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Babar or bust: Pakistan's over-reliance on Babar Azam in T20Is

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Sean143

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Pakistan are a terrible batting side in T20Is. Babar Azam's brilliance has overshadowed the fatal flaws that exist in the lineup. Barring him we don't even have a single batter who scores consistently at a decent strike rate. A guy like Sarfaraz is our T20I captain (and honestly Rizwan isn't good enough to replace him either). With this batting setup, I can't see us making the semis in T20WC 2020.

This series was a chance to try out guys like Ahsan Ali, but we are still stuck with the likes of Shehzad. Sarfaraz Ahmed should retire from T20Is and focus on Tests and ODIs, even in his prime he was never a T20 batter. Umar Akmal or Kamran Akmal should be utilized as keepers.

This batting lineup is awful.
 
Happens when you are best player of your side then team depends mostly on you. India depends on kohli in all formats. Aus depends on smith in tests.
 
The difference between Somerset and Pakistan