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Babar Azam performance watch thread

Will be a regular in the Test team this time next year. Hopefully in a couple of years time he will have established himself as our number 4 batsman in Tests and an opener in ODIs.
 
What an absolute bomb.

Spotted him years ago and here he is, racking up the runs.

Should make quick work of WI, BD, and then SL later on the year.

Very crucial for the CT in England this summer.
 
Square Drive said:
Very good player. He seems an under-rated bowler. He knows how to bowl the 'Doosra', and he definitely doesn't bowl as little as Azhar and Shehzad do (as someone stated in this thread). He is a proper 6th bowler, and can bowl at least 5 overs per match.

He should replace Hafeez in an year's time, but I doubt the PCB will take such a step (unless he has connections with politicans). Hafeez is currently captain and VC in our formats, so he will continue on to play for at least 2-3 years. I guess we can see Babar in the team after 4-5 years.
Click to expand...

Posted this in 2012.

Was spot on, as usual.
 
Cricket lover 27 said:
[MENTION=131678]Madplayer[/MENTION] just got to know Babar Azam's brother Safeer Azam also plays cricket he is 16 years old and recently played the inter district U-19

As you are a die- hard fan of Babar just thought to share this wonderful news with you

Who knows we might as well get a Babar Azam v2.0 as well....;-)
Click to expand...

Need to keep an eye on his brother too.
 
He should open with Sharjeel in ct. This top 5 can do well:

1. Sharjeel
2. Babar
3. Haris
4. Sarfaraz
5. Khalid Latif
 
Seamer said:
He should open with Sharjeel in ct. This top 5 can do well:

1. Sharjeel
2. Babar
3. Haris
4. Sarfaraz
5. Khalid Latif
Click to expand...

Naa chill. He is #3. More of an accumulator than somebody who would hit shots and take advantage of powerplay.
 
Comfortably the best batsman in Pakistan. Leads his team to their first victory in a difficult service. Should be vice captain in all 3 formats
 
aliasad1998 said:
Comfortably the best batsman in Pakistan. Leads his team to their first victory in a difficult service. Should be vice captain in all 3 formats
Click to expand...
He's a terrible captain, looked lost on the field against England and Sri Lanka A according to a few close sources.
 
Ellipsism said:
He's a terrible captain, looked lost on the field against England and Sri Lanka A according to a few close sources.
Click to expand...

The team also finished 7 or 8 in the u19 WC under his captaincy.

If good batsman = good captain then guys like Sachin would have been the best captains in the history of the sport.
 
[MENTION=139150]aliasad1998[/MENTION] [MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] , [MENTION=141557]Chief Destroyer[/MENTION], and myself were the ones who have always backed Babar. The rest turn on him after one bad performance lol.

Developing batsmen takes time. Babar isn't even close to his prime yet you can see he is making gradual improvements.
 
Hasan123 said:
[MENTION=139150]aliasad1998[/MENTION] [MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] , [MENTION=141557]Chief Destroyer[/MENTION], and myself were the ones who have always backed Babar. The rest turn on him after one bad performance lol.

Developing batsmen takes time. Babar isn't even close to his prime yet you can see he is making gradual improvements.
Click to expand...

They'll keep doing it
 
aliasad1998 said:
They'll keep doing it
Click to expand...


Exactly.I think in tests he's still adapting so I hope he gets a long run . Pp experts will be calling for his head if he doesn't score a century in every game :facepalm :

In LO he seems secure and knows his game.
 
He has a real chance of becoming a cult figure in Pakistan ala sachin and lara because all other batsmen coming through are duds.
 
He really needs to work on his t20 game if he want to be a effective t20 player for pakistan

Going at a sr of 100 just isnt good enough His lack of boundary shots and just general intent is worrying
 
Zaz said:
He really needs to work on his t20 game if he want to be a effective t20 player for pakistan

Going at a sr of 100 just isnt good enough His lack of boundary shots and just general intent is worrying
Click to expand...

It will also help him in ODIs
 
Decent odi batsman. That's about it.
He can be our Chanderpaul: lots of runs and plenty of losses to go with it.
 
London_Lahori said:
Another ODI hundred, this time carried his bat and got the team to a very good total.
Click to expand...

