still waiting....
when #ranalogic fails......
We talking about kohli na...awein ksi ko b best batter leh deta hai
Right.
The reason why Major mentioned me in this thread is because I questioned his comment where he stated “Imran Farhat is more respected than Mohammad Amir”. My response to this was that two great batsmen of this generation (Kohli and Smith) have gone on record to state Mohammad Amir is the most difficult seamer they have faced, hence it makes no sense to say Amir isn’t respected at all. This is a fair response by me, it really shouldn’t be questioned. There is no denying Amir earns respect and plaudits for his bowling skills.
Major has then tried to use a statement made by Virat Kohli to praise Babar Azam, a player who I have historically criticised, as this is his way of pushing me to also acknowledge Babar as a great player.
It’s a good attempt, but it still requires some context and why I shouldn’t be forced to acknowledge something that I do not agree with entirely.
First of all, the SEVERE criticism that I have for Babar Azam has nothing to do with his technique or output in ODI+ Test cricket. Unfortunately, people who struggle to differentiate between the formats also struggle to differentiate the criticism I have for Babar in accordance with formats. My severe criticism that I have with Babar Azam in T20s is because of,
A) His insistence of holding on to an opening position.
B) His continued, persistent attitude to not do justice to this position of opening in the powerplay.
C) His misuse of his power to cling on to this position knowing that he isn’t the right player for this role.
This is also fair and honest criticism. The stats and the output of Babar Azam causing his team to fail because of this for everyone to see. I should not be held accountable for an honest assessment, Babar Azam on the other hand should be.
Now, coming towards the question of praise for Babar being genuine or not, in comparison to praise for Amir being genuine or not by Kohli…
I would first like to clarify that I believe Kohli’s praise of Amir being the most difficult bowler he has faced may be slightly exaggerated on his behalf as the man has faced severe difficulty from far superior seamers than Amir. However, I do believe there is some merit in this assessment considering another great of the game (Smith) has echoed the same sentiment regarding Amir, so there could be something about Amir’s bowling that does not allow great batters like Kohli and Smith to feel as fluent as they would like to be at the crease. Furthermore, Mohammad Amir did get the best out of their battle at one of the most pivotal moments the two players faced each other on the grand stage. Virat Kohli being in the elite batting form he was in the year 2017 at the Champion’s Trophy stood no chance against Mohammad Amir’s opening burst which completely broke the back of his team, especially with Virat being dismissed twice in two balls by Amir. Any great batter will have that memory, that scar etched in his mind for eternity on that occasion. It stays with you forever.
In the case of Virat commenting on star sports in the build up to the Asia cup 2022 WHICH WAS TO BE PLAYED IN T20 FORMAT , praising Babar as the best batsman across formats. I believe this is a good marketing ploy in order to generate more hype and views for the event from a commercial aspect. Is there cricketing merit in this claim? I think yes and no.
I think there is cricketing merit in the statement in the sense that Virat probably did not want to praise Babar Azam as a T20 batter knowing the standards that are required by T20 openers considering the vast amount of T20 cricket he has played and seen, and it wouldn’t be right to overhype Babar as a T20 player for the position he is in because that is a great injustice to the great openers and the current openers at the time who played fearlessly. Does Kohli think Babar is a better T20 opener than Sharma in 2022? Does Kohli think it is fair to consider Babar a better T20 opener than Warner, Roy, Bairstow, DeQock, Munro, Guptil etc? My honest answer and assumption is…I think not. Hence I feel Virat said the right thing when praising his counterpart by using the ‘across format’ clause because this way you don’t have to emphasise on his T20 deficiencies and you can also tick the boxes which the broadcasters require from him in building up some hype to the competition. Babar at the time was indeed a good ODI batsman and was also a decent Test batsman. The comment is fair.
If anyone can provide me with a comment by Kohli praising Babar solely as a great T20 batter, we can then discuss it. In my honest opinion, I feel Kohli and all of Insian batters do not rate Babar at all as a T20 player. It makes no sense to rate him as a T20 batter considering the position he plays in (opener).
