world cup 90%+ would have said we dont want Babar. I am not even sure why Hesson selected him.
 
They are overrated because the players of the past were much better.

However, reality is, we are declining decade by decade. Afridi and Babar will be appreciated once we hit the period where we have no quality players in the team and are struggling to reach qualifiers etc. Enjoy whilst it lasts.
LOL NO.
SSA was outbowled by a guy making his debut in a WC. Yet they dropped him (way to go). Babar is a scam a fraud which should have been exposed years ago!
 
For the first in Pakistan history they found a guy who could find himself in top 10 ranking in all 3 formats. WHen he reached that spot T20 format was played differently. Also Pakistan always relied on bowling more than batting. Now things have changed. He is also regressing. Probably he is older than stated age. That could explain his poor reflexes

Don't think reflexes is an issue. Giving him the captaincy was the biggest mistake. His captaincy never improved even though he had 4 years on the job and absolute powers. He focused more on PR and his fitness also went for a toss. Also absolutely zero work ethic, Kohli works out religiously every day and spends time on his craft in the nets, even if he is not scoring runs he makes sure he is energetic and reliable in the field. Bottomline he plays his cricket as if he broke and starting his career from scratch.

With Babar you don't see any semblance of work ethic, he was out of the T-20 squad and had ample time to play domestic cricket but he chose to give it a miss. He looked very exposed and out dated in the Big Bash. He gets to captain a side in the PSL and top pay just because of his reputation. His ceiling has been achieved and his best days are far behind him.

Those saying he should only play ODI and Test Cricket, he has not scored a test century since the beginning of 2023, he is averaging in the low 20's and in the 2023 ODI WC, his SR was extremely low. He will not survive based on reputation or fan following for very long.
 
There is nothing ‘mental’ about this game anymore, India is far and away the best T20 side in world cricket. They are not single faceted like England and Australia, they literally have every base covered. While the fans are complete uneducated idiots, this team is monstrous in it’s ability and it’s worth watching them play this format of the game.

The difference in skill gap between India and other top teams is steadily increasing, forget about this aadhi langri lulli Pakistan side that is playing Babar Azam as a middle-order bat in T20 cricket.

People will not like this, but it’s an honest fact. Our players can barely compete on skill-sets on a good day, they will disintegrate completely when the ‘rivalry’ pressure is thrust upon them.
For me, that's not even my complaint and I guess for the majority of posters on here. India's vast resources, financial clout and its seemingly endless supply of big hitting batsmen dictate that it will be by far and away the best team in the world.

But what grinds my goat is the fact everytime we are beaten before taking to the field for the 2nd innings. All those cross batted shots leaving us 4 down in no time ending the contest. I get Farhan was nervous and had played out a maiden. But no need for the reckless shot.

Try and settle down and play your way in, the total wasn't huge and wickets in hand would have served us well given how thin and pathetic the batting lineup was.

At least they should be prepared how to combat the bowling, how exploit the weakness of their batsmen but watching them play seems like none of this is implemented, its all about trying get these useless sifarshi players into the team.
 
For me, that's not even my complaint and I guess for the majority of posters on here. India's vast resources, financial clout and its seemingly endless supply of big hitting batsmen dictate that it will be by far and away the best team in the world.

But what grinds my goat is the fact everytime we are beaten before taking to the field for the 2nd innings. All those cross batted shots leaving us 4 down in no time ending the contest. I get Farhan was nervous and had played out a maiden. But no need for the reckless shot.

Try and settle down and play your way in, the total wasn't huge and wickets in hand would have served us well given how thin and pathetic the batting lineup was.

At least they should be prepared how to combat the bowling, how exploit the weakness of their batsmen but watching them play seems like none of this is implemented, its all about trying get these useless sifarshi players into the team.
They knew the score was above par on this pitch, no matter how cool Agha and Hesson try to act now. Yes the spin might have been less, but slower pitches always get slower, unless dew sets in or there’s immediate rain. That’s basic cricketing knowledge, which was frankly lost on the team management.

That stupid jibe by Hesson to the journalist where he said the Australia game was a day encounter, because the pitch was definitely holding up in the first innings which was also under lights.

Anyways, the batsmen tried to go hard in the powerplay and Indian bowlers just stuck to bowling length deliveries cramping the batsmen for room. The pressure of the above par total and lack of shot execution under pressure did the rest of the work. These idiots would have thrown their wickets to a bowling machine, such was the pressure that score ended up creating.
 
I've been saying for years that Babar is the most overrated cricketer of all-time. He is very fortunate that he got to play cricket in the social media era. His agency exploited TikTok, X and etc to inflate his worth as a player.
 
There I said it.

They never perform when it matters.

Add Shadab the Showboater and Nawaz the choker and you already know the 4 players that will not do anything even before the matchday vs India.

