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Babar Azam versus Harry Brook

Mamoon

Mamoon

ATG
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Personally I don’t see it being much of a comparison in the coming years.

Babar is a very good batsman, but Harry Brook is scary good - we could be watching the next great batsman in world cricket & someone who would end up in the same league as the likes of Sir Viv, Tendulkar, Lara, Ponting, Kohli, de Villiers, Smith, Root etc.

He has got absolutely everything - bags of talent, technique, mentality, versatility. There is no weakness in his game.

Root & Pietersen are the best English batsmen that I have seen but this kid is forcing me to reconsider. He is like a mix of both but better.

His maturity at 23 is unbelievable. He keeps bailing England out & the way he effortlessly switches from Bazball mode to classic, orthodox Test cricket is brilliant.

He hasn’t played ODIs yet but he has got everything in his locker to be a world class number three, four or five in the format. He is out performing peak Babar in his home conditions. Babar at 23 was nowhere near Brook as a Test player.

The false belief that Babar is the best batsman in the world - or will be the best batsman in the world in the years to come - was the only positive thing for Pakistan cricket fans, but it appears that those dreams are rapidly fading away because England have produced a once in many generations talent.

We are entering the Harry Brook era - the world will be at his feat over the next 10 years & I see him dominating the 2020s the way Kohli dominated the 2010s. We are seeing an early contender for the player of the decade award.
 
LOL

You made this conclusion based on a series against 4 debutants : Ali, Abrar, Zahid , Haris
Naseem shah with barely 10 tests
 
Worth noting that Brook had played over 50 First-class matches before he made his Test debut.

People seem to think that he came from nowhere and on the back of a few scores in white-ball cricket.

He actually made his First-class debut back in June 2016.
 
Saj said:
Worth noting that Brook had played over 50 First-class matches before he made his Test debut.

People seem to think that he came from nowhere and on the back of a few scores in white-ball cricket.

He actually made his First-class debut back in June 2016.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Pakistan shoot themselves in the foot by selecting players either way before they’re ready, or way beyond their peaks.

Haider Ali looked so promising early on, and even now, has a solid first class record in the limited games he has played. Yet they put him in the team too early and now he’s pretty much lost in the wilderness for at least the next few years if not forever.

I hope they give his U19 colleague Huraira another season to develop his game.

As for Brook, he is yet to do anything of note in T20 cricket against teams other than Pakistan, and I will hold off on rating him as a test batsman until he does the same.
 
Before this series, his first class average wasn't that impressive (around 36 despite having played over 50 matches) to end up in the same league as the likes of those players.

Having said that It's either he must have changed his batting technique to some next level or this Pakistani attack is too easy for the likes of him and the current English players as even players like Crawley, duckett, pope and some tailenders have been making a mockery of this test attack in their own backyard.

We have to wait a couple of years to see what he is capable of and whether he can perform like this against some great bowling attack in their backyard.
 
Another silly thread with no context about the pressure Babar faces as PK captain. Harry Brook has no pressure from the public, he could literally walk outside his own home and no one would know who he is. If he fails, English fans wouldn't care less as cricket is a small sport with little following amongst the public. Babar holds the hopes of a nation and all mistakes are magnified. Brook is a talented guy and i like his ambition but another silly thread to denigrate Babar.
 
Of course, Harry brook is a hot prospect but his comparison should be against the likes of Shafique or Gill. To start his comparisons with the best all-format player of the world, he should at least have at least 175-200 international innings. This is only a joke with this sample size.
 
How many tons both have outside of their homes? How many tests they have played so far?
 
angrypathan said:
Brook has 3 in 3 games :))
Click to expand...

Only against Pakistan or some one else as well? Need to see a bigger sample size, but he is having a gun start.

How many Babar has?
 
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OK pulled the stats. Babar has 2 away tons in 46 innings.

