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Babar Azam : "I model my batting on de Villiers"

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Saj

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Babar Azam is a name that is already on the lips of many Pakistani cricket fans. At the tender age of only 15 he is seen by many as a bright star of the future and for many fans it's a case of it's only a matter of time before he is selected for the Pakistan senior team.

Babar has been a consistent performer at under 15 level for Pakistan and also in the recently concluded Under 19 inter regional domestic competition where he made 361 runs at an average of just over 45.

He was also a member of the squad in the tri series competition played in Sri Lanka a few weeks ago, where he made scores of 38, 127, 23 and 25 against the hosts and Bangladesh.

PakPassion caught up with Babar as he prepares for the Under 19 World Cup to be held in New Zealand next month.

"My daily schedule starts very early and I like to start my practice sessions at 7am. Normally I take a break at around midday, break off for some lunch and rest for a couple of hours before starting my afternoon practice for most of the afternoon and early evening" stated Babar.

"After completing my fitness training, nets and other areas of practice, I then concentrate on my studies. I have evening tuition sessions to ensure that I don't fall behind in my schoolwork, which of course is very important" added Babar.

Babar who will be a vital member of the Pakistan Under 19 World Cup squad continued "My favourite current cricketer is A B DeVilliers. I really like the way he bats and of course his fielding is also exceptional. I try to model my batting on DeVilliers and always try to watch his innings on television. DeVilliers is a brilliant fielder and watching his agility in the field and his anticipation is brilliant. Similar to DeVilliers I prefer to field in the covers, although I can also field in the slips and at point or gully".

Babar who along with the rest of the Under 19 World Cup squad is currently being put through his paces at the conditioning camp at the NCA in Lahore continued "I started playing cricket at a very young age and started playing tape ball cricket at the age of 11. I then started training at the NCA under the watchful eye of coaches such as Mansoor Rana who has been very helpful. My cousin's Kamran Akmal, Adnan Akmal and Umar Akmal have also been very supportive. Kamran is always offering me good advice and is really pushing me to work hard on my cricket. It's fantastic to have family members who are playing first class cricket and playing international cricket. They offer me such good advice and guide me along".

Babar felt that the recently concluded tri series in Sri Lanka was very helpful in preparations for the World Cup. "It was a very valuable series and we played some good cricket that will hopefully assist us in our World Cup bid. The training camp in Lahore has been ongoing for 3 days now and it's been hard work but really good. Ijaz Ahmed is really pushing the boys and we are all working hard. Ijaz is a very good coach and helps all of us on areas we need to work and improve upon.

Babar is yet to play any first class cricket but has already signed a contract with ZTBL. "I'm yet to play for ZTBL, but when the chance arrives I can't wait to play alongside the likes of Sohail Tanvir, Imran Nazir, Saeed Ajmal and the rest of the boys. Of course I'd like to play first class cricket soon, but the most important thing is not to rush things and I'm sure the coach and captain will give me a chance when they think I am ready".

The Pakistan Under 19 squad leaves for New Zealand on 30th December where they will play 3 one day matches against the hosts prior to the World Cup.
 

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So he's the cousin of the Akmals, that explains the resemblence.
 
How many cricketers are the Akmal family going to produce?

Nice to hear that he's taking his education seriously and the fact he seems very committed.
 
wow, such a clear head at 15. some of the seniors need to take a page out of his book re training and hard work.
 
Umar and Kamran Amkmal are his cousins? No wonder the lad can bat.

We need to ask the Akmal's to provide a few more family member's to the national team.

Anyway, I just hope Babar's not rushed into first class cricket. 15 is way too early.
 
Juggernaut said:
Umar and Kamran Amkmal are his cousins? No wonder the lad can bat.

We need to ask the Akmal's to provide a few more family member's to the national team.

Anyway, I just hope Babar's not rushed into first class cricket. 15 is way too early.
Click to expand...

I don't think that will ever happen again. We all saw what happen when we threw Hasan Raza into the deep end so early in his career.

Babar will probably have to prove himself at every level and in domestic cricket before he gets a look in. At least he won't get swallowed up due to the corruption in our team because he has "Influential" family members himself. :D
 
Good to see he enjoys watching De villiers play. Hopefully it will encourage him to field well too.
Hes only 15 and has a long career ahead of him. I hope he does well in the coming U19 world Cup. He is going to be one of the most important players in the side and Pakistan will need him to fire if they are to regain the trophy.
 