He is a Pakistani Cr7, baby azam carrying the team on his young shoulders; fantastic hundred and he can only improve from here god willing!
 
he finished with a SR of 95 at least, it's not that bad, he did a lot of tuk-tuk but somewhat made up for it later
 
Spin is a weakness. Not that he's poor but he's definitely not strong in that area.

Otherwise a 22 year old with a 50+ average and a 90 SR, and I'm very impressed. The pacing of the innings will come.

When all the "seniors" are falling all around him, we keep blaming him for not picking up the pace earlier.
 
Ilan Bluestone said:
Spin is a weakness. Not that he's poor but he's definitely not strong in that area.

Otherwise a 22 year old with a 50+ average and a 90 SR, and I'm very impressed. The pacing of the innings will come.

When all the "seniors" are falling all around him, we keep blaming him for not picking up the pace earlier.
Click to expand...

yeah think he needs to use his feet against spin and maybe add something like sweep shots. But that will come with time.
 
He's future of Pak cricket. If we can get rid of passengers like hafeez and malik, our batting would only improve. Demoting him to accommodate a TTF like hafeez was criminal. Hopefully management learned their lesson.
 
This is his 5th hundred in only 9 innings at number 3. He averages 95.62 with a SR of 93 at #3!

Great prospect and the way he finished the innings off today was amazing! Wish the innings had not ended.
 
Speedster777 said:
He's future of Pak cricket. If we can get rid of passengers like hafeez and malik, our batting would only improve. Demoting him to accommodate a TTF like hafeez was criminal. Hopefully management learned their lesson.
Click to expand...

Haris should come at no 3/4.
People say he cant hit big but he can do similar to what Babar did in the end today.
Have seen him hit good bowlers in domestic t20s.
 
Haris at 4 will provide Babar the security to open up a lot earlier in his innings. He can bank on him to anchor if he falls.
 
Pakistan's truly world class batsman in a long while. Congrats!
 
For the love of God, do not meddle with Babar. Tell him he's got the #3 position locked down for the forseeable future, in all formats. He's an emerald among a pile of seaweed and the last thing we need to worry about.

Our #1 priority is chucking Hafeez, Kamran and Malik out of the team. Malik may be debatable and I am probably being harsh by lumping him with the other two but Professor and Kami need to join Misbah and Younis in retirement.

I was okay with them being given a chance but they are clearly over the hill now and it makes no sense that they should play in yhe the CT over some of the younger options.
 
People need to get over the strike rate argument. There are precious few batsmen in ODI cricket who score heavily and quicker than he does - Warner/Quinton/AB/Kohli . Babar's strike is not an issue as long he plays the role of the anchor. It's up to the openers to give fast starts not babar.
 
Abdullah said:
bro its the second 50. he was 42 off 50 which is fine.
with the newer ball he is gold, its as it gets softer
Click to expand...

Reached 50 off 60. It's been the same problem in the previous 4 hundreds as well. He's reached 50 at 60-75 balls. Has to reach it at run a ball. Just a matter of intent and getting on top early instead of looking to settle down.
 
His batting looks selfish because the others around him are also accumulators. He has to play with a hitter all the time and then his batting will not look selfish. Also its better for Pakistan if he does not come into bat in first 6 overs and is out before the last 6 overs. The overs from 6 to 44 should be his domain.
 
Babar is showing signs of being truly elite. He does need to improve in scoring first 50 at a faster pace but other then that give him a long leash at 3.

We need to replace Hafeez and Malik despite latter's performance because both don't score impact runs against the top dogs.

Haris can easily replace Hafeez if he's fit and recovered. And Umar Akmal can replace Malik.

The sooner we do this the better. It'll free up Babar as well to score aggressively​.
 
Chief Destroyer said:
Reached 50 off 60. It's been the same problem in the previous 4 hundreds as well. He's reached 50 at 60-75 balls. Has to reach it at run a ball. Just a matter of intent and getting on top early instead of looking to settle down.
Click to expand...

nah bro disagree. first 50 off 55-60 is fine. second should be the one where u start moving
 
Abdullah said:
nah bro disagree. first 50 off 55-60 is fine. second should be the one where u start moving
Click to expand...

They haven't been off 55-60. Regardless, he has it in him to score much faster and dominate early on. I wanna see that from him.
 