Only 3 batsmen in the last 10 years have more than 10 away tons, Smith Kohli and Root. They have been outstanding. Then we have likes of Pujara, Rahane, Ali, Kane, YK etc with 7-9 tons. All known quality batsmen. In newer set Pant, Brooks, Stokes leading the charge here.

In test format , go outside of your comfort zone and score some tons, score some memorable gun knocks on tough pitches, score runs when chips are down, score when others are not able to score big, score when series is alive and so on... that's what makes you great.
 
Brook is a newbie. It is not the time yet to compare him to another established batter.
 
He's a phenomenal talent. Bobby is a very gifted player himself but I think he lacks the mental make up of a truly great player. Just not ruthless enough.
 
Brookes needs to be tested against other teams before we judge him further. 3 centuries against a poor Pakistan team led by an incompetent captain is not enough
 
Yes Brooks Will be world class but not in the same league as Tendulkar,Lara or Viv they are on different level.
 
Savak said:
Brookes needs to be tested against other teams before we judge him further. 3 centuries against a poor Pakistan team led by an incompetent captain is not enough
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Babar would score 1.5x atleast vs this same useless bowling Brook faced in this series, Big LOL for this comaprison without context.
 
This could be proven true in the future.

But almost all his international runs have been made in Pakistan.
He barely scored any runs in the t20 world cup in Australia. And it was clear that he struggled much more in seaming and bouncy conditions in Australia

He has feasted on a very weak Pakistani bowling attack this series. Although he has played abrar well.

His multan 100 was his best knock so far, but he still needs to score runs in England where the ball is moving alot and prove himself against a dangerous Australian attack in the ashes.

There is no doubt he will a very successful batsman in all formats. But let him atleast score against the Australian attack next year before calling him a hybrid of Root and Pietersen
 
I bet he wouldn't have scored a single fifty if shaheen was playing even on these flat roads and to compare him with Babar is disgraceful to say the least.
 
Zeshan547 said:
Babar would score 1.5x atleast vs this same useless bowling Brook faced in this series, Big LOL for this comaprison without context.
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I have seen video clips of Babar being bowledva few times in the nets of the same Pakistan bowlers this week. He has not been the same batsman this year
 
Fawad Alam vs Brook? :) As much as Babar has to prove Brook has to prove even more. I remember Pakistan fans were going gaga when Umar Akmal took on Shane Bond to make a 100. Immediate comparison with Tendulkar surfaced. Definitely it is impressive he was able to be consistent with this approach. Very entertaining player to watch.
 
Also Pakistan bowling attack in this series

Wasim(Jnr) Debut series
Abrar Debut Series
M. Ali Debut Series
Haris Rauf Debut Series
And then the likes of Nauman and Zahid Mehmood, below average spinners.

Now consider the pitches served up too. Even Geoffrey Boycott's Grandma would have scored more centuries than Brook on this tour and you are comparing him with not just Babar but all the other greats of the game as well. Genius. Absolutely Genius.
 
England are a gun team. Harry is just another addition to the list of gun batsmen they possess. A great one in the making.
 
Brook is already a better and more accomplished T20i player than Babar
 
Savak said:
I have seen video clips of Babar being bowledva few times in the nets of the same Pakistan bowlers this week. He has not been the same batsman this year
Click to expand...

Do you realize that Babar has the most runs, most 50s, most 100s in 2022?
His test avg is around 70 this year. Which year are you living in?
 
This comparison feels premature and will probably be worthwhile making in a few years.

Brook looks so good right now — the reach of KP, the grit of Thorpe, the understated nature of Collingwood — but he is very early.

There will be many bowlers formulating plans against him already. How will be cope on future tours and against other opponents is the question.
 
Rana said:
Brook is already a better and more accomplished T20i player than Babar
Click to expand...

Yes of course he is Thats why Brooks has got a much better t20i record than Babar Not!
 
James said:
This comparison feels premature and will probably be worthwhile making in a few years.

Brook looks so good right now — the reach of KP, the grit of Thorpe, the understated nature of Collingwood — but he is very early.