You guys may have to rename your national team to Akmals and co. soon. :akmal :umarakmal
 
Thanks Saj, you made my day.

If there is one cricketer in the world who I have a soft spot for, it is AB De Villiers. When I first saw him in the 04/05 debut series vs England, I thought he would end up as the next Kallis of S.A.'s batting. Good to see Babar Azam appreciates him and has a positive outlook on his fielding also. InshAllah he will have an illustrious career with Pakistan.

And seeing his connection to the Akmals, hopefully he will be given a fair opportunity. MashAllah good work ethic and good to see him valuing his education.
 
Wow, another Pleya from the Akmal family, After watching Umar Akmal play really well , i have a great feeling for this guy, Inshallah he might be able to play for Pakistan in a few years with the 2 cousins. This is the future for Pakistan, Lets hope for the best.

By the way, Saj bhai , Is he a lefty or righty?
Would love to see a new lefty in the team.
Thank you.
 
We were just saying the other day that he looks so much like Akmals but who would have imagined that he is their cousin. The way he played in U19 domestic cricket and Sri lanka, there is no doubt that he will play for Pakistan one day.

Good luck to Babar, he is surely a star in the making.
 
We determined the entire human genome in 2000, but it looks like we missed the "I can bat" gene that clearly runs in this family...
 
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so couple more years for him? Play some first class.

I hope he becomes a good option for opening.

Need to find couple more batting gems and really take care of them.
 
wow another akmal family member preparing to be in the team in near future. looks good from his words but he is very young and still long way to go and i agree with you all he shouldnt be in the team before 20-22 years old. i wont be surprised if in the future we see a TEAM of AKMAL's 11 rather then PAKISTAN.
 
DeVilliers is a brilliant fielder and watching his agility in the field and his anticipation is brilliant. Similar to DeVilliers I prefer to field in the covers, although I can also field in the slips and at point or gully".
Click to expand...

Since he understands how important it is to develop his fielding skills , he has my respect.
 
Good to read that a young lad is working hard on his game especially on fielding and models his batting style on AB de Villiers who is a great athelete aswell - Hopefully Babar can be an asset in the fielding side of the game aswell in batting!

P.S : That was a surprise though that he's "The Akmal's cousin"!
 
His skipper Azeem Gumman is very complimetary about young Babar, saying that his batting style is very similar to the Akmal brothers.

What is really pleasing though is that this kid is a genuine opening batsman. Lets hope that he is one half of a solid future opening partnerhsip for Pakistan, with the other half being Azeem Gumman himself.
 
Good interview..... seems like a promising kid :) Mashallah

And cousin of Akmals......


I think PCB should allow Akmals to field an entire team in next QEA trophy. I don't know if they have any bowlers in family, but in batting and wicket keeping they are self sufficient :)
 
Babar Azam can model batting on DeVilliers but De Villiers success is due to his fantastic hand eye co-ordination and if Babar does not have the hand eye co-ordination of De Villiers than he will never be as good as the South African
 
AB gets a lot of praise but his test average is pretty average, low 40's is nothing special in an era where true world class players are averaging 50+, pretenders to that status should be 45+ at least
 
Anyway, I can't help but feel that we're hyping the lad more than a little bit. Him and Azeem Ghumman.

Just let them be. Let them perform first then we'll see.

The way our domestic system has deteriorated it's more than likely that Ghumman and Babar Azam will turn out to be duds rather than the real deal.

Now I didn't say that to be controversial. I just thought I'd balance things out and give all of us a little perspective.
 
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Only one in a thousand cricketers will be naturally gifted or talented and yet we Pakistanis see every Tom, Dick and Harry in Pakistan as talented despite the Pakistani Cricket team talentless (Umar Akmal may be the exception but it's early days in his career to make a judgement)
 
I have heard allot of good things about this lad, also about Faraz Ali unfortunatly he is not selected for the U-19 team.
 
Saj said:
His skipper Azeem Gumman is very complimetary about young Babar, saying that his batting style is very similar to the Akmal brothers.

What is really pleasing though is that this kid is a genuine opening batsman. Lets hope that he is one half of a solid future opening partnerhsip for Pakistan, with the other half being Azeem Gumman himself.
Click to expand...

lol No Ahmed Shehzad?? BTW Azeem Ghumman has struggle badly in all the U19 matches he has played (except scoring 60 odd in one match) I hope he find his form before the worldcup.
 
Babar's definitely a player to keep an eye on for the future.

Lets hope he turns out to be a "good un".
 