Last edited:
Chief Destroyer said:
Reached 50 off 60. It's been the same problem in the previous 4 hundreds as well. He's reached 50 at 60-75 balls. Has to reach it at run a ball. Just a matter of intent and getting on top early instead of looking to settle down.
Click to expand...
Has to do with insecurity..you never know if you get out early people will be calling for your head no matter what good player you are. I think with time he will show better intent in the start like Amla.
 
Our best batsman by a country mile.

Superb knock today.
Took us to 280 when we could have been bowled out for around 200
 
Please keep him at #3 for the rest of his career.

The guy is head and shoulders above everyone else in the batting lineup. It's not even close.
 
A brilliant prospect mashallah and much needed for the Pakistani team - specially now that YK and Misbah are calling it a day.

As has been mentioned by numerous people on this thread - I do feel he can slightly improve the way he paces his innings. He has all the shots in the book and can accelerate when need be, however, it doesn't look great when he bats at a SR of 70-80 odd until he gets to a hundred and then starts going at a SR of 300.

After Babar's 100:
--------------------
45 in 2.5 overs RR 16 SR 265

Before Babar's 100:
--------------------
237 in 47.1 over RR 5 SR 84

That was the Pakistani innings last night. Sure - in the end it was enough for the team to secure the win, however, if we want to succeed on a consistent basis we really need to get the pace of our innings right.

One thing I will say though - in my personal opinion I don't think it's a case of Babar playing for personal milestones rather than the team. I think it's more a case of our players mentality.

They are more concerned about securing smaller goals rather than thinking of the bigger picture. It's the philosophy of "if you do the small things right, the big things will take care of themselves". There is nothing wrong with that philosophy, however, you do always need to keep one eye on the big picture and change your small targets accordingly.

An example of why I think this is Imad's inning last night. It looked like even Imad was waiting for Babar's 100 before accelerating which didn't make any sense. At least one of the townbatsmen should of started attacking around the 43rd to 45th over rather than waiting until the 48th over - specially when you have 5 wickets in hands and the likes of Shadab and Amir can handle themselves with a bat in hand.

Instead of that it looked like both batsmen were first trying to get Babar to a 100 - simply because that was the first target they had in mind - and then accelerating the batting - simply because that was the next target in the list of goals to accomplish.

That's just my opinion anyway :sarf
 
I think both sides of the Babar debate are going OTT

To say he is perfect is wrong

To say he is having a negative impact is wrong.


The kid is special we need to remind ourselves he is 22 and not worry about him yet. However, we shouldnt ignore some obvious flaws that we would not want ingrained.

We are yet to see him take an attack by the scruff of the neck, this is the next stage for him, and im sure he will get there.

The other thing is I'm not a fan at all of batsmen reaching a landmark then smashing the ball. It is selfish. I get it if its a batsmens first ever ton, but Babar could have started going a lot lot earlier yesterday
 
Hawkeye said:
Good.



Hafeez and Malik are an equal plague for the team.

Hafeez needs to be replaced by some top order aggressive player. Haris is a middle order bat needs to replace Malik.
Click to expand...

How are they an equal plague ? Malik is miles ahead on current form and has actually been fairly consistent since comeback.
 
Ahson8 said:
How are they an equal plague ? Malik is miles ahead on current form and has actually been fairly consistent since comeback.
Click to expand...

No, not interested in stats. Fails against any half decent side or bowling attack and you'll see that in CT.
 
TalhaSyed said:
A brilliant prospect mashallah and much needed for the Pakistani team - specially now that YK and Misbah are calling it a day.

As has been mentioned by numerous people on this thread - I do feel he can slightly improve the way he paces his innings. He has all the shots in the book and can accelerate when need be, however, it doesn't look great when he bats at a SR of 70-80 odd until he gets to a hundred and then starts going at a SR of 300.

After Babar's 100:
--------------------
45 in 2.5 overs RR 16 SR 265

Before Babar's 100:
--------------------
237 in 47.1 over RR 5 SR 84

That was the Pakistani innings last night. Sure - in the end it was enough for the team to secure the win, however, if we want to succeed on a consistent basis we really need to get the pace of our innings right.

One thing I will say though - in my personal opinion I don't think it's a case of Babar playing for personal milestones rather than the team. I think it's more a case of our players mentality.