There will be many bowlers formulating plans against him already. How will be cope on future tours and against other opponents is the question.
Click to expand...

No doubt he is talented but he also plays lose and not all bowlers wil be as friendly as ours have been.
 
Zaz said:
Yes of course he is Thats why Brooks has got a much better t20i record than Babar Not!
Click to expand...

He does

He is a World Cup winner. That alone is a bigger achievement than all the 50s against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka
 
RyanRyan10 said:
What was his contribution in the World Cup victory?
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Doesn’t have to be anything. We know he is a great player. He beats the ball around Pakistan like no other.

What was Babar’s contribution in Pakistan reaching the final if that’s the case?
 
Tests:

Babar>Brooks (for now)

ODI:
Babar (no contest)

T20i:

Brooks>>>>>>>>>>>>>Babar
 
Rana said:
Doesn’t have to be anything. We know he is a great player. He beats the ball around Pakistan like no other.

What was Babar’s contribution in Pakistan reaching the final if that’s the case?
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To edge Boult and give New Zealand catching practice
 
Test series wins:

Babar in England=0

Babar v England in Pakistan= 0

Brooks v Pakistan in Pakistan= 1 (2 hundreds and 2x50 in process)
 
As expected this thread has ruffled the feathers of the green tinted hype brigade.

I would take Harry Brook over Babar Azam in white ball cricket. That is a no brainer.

In red ball cricket, I think Brook also has the potential to surpass Babar as the superior bat but he's yet to play anyone other than Pakistan and his FC batting average is below 40 so he still has a lot to prove in the longest format.
 
Rana said:
Doesn’t have to be anything. We know he is a great player. He beats the ball around Pakistan like no other.

What was Babar’s contribution in Pakistan reaching the final if that’s the case?
Click to expand...

Neither made impact in the T20 WC. But you brought it up as if Brooks played a major role in England's triumph.

Babar has better overall numbers. :babar
 
RyanRyan10 said:
Neither made impact in the T20 WC. But you brought it up as if Brooks played a major role in England's triumph.

Babar has better overall numbers. :babar
Click to expand...

I said Brooke is more accomplished

He is. He has a World Cup winners medal in his first tournament

He also won the PSL (and was instrumental in winning it) in his first tournament

He also won a Test series in Pakistan in his first ever series in Pakistan (and was instrumental in that too)

He also beat up Pakistan in the 7 match series which Babar lost as captain

He has been owning Pakistan and Babar Azam. Hor koi khidmat twadde Laiq?
 
Rana said:
I said Brooke is more accomplished

He is. He has a World Cup winners medal in his first tournament

He also won the PSL (and was instrumental in winning it) in his first tournament

He also won a Test series in Pakistan in his first ever series in Pakistan (and was instrumental in that too)

He also beat up Pakistan in the 7 match series which Babar lost as captain

He has been owning Pakistan and Babar Azam. Hor koi khidmat twadde Laiq?
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Brook won or Brook and other 10 players won? Huge difference ....

Cricket is a team game. Comparison should be about individual performance when comparing players. Yes, their impact can be surely discussed. Babar has not played many impact knocks.. Mostly soft runs for a decently long career and hardly plays big when playing away. But Pakistan having a poor team shouldn't be counted against Babar.

Babar is clearly overhyped for what he brings in Test and T20. He is very good in ODI format. But he has few years left to make some impact.
 
I am still not convinced about his Test game. He averages only 38 in FC cricket.
 
Buffet said:
Brook won or Brook and other 10 players won? Huge difference ....

Cricket is a team game. Comparison should be about individual performance when comparing players. Yes, their impact can be surely discussed. Babar has not played many impact knocks.. Mostly soft runs for a decently long career and hardly plays big when playing away. But Pakistan having a poor team shouldn't be counted against Babar.

Babar is clearly overhyped for what he brings in Test and T20. He is very good in ODI format. But he has few years left to make some impact.
Click to expand...