Saj said:
Babar's definitely a player to keep an eye on for the future.

Lets hope he turns out to be a "good un".
Click to expand...

The first question should be if Babar knows anyone or has anyone in the set up? If not, he will probaby be waiting for a real long time to get into this team.

Unfortunately this is how our s*** system works.
 
Amir said:
The first question should be if Babar knows anyone or has anyone in the set up? If not, he will probaby be waiting for a real long time to get into this team.

Unfortunately this is how our s*** system works.
Click to expand...

He's a cousin to the Akmal's.

He has some backing I suspect.
 
Nice to see the young guy get a good score! I hope he does great in the coming world up.
 
My word striking resemblance to Umar, if only he put the pedestal a bit higher than Devilliers for batting.

I say chuck him in!!!
 
choclate said:
Good show but it's against Zimbabwe, if he scores couple of big one's against other top countries then we have our next 1 down i would say
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More then one down we need two or atleast one opener and he opens for the U19, so be it. Let him start with a position he is more used to. If he does well in the U19 WC then i m sure we might see him on Pakistan tour of England.
 
Thank God It Is ME said:
More then one down we need two or atleast one opener and he opens for the U19, so be it. Let him start with a position he is more used to. If he does well in the U19 WC then i m sure we might see him on Pakistan tour of England.
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At 15 years of age??? :)))

You gotta be kidding me right?
 
Aren't the top 5 all openers in this U19 side?

Ahmad Shazad comes in at 4 I think and Azeem Ghumman at 5. We have a shortage of middle-order batsmen aswell.
 
Juggernaut said:
At 15 years of age??? :)))

You gotta be kidding me right?
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With Pakistan u never know!!! Good enough old enough thats the way it went under Imran Khan and thats the way it might be. Would he not be mighty 16 by then? Only thing which i m worried about is him turning into another Hasan Raza.
 
mindless slogging said:
Aren't the top 5 all openers in this U19 side?

Ahmad Shazad comes in at 4 I think and Azeem Ghumman at 5. We have a shortage of middle-order batsmen aswell.
Click to expand...

Yeah but to be honest if you can open then you should have no trouble playing in the middle order. Atleast it shouldn't be too difficult.
 
Thank God It Is ME said:
With Pakistan u never know!!! Good enough old enough thats the way it went under Imran Khan and thats the way it might be. Would he not be mighty 16 by then? Only thing which i m worried about is him turning into another Hasan Raza.
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You cannot, I repeat CANNOT be expected to open the innings for your country at test level at age 15!
 
Juggernaut said:
You cannot, I repeat CANNOT be expected to open the innings for your country at test level at age 15!
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I give it to u. But u might see him in the squad if he does well in the WC.
 
Thank God It Is ME said:
I give it to u. But u might see him in the squad if he does well in the WC.
Click to expand...

Players older than him and with more ability haven't been given a chance in the team.
 
Another one from akmal family.................omg.................. hope he ia better version
 
If he can field better than the Akmals, select him immediately!!!
 
Juggernaut said:
Players older than him and with more ability haven't been given a chance in the team.
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Shahzaib Hasan, Abdul Rauf, Bhanja, Butt, Farhat and list goes on n on and I m sure there r players with better technique and ability then them but did not get the nod for selection. Azam made duck in the warm up match against SA but i m still sure that if he does well he would get selected, and in ideal world merit should be the criteria for selection.
 
Dominant Babar stifles West Indies

Dominant Babar stifles West Indies

An all-round performance from Pakistan opener Muhammad Babar Azam has given Pakistan a solid win over the West Indies in their opening ICC U19 CWC game on a windswept Fitzherbert Park in Palmerston North.

Pakistan set up its winning total after West Indies won the toss and put Pakistan into bat. The side made the most of a reasonably flat pitch to post 297, with Babar scoring 129 runs off 132 balls including 14 fours and a six. He brought up his hundred from 110 balls, regular hitting boundaries to maintain the run-rate. Babar also combined with captain Azeem Ghumman, the next highest scorer with 49, to put on a 224 run partnership for the third wicket.

The West Indies were energetic in the field but their bowling was not tight enough through the middle overs to put pressure on the Pakistan batsmen. Pakistan lost a few late wickets with two run-outs, including Babar, but some late hitting from Hammad Azam, scoring 28 off 15 balls, helped boost the score to 297 for seven.

Left-arm off-spinner Jomel Warrican was the pick of the West Indian bowlers with three for 63. Jason Holder also chipped in with two for 50.