They are more concerned about securing smaller goals rather than thinking of the bigger picture. It's the philosophy of "if you do the small things right, the big things will take care of themselves". There is nothing wrong with that philosophy, however, you do always need to keep one eye on the big picture and change your small targets accordingly.

An example of why I think this is Imad's inning last night. It looked like even Imad was waiting for Babar's 100 before accelerating which didn't make any sense. At least one of the townbatsmen should of started attacking around the 43rd to 45th over rather than waiting until the 48th over - specially when you have 5 wickets in hands and the likes of Shadab and Amir can handle themselves with a bat in hand.

Instead of that it looked like both batsmen were first trying to get Babar to a 100 - simply because that was the first target they had in mind - and then accelerating the batting - simply because that was the next target in the list of goals to accomplish.

That's just my opinion anyway :sarf
Click to expand...

i see what u saying for most part but no bro. imad has a small issue where he cant tee off from the off and needs 15 balls to get his eye in. he has done it before and needs to improve so he can GO from the get-go
 
Abdullah said:
i see what u saying for most part but no bro. imad has a small issue where he cant tee off from the off and needs 15 balls to get his eye in. he has done it before and needs to improve so he can GO from the get-go
Click to expand...

Yea yea - I get that man - Imad needs time to get in before he tees off and can't go hard from ball one. That makes sense, since he doesn't seem like a naturally hard hitting batsmen.

However, last night, when watching Imad and Babar bat it just seemed like up until Babar got his century there was hardly any thought of teeing off by either batsmen & both batsmen were happy to keep things ticking over with singles and doubles until Babar got his century.

More so, the 2-3 times when Imad or Babar did try to go big between overs 40-47 they looked hopelessly out of shape with no chance of clearing the 30 yard circle - never mind the boundary. However, as soon as Babar got to his century it almost seemed like they had overcome some sort of mental block and both batsmen started middling the ball effortlessly.

That's what makes me think that the batsmen struggle to pace the innings and change their plans according to the situation. Once they have a target in mind they look like they can only do one of two things:

1) Reach that target - in this case Babar getting a 100 - and then move onto the next one - in this case scoring quick runs at the end of the innings

2) Crumble in an effort to reach the first target, without any thought of amending the first target to suit the 'big picture'
 
TalhaSyed said:
A brilliant prospect mashallah and much needed for the Pakistani team - specially now that YK and Misbah are calling it a day.

As has been mentioned by numerous people on this thread - I do feel he can slightly improve the way he paces his innings. He has all the shots in the book and can accelerate when need be, however, it doesn't look great when he bats at a SR of 70-80 odd until he gets to a hundred and then starts going at a SR of 300.

After Babar's 100:
--------------------
45 in 2.5 overs RR 16 SR 265

Before Babar's 100:
--------------------
237 in 47.1 over RR 5 SR 84

That was the Pakistani innings last night. Sure - in the end it was enough for the team to secure the win, however, if we want to succeed on a consistent basis we really need to get the pace of our innings right.

One thing I will say though - in my personal opinion I don't think it's a case of Babar playing for personal milestones rather than the team. I think it's more a case of our players mentality.

They are more concerned about securing smaller goals rather than thinking of the bigger picture. It's the philosophy of "if you do the small things right, the big things will take care of themselves". There is nothing wrong with that philosophy, however, you do always need to keep one eye on the big picture and change your small targets accordingly.

An example of why I think this is Imad's inning last night. It looked like even Imad was waiting for Babar's 100 before accelerating which didn't make any sense. At least one of the townbatsmen should of started attacking around the 43rd to 45th over rather than waiting until the 48th over - specially when you have 5 wickets in hands and the likes of Shadab and Amir can handle themselves with a bat in hand.

Instead of that it looked like both batsmen were first trying to get Babar to a 100 - simply because that was the first target they had in mind - and then accelerating the batting - simply because that was the next target in the list of goals to accomplish.

That's just my opinion anyway :sarf
Click to expand...