This thread isnt about Pakistan v England comparison is it? Player v Player, Brook is a much better T20 batter than Babar.

If Brook opens in T20, he is likely to score 160* if he plays 60 deliveries in his best form. Babar might score a hundred at best.
 
Rana said:
This thread isnt about Pakistan v England comparison is it? Player v Player, Brook is a much better T20 batter than Babar.

If Brook opens in T20, he is likely to score 160* if he plays 60 deliveries in his best form. Babar might score a hundred at best.
Click to expand...
Brook is definitely a better t20 opener than Babar who is an accumulator and has no fifth gear.
In other formats Babar is way ahead, especially in odis.
 
Harry Brook is a hot property in cricket at the moment but to have a comparison of him with Babar is not justified for multiple reasons:
a. They are no in same batch / pool of players - Babar has is atleast 6/7 seasons senior to Brook
b. Babar is a brand already whilst Brook is making a name for himself - This is not like for like
c. Babar is already part of many books as best batsmen of his age and down for ATG status of Pakistan whilst Brook is no where near this status yet.

The biggest challenge for Brook would be the longevity of his career trajectory in order to be compared with Babar. The biggest concern an Englishman has is that they fade away after some good seasons and bring themselves down from ATG status. Brook has the ingredients but does he have the temperament or consistency to keep doing what he is doing for the next 10 years? If yes, then there is a comparison we can draw till then Brook will be on that journey.
 
Babar is a impactless player so its useless to compare him with match winners.
 
Mercurial said:
I am still not convinced about his Test game. He averages only 38 in FC cricket.
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It may well be that he turns out to be a better overseas batsman than at home.

All of his (middling) FC record before he made his Test debut was built at Headingley which can be quite a bowler friendly ground at times, particularly in county cricket, where the ball tends to swing around in early season under the Leeds clouds and it will also nibble off the seam through the season.

80-4 is quite a common scoreboard at Headingley.
 
A County average in the mid 30s is not alarming when you are only 22-23. Joe Root also averaged in the 30s when he selected for England in 2012.

Given how good he is, Brook would have taken his average well past 50 in County by 27-28.

He is an incredibly gifted batsman & England have done well to pick him early. Too good.
 
Babar Azam also averaged in the 30’s in FC cricket before he was selected for Pakistan.
 
Mamoon said:
Babar Azam also averaged in the 30’s in FC cricket before he was selected for Pakistan.
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I don't think we can compare Harry Brook with Babar yet but again the latter has a long way to go in Tests. To be frank to be a great Test player you need to be scoring a hundred every 7 innings and every 3.5-4 Tests. If you look at most great players who have at least played 50 Tests (except Bradman who has an insane record) you would see that patter. Babar at the moment scores a Test century every 10 innings and ever 5 Tests. That isn't good for a great batter. He has time to improve but to help Pakistan he needs to convert more of his starts to a big score. Even Virat Kohli who has had a horrendous time in Tests over the last 3 years falls under that bracket even though he hasn't scored a hundred in Tests for 3 years, shows how good he was till 2019.
 
Brooks, Preliminary looks good. Let's wait till he tours multiple countries to make a judgment.
 
No comparison I’m afraid. Babar cannot play such knocks in his dreams.

Both Brook and Gill are clearly superior batsmen to Babar and 10 years down the line, no one would dare to compare Babar with those two.

Brook vs Gill could be fun to witness over the next 10 years, Brook has the edge and the head-start so far but one should not sleep over still either.

Easily the best batsman to come out of Asia since Kohli burst onto the scene.
 
Even KP wasn’t this dominant starting off his career

Brook has played so many world class innings in his first few Tests which legends of the game will never play
 
Brook's first phase of his career is already legendary. People will refer to his first 10 tests forever.
 
Buffet said:
Brook won or Brook and other 10 players won? Huge difference ....

Cricket is a team game. Comparison should be about individual performance when comparing players. Yes, their impact can be surely discussed. Babar has not played many impact knocks.. Mostly soft runs for a decently long career and hardly plays big when playing away. But Pakistan having a poor team shouldn't be counted against Babar.