The West Indies started their run chase extremely well thanks to an entertaining and aggressive knock from Trevon Griffith who hit 84 off 55 balls, who launched the run rate past 12 runs per over. Griffith was especially punishing of the quicker bowlers, despatching them to all parts of the ground.

The picture changed dramatically, however, with the onset of the Pakistan slow bowlers, who kept a tight rein on the West Indies batsmen, making it very difficult to score quickly. With the West Indies onslaught halted the pursuit of 298 fell apart, and only opener Kraigg Braithwaite was able to offer late resistance, being stranded on 92 not out at the end of the innings.

Ahmad Shahzad was the best of the Pakistan bowlers with three for 43 from seven overs, while Babar backed up his batting performance with an impressive return of three for 35 from ten overs.
 
Yes he is young, but if he good and talented, keep him with the national team and let him play the side matches with the team to poolihs his skills.

Last thing you want to do, to allow him to play domestic cricket along with Hasan Raza, Faisal, Misbah, Fawad, Khuram and become a flat track bully.
 
Fantastic stuff from Babar.

I rally do hope that this lad does well in this tournament and becomes a regular in the international team in years to come.
 
let him play 2 years of domestic cricket and 1 A team tour and 1 academy team tour then select him for national team .
 
zaid65 said:
Yes he is young, but if he good and talented, keep him with the national team and let him play the side matches with the team to poolihs his skills.

Last thing you want to do, to allow him to play domestic cricket along with Hasan Raza, Faisal, Misbah, Fawad, Khuram and become a flat track bully.
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Problem is there are limited spaces even in the first team 'squad' for him I feel. I endorse your idea, but I feel Ahmad Shahzad should get a place ahead of him. He should be in the 'A' side with Azeem Ghumman.

This should be the heirarchy:

Domestic --------------'A' tours---------------International squad------------international team
 
I think talent this young needs to be watched and worked with individually. There should be a set up where the top players who are young (17 and under) should get one on one coaching before they're sent to domestic cricket.
 
mindless slogging said:
Problem is there are limited spaces even in the first team 'squad' for him I feel. I endorse your idea, but I feel Ahmad Shahzad should get a place ahead of him. He should be in the 'A' side with Azeem Ghumman.

This should be the heirarchy:

Domestic --------------'A' tours---------------International squad------------international team
Click to expand...

I really think Ahmad Shehzad is over rated. He's shown very little consistency for a long time now. I think the lad will dissapoint many. I hope I'm wrong though. Umar Akmal struggled for consistent good scores and had many a brain fart early on. Let's hope Shehzad can turn it around.
 
Key thing with Babar will be to not rush him. Let him get through the ranks. He's a special talent that is already ahead of where he should be.

He should debut after a few seasons in domestic cricket which will probably mean he will be 19ish. I don't think he will start domestic cricket until he is 17.
 
Problem is there are limited spaces even in the first team 'squad' for him I feel. I endorse your idea, but I feel Ahmad Shahzad should get a place ahead of him. He should be in the 'A' side with Azeem Ghumman.
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The biggest issue with our team is to carry these passenger players with the team ( Faisal, Misbah, Malik, Khuram, Khalid Latif, ). We should replace these players with some young and talented players, so these players could get chance to play some side games whn travel with the senior team and could play along with the senior players.

Keep them away from the domestic cricket as much as possible, so they do not learn all the bad habits.
 
Wow.

Does look like a special talent.

InshaALLAH he continues to perform and is given a chance to play for Pakistan whenever his time comes.
 
The openers failed but still this guy made 40 n.o he's very very very talented he's just 15 and

is almost the best batsman we got in our u-19 team
 
Having a look at the brief you tube video of him against the Windies he bats nothing like AB De Villiers IMHO.
 
Lets wait until he scores against the big teams before we go overboard lol.
 
i cant judge much from just scorecards and a couple of videos but he's very much hyped,even by his own captain so I bet he's a darn good opener.
A lil slow for an opener but a big scorer,no doubt ;-)
i didnt know he was a cousin of the Akmals!He looks like them!I bet he's a first cousin,then :)

I linked a YouTube video in the clips section,you guys can go and have a look at his batting plus tons of more videos of Pak vs WI match on the channel of the person who uploaded it.
 
he's so unbelievible talented I just can't belive this fella. I hope insha'ALLAH he keeps on

performing like this. He defenetiley is the tallentest opener we've got in the past few

years just look at his performances.
 