Anyone who thinks Babar is a great or Shaheen is an ATG needs to stop watching cricket and start playing Go Fish or something easier.

Babar is in fact worse than Pathum Nissanka and the lot.

He is the worst player to ever don a Pakistan jersey.
The fact that Babar Azam played at # 4 shows that even the "thick tank" know that he doesn't fit into T20 and they just inserted him instead of leaving him on the bench.

How is Babar Azam at any time in his career a # 4 in T20I???
 
We all heard Salman say before the World Cup that if need be we will drop big players, but I don't think he has the balls shaheen finally after getting his rhythm somewhat back in the Asia cup went to play BBL and ended up getting injured again everyone says that baber has a low strike rate and that is his problem, but it is not the problem is that he is not getting any runs way to come to the World Cup because he is so-called good at playing spin to these people think that we are idiots. All he does is get out to spinners
 
Our teams all rounder's r not a Bowler or batsman how can we justify playing faheem if he isn't given the ball once
 
We all heard Salman say before the World Cup that if need be we will drop big players, but I don't think he has the balls shaheen finally after getting his rhythm somewhat back in the Asia cup went to play BBL and ended up getting injured again everyone says that baber has a low strike rate and that is his problem, but it is not the problem is that he is not getting any runs way to come to the World Cup because he is so-called good at playing spin to these people think that we are idiots. All he does is get out to spinners
Can he drop others with this stat in this world cup?

Screenshot-2026-02-15-173427.jpg
 
Great OP and you won’t get any challenge from most sane minded people.

One thing I want to bring up that is kind of related.

After USA match we had a lot of our so called pundits saying “you can’t drop Babar or Shaheen before such a big game. In these type of games you need experienced and senior players”.

It was only Amir who said it as it was that they need to definitely drop Drop Shaheen and Babar will not last against Indian spinners.

On a serious note, what hope do we have to be rid of these “experienced players” when some of the so called logical ex players think along the same lines.

I don’t know how we break this cycle. This mentality not only exists in the PCB team management, the usual chamcha brigade but not also nearly everyone from top to bottom. It seems there’s something in the water in Pakistan (Tbf there always was) that is reducing our populations brain cells and ability to think clearly.
 
This is the same guy who claimed Ubaid Shah is Muhammad Asif 2.0 and had already surpassed Steve Harmison. He's a complete joke of a poster.
I’m pretty sure this guy was the original Misbah cheerleader when Misbah didn’t even have any fans.
 
Great OP and you won’t get any challenge from most sane minded people.

One thing I want to bring up that is kind of related.

After USA match we had a lot of our so called pundits saying “you can’t drop Babar or Shaheen before such a big game. In these type of games you need experienced and senior players”.

It was only Amir who said it as it was that they need to definitely drop Drop Shaheen and Babar will not last against Indian spinners.

On a serious note, what hope do we have to be rid of these “experienced players” when some of the so called logical ex players think along the same lines.

I don’t know how we break this cycle. This mentality not only exists in the PCB team management, the usual chamcha brigade but not also nearly everyone from top to bottom. It seems there’s something in the water in Pakistan (Tbf there always was) that is reducing our populations brain cells and ability to think clearly.
Edit last para

I don’t know how we break this cycle. This mentality not only exists in the PCB team management, the usual chamcha brigade but also nearly everyone from top to bottom. It seems there’s something in the water in Pakistan (Tbf there always was) that is reducing our populations brain cells and ability to think clearly.
 
I’m pretty sure this guy was the original Misbah cheerleader when Misbah didn’t even have any fans.

This wouldn't surprise me one bit. Maybe that's where his approval of Babar/Rizwan stems from. Let's remember, it was the deluded Misbah, who came up with this opening partnership which has hurt Pakistan's progression in the white ball cricket for a number of years.
 
Farhan got out due to his failure to find the gaps..He often wacks the bowl straight to a fielder , which he did 3 times. The pressure of 3 dot balls made him play a rash shot,

Its just a lack of skill. Had he opened his bat face a little , he could have guided the bowl to 3rd man , getting a single , and not having to play a blind slog.

It was steady fall in to the abyss from there .
 
Below is a copy from my post in another thread:

Dunno if anyone else saw it as I did, but from his facial expressions while batting yesterday, Babar was scared. I can’t sugarcoat it.

I’m an Indian fan, I take great pleasure in Pakistan losing a game of gulli danda. But even I felt second hand embarrassment watching him

Other Pakistani players looked puzzled, angry, glum, defiant, disappointed. But this guy..

For a player who has the highest number of runs in T20i, who was compared with the greats, and is supposed to be a leader, that is unacceptable.

He should go.
 