Babar is clearly overhyped for what he brings in Test and T20. He is very good in ODI format. But he has few years left to make some impact.
Click to expand...

I really wish most Pakistan fans here could grasp this rather than believe in the hype of his headline averages, ICC ranks and awards.

For example, there was a poster who made a thread about SKY being overrated which backfired spectacularly. People like him rate Babar more than SKY in T20s and they also claim Rizwan is superior to Pant in all formats.
 
Incredible innings. Has all the ingredients to become the greatest player in the 21st century but still very early days.
 
Rana said:
Even KP wasn’t this dominant starting off his career

Brook has played so many world class innings in his first few Tests which legends of the game will never play
Click to expand...

I believe KP made his astonishing debut in the iconic 2005 ashes, it was a decent series for him against arguably the greatest bowling attack of all time
 
In fact KP scored the most runs in the 2005 Ashes, that debut series was out of this world for him, he barely had many quiet innings
 
On Harry Brook, potentially he has a higher ceiling then Babar and playing for England certainly helps.

He does have a mix between both KP and Root, more towards the latter as we will need to see how he goes during some stiffer tests but at this point his potential is immense but I’d stop short at the comparisons with the very best in history for now.
 
Cricket has little impact on the public psyche in England.
As I have said before on here, Harry B doesn't have pressure of 200mn + on his back and in every match. He wouldn't be even known on his own road, nevemind his city or the country. As his profile increases he will be scrutinised more but still never close to what Babar and other SC players face.
 
Although a limited sample size, Brooks has an average of 100+ and strike rate of 99+ in test cricket. That’s too good to be true. He is definitely going to be an ATG.
 
Babar has already hit his peak. He is not going to be any better than what we are seeing or saw for the past 3 years.

Harry is already as good as Babar and he did not even hit his peak yet. That is the scariest part. The man can become an ATG by the time he turns 28 or 29.
 
Yes cricket is a team sport and you cannot expect the burden of runscoring to lay entirely on one man.

However many of Babar's innings have lacked impact on the match outcome. On the face of it, Babar's numbers vs ENG are impressive. However did he save a single Test ? That too on placid pitches ?

Frankly, Babar has much to prove in Tests before he deserves the accolades his fans are giving him. He has a bad habit of getting out after intervals and has just one hundred outside Asia. He certainly hasn't demonstrated the ability to dominate an attack like Brook has done - with the exception of that one assault vs South Africa in 2018 which arguably turned his Test career around.

Meanwhile Harry Brook has already played several game changing knocks in his short career. It comes as no surprise to anyone who followed his form for Yorkshire in last season's County Championship where he was scoring at ODI pace. The environment Stokes and McCullum have created is also vital - one wonders if Brook could've made such an instant impact under the more conservative regime of Root and Silverwood.
 
OP has a habit of finding ways to bring down pak players.. He is now finding new ways to start a comparison and beat pak players. lol the hate against pak players is mind boggling.
 
Mamoon said:
No comparison I’m afraid. Babar cannot play such knocks in his dreams.

Both Brook and Gill are clearly superior batsmen to Babar and 10 years down the line, no one would dare to compare Babar with those two.

Brook vs Gill could be fun to witness over the next 10 years, Brook has the edge and the head-start so far but one should not sleep over still either.

Easily the best batsman to come out of Asia since Kohli burst onto the scene.
Click to expand...

Forget Babar. Even players like Kohli can’t play innings like this one in his dream. As I said Brook will be one of the GOAT’s anything less than that he would have wasted his talent.
 
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Harry Brook came outta no where, and is a BOSS... man the guy makes test cricket look like a joke sunday league scenario where a pro shows up vs some randoms... Babar is decent, but only looks all that coz he is in Pakistan the lone hand... if he was in India, i dont think he would have been able to break into their lineup when he did in Pakistan's and had the time to grow in...
 
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