Agree with this as an area he needs to improve on, what could also help him is if Hafeez and Sarfraz swap positions for the next game so Babar can open up a bit more, the wicket had a bit in it and it wasn't so straight forward as well. Watching the game live he was genuinly looking to keep the scoreboard ticking early on but kept finding the fielders, Hafeez at the other end just kept plodding forward to defend :)) so I think Babar has the ability to turn things around, batting in our line up is never easy as misbah found in the past. Try and catch Babars post match interview if you can the urdu version because the translation by rameez was bad so the cricinfo transcript is not right, Babar provides some insight into his mindset
 
TalhaSyed said:
Yea yea - I get that man - Imad needs time to get in before he tees off and can't go hard from ball one. That makes sense, since he doesn't seem like a naturally hard hitting batsmen.

However, last night, when watching Imad and Babar bat it just seemed like up until Babar got his century there was hardly any thought of teeing off by either batsmen & both batsmen were happy to keep things ticking over with singles and doubles until Babar got his century.

More so, the 2-3 times when Imad or Babar did try to go big between overs 40-47 they looked hopelessly out of shape with no chance of clearing the 30 yard circle - never mind the boundary. However, as soon as Babar got to his century it almost seemed like they had overcome some sort of mental block and both batsmen started middling the ball effortlessly.

That's what makes me think that the batsmen struggle to pace the innings and change their plans according to the situation. Once they have a target in mind they look like they can only do one of two things:

1) Reach that target - in this case Babar getting a 100 - and then move onto the next one - in this case scoring quick runs at the end of the innings

2) Crumble in an effort to reach the first target, without any thought of amending the first target to suit the 'big picture'
Click to expand...

They started a bit late, I thought the same but despite some potential limitations technically they were also the last recognised pair at the crease and I felt that may have been playing on their minds, hopefully they play with a bit more confidence in the future and our top order provide a better platform, some interesting names could be coming in as well. Other thing is, in the past we could afford to maybe take our time or free up a bit more because there was an Azhar, Razzaq or Afridi coming in around the corner but here we just had Imad/Babar and after likes of Shadab
 
good stuff by whoever sootted him all that time ago!

What I think Babar needs to work on now is his boundary game in the middle overs because that is what separates the good no. 3s from the very good no. 3s.
 
TalhaSyed said:
More so, the 2-3 times when Imad or Babar did try to go big between overs 40-47 they looked hopelessly out of shape with no chance of clearing the 30 yard circle - never mind the boundary. However, as soon as Babar got to his century it almost seemed like they had overcome some sort of mental block and both batsmen started middling the ball effortlessly.
Click to expand...

Thats because holder messed up in his captaincy and had medium pacers bowling at the death, we wont get that luxury 9/10 times
 
pakistanigoneaussie said:
Thats because holder messed up in his captaincy and had medium pacers bowling at the death, we wont get that luxury 9/10 times
Click to expand...

But, benefit of doubt can be that these two also calculated what I wrote at the end of 43rd & 46th over -

- "Holder has finished his main bowlers by 43rd over & now he is stuck with 4 overs of Joseph"

- "this guy Holder has to be the dumbest that I have seen - 4 overs left & he has 3 to bowl himself". This ended with a partimer bowling the last over.

Personally, I believe Babar was instructed to stick till last over & Holder helped his course by bowling out Gabriel & Nurse within 43 overs.
 
kingusama92 said:
Please keep him at #3 for the rest of his career.

The guy is head and shoulders above everyone else in the batting lineup. It's not even close.
Click to expand...

perfect #3; he will fail as an opener and he will fail as #4; ideally he should bat from overs 7 to 44; thats his strength
 
pakistanigoneaussie said:
I think both sides of the Babar debate are going OTT

To say he is perfect is wrong

To say he is having a negative impact is wrong.


The kid is special we need to remind ourselves he is 22 and not worry about him yet. However, we shouldnt ignore some obvious flaws that we would not want ingrained.

We are yet to see him take an attack by the scruff of the neck, this is the next stage for him, and im sure he will get there.

The other thing is I'm not a fan at all of batsmen reaching a landmark then smashing the ball. It is selfish. I get it if its a batsmens first ever ton, but Babar could have started going a lot lot earlier yesterday
Click to expand...
I think most if not all, Pakistani batsmen are selfish in nature. The last one who was not selfish was Sharjeel Khan.
 
Pakistan are so lucky to have a batsman if his quality considering the days of Inzi, Anwar, Yousuf and Younis are gone.
 
If Babar Azam had played the knock Hafeez is playing right now.... #justsaying
 
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