They must at least drop them against Namibia. Can't let turn score or take wickets against them and prolong their stay for future. Just play Nafay and Salman
 
Also Manjan mean tooth powder. “Selling manjan” in the lingo means overhyping someone beyond their capability.
 
There is nothing ‘mental’ about this game anymore, India is far and away the best T20 side in world cricket. They are not single faceted like England and Australia, they literally have every base covered. While the fans are complete uneducated idiots, this team is monstrous in it’s ability and it’s worth watching them play this format of the game.

The difference in skill gap between India and other top teams is steadily increasing, forget about this aadhi langri lulli Pakistan side that is playing Babar Azam as a middle-order bat in T20 cricket.

People will not like this, but it’s an honest fact. Our players can barely compete on skill-sets on a good day, they will disintegrate completely when the ‘rivalry’ pressure is thrust upon them.
This is true. By almost any metric, this Indian team is one of...if not the greatest T20 team ever assembled.

Objective: Win/Loss ratio, Run rate, Powerplay run rate, Average score, Sixes per innings, Margin of victory
Subjective: Talent, Players with clearly defined roles, Freedom to play natural game, Balance between pace and spin

Now this is a relatively young form of cricket so it's tough to speak historically but as of today, they go in clear favourites into every game they play.

Of course they'll lose occasionally (though it's tough to see how today)...even the greatest teams in other formats Tests and One-Dayers lost the odd game.

It's absurdly tough for the Pakistan team though. Not only are they up against this juggernaut of a team, they also have several of their own deficiencies and to top it all, are carrying a huge psychological monkey on their back. It'll take a freak event or performance for them to win and even then, it'll be a flash in the pan.
 
These two shamelessly find their way in the team everytime. Shaheen was so bad with the bowl that a 50 year old Wasim Akram would have done a better job than him. The less said about Babar the better.


Honestly this is what happens when the person at the helm of PCB is given the position as reward for rigging the elections for the fauji suwar.
 
Yet our A side beat their A side recently, because they executed their skills better under pressure.

Our team will undergo wholesale changes after the inevitable exit soon, but you are shooting yourself if you are playing Babar at 4 in a T20 game.

Might work against associates, but top teams will rip you to shreds.

Where?
 
This is true. By almost any metric, this Indian team is one of...if not the greatest T20 team ever assembled.

Objective: Win/Loss ratio, Run rate, Powerplay run rate, Average score, Sixes per innings, Margin of victory
Subjective: Talent, Players with clearly defined roles, Freedom to play natural game, Balance between pace and spin

Now this is a relatively young form of cricket so it's tough to speak historically but as of today, they go in clear favourites into every game they play.

Of course they'll lose occasionally (though it's tough to see how today)...even the greatest teams in other formats Tests and One-Dayers lost the odd game.

It's absurdly tough for the Pakistan team though. Not only are they up against this juggernaut of a team, they also have several of their own deficiencies and to top it all, are carrying a huge psychological monkey on their back. It'll take a freak event or performance for them to win and even then, it'll be a flash in the pan.
It's India, that's why so much emotion is pouring out. It would be another usual day for us if we had got humbled like this by Australia, England and South Africa. That would actually be worse, because all three are much inferior teams to India in T20 cricket, but yeah no one will bat an eye-lid.

We have to first start to play consistently good cricket against the likes of Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa, then expect us to go at even keel with India. The decision to bowl first tomorrow literally reeked of arrogance as they thought they could compete with India as equals, when you have to devise your tactics according to your strengths. Basically gave India a free hit at setting up a total and put themselves under pressure on a difficult pitch which got slower as the game went on.
 
They must at least drop them against Namibia. Can't let turn score or take wickets against them and prolong their stay for future. Just play Nafay and Salman
If the PCB has a spine, they will do that.

Play 2 proper fast bowlers, and 2 proper spinners and get the bits/pieces out. Naseem, Mirza, Abrar, Usman - they are the 4 main bowlers to do the job. Nawaz/Saim to support. Kick out Shadab, Faheem, Babar.

Farhan, Saim, Agha, Fakhar, Nafay, Usman, Nawaz, Naseem, Mirza, Abrar, Usman.
 
These two shamelessly find their way in the team everytime. Shaheen was so bad with the bowl that a 50 year old Wasim Akram would have done a better job than him. The less said about Babar the better.


Honestly this is what happens when the person at the helm of PCB is given the position as reward for rigging the elections for the fauji suwar.

Shaheeen is supposedly 25 years old. This is when he’s supposed to be at his prime. Yet he plays like a washed up 34 year old.

Shaheen might have had couple decent deliveries in his career, but he’s never had a prime era or impact.

One of the most ridiculous cricketing careers of Pakistan.

Babar, Shadab & Shaheen show the importance of formal education. No questions about that.
 
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