If he really is 15 then wow
Is he the leading run scorer in the world cup thus far?
I'm quite sure he is
 
Really promising stuff from this youngster.... We definitely need good batsman at the top of the order...

He should not be thrust into the Test side so soon.

But Afridi should ask selectors to select him for upcoming T20I against England and hopefully for WorldCup T20 this year.
 
If Ahmed Shehzad can play for Pakistan then why cant Babar Azazm? I might be wrong but so far what i read n hear Babar seems to be more talented and knows how to build an inning, so if situation arises to pick one of them up for the national squad i would rather pick Babar. If they pick Shehzad then would certainly be shocked.
 
Thank God It Is ME said:
If Ahmed Shehzad can play for Pakistan then why cant Babar Azazm? I might be wrong but so far what i read n hear Babar seems to be more talented and knows how to build an inning, so if situation arises to pick one of them up for the national squad i would rather pick Babar. If they pick Shehzad then would certainly be shocked.
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Because Ahmed is a senior. :misbah


When I saw Shehzad had got the nod to make it to international level I was shocked to say the least. I followed the U19 teams he'd played in and he wasn't really a big stand out. I think Umar Amin should have been picked instead of him. He did ok against a third rate Aus bowling attack and looked an ok player of spin. When Lee came back though, he looked all at sea against the short ball - I think he must be the first batsman to be worked out in a T20 game! :))
 
Thank God It Is ME said:
If Ahmed Shehzad can play for Pakistan then why cant Babar Azazm? I might be wrong but so far what i read n hear Babar seems to be more talented and knows how to build an inning, so if situation arises to pick one of them up for the national squad i would rather pick Babar. If they pick Shehzad then would certainly be shocked.
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I think Babar Azam should be given chance to play immediately in the 1st class cricket of Pakistan and if he performs and shows temperament, he must be brought in the international cricket...
He can't do worse than the current set of opening resources Pakistan has right now.

I remember, Sachin scored his century in the 1st matches of the all the 3 Ranji, Dileep and Devedhor trophy(Indian 1st class competitions) at the age of 15 and selectors immediately give him the green signal of Pakistan tour in 1989 by the selectors...

Similarly Babar also can be brought at the international stage by the time he is 16 or so....
may be he also have potential to break all the records set by Ponting, Sachin....

I am Indian and it's touching to see such a emerging little kid....
 
cricwiz said:
But Afridi should ask selectors to select him for upcoming T20I against England and hopefully for WorldCup T20 this year.
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The last thing we should do is chuck him into the T20 side, unless, of course, we're actively trying to ruin him.
 
onlycricket said:
I think Babar Azam should be given chance to play immediately in the 1st class cricket of Pakistan and if he performs and shows temperament, he must be brought in the international cricket...
He can't do worse than the current set of opening resources Pakistan has right now.

I remember, Sachin scored his century in the 1st matches of the all the 3 Ranji, Dileep and Devedhor trophy(Indian 1st class competitions) at the age of 15 and selectors immediately give him the green signal of Pakistan tour in 1989 by the selectors...

Similarly Babar also can be brought at the international stage by the time he is 16 or so....
may be he also have potential to break all the records set by Ponting, Sachin....

I am Indian and it's touching to see such a emerging little kid....
Click to expand...

Juggernaut is not going to be happy when he finds out you want a 16 year old in the team.

I agree though, if he has a good first class season- get him in.
We should stick to our strengths, lets forget the others. And our strength for which the world appluads us is that we are not afraid to play youngsters
 
I really hope that he field like DeVilliers as well..that just would simply be great for our team
 
mmkextreme_1 said:
I really hope that he field like DeVilliers as well..that just would simply be great for our team
Click to expand...


yes inshallah he'll be a great all round player in the making
 
Babar Azam

Babar Azam has been reallty impressive for the last year , saw him in the under 19 world cup in 2010 and he batted extremely well. And today he has hit a great century in domestic cricket.
Here is the link of the match :
http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakdomestic-2010/engine/current/match/498247.html

He is also the cousin of the Akmals. Surely a player to look out for in the future. I think he should be brought in the team after 1/2 years so that he comes in with experience rather than raw talent like Umar Akmal. Umar Akmal was brought in a bit early and should have been given proper coaching before eing exposed and has too immature batting.

He should be brought in the team with care and should be given proper coaching. He also has a great List A batting average.
 
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Mashallah, great talent. Has allways liked him. Just hope PCB follows his progress properly and I hope he handles preassure better than his cousins:)
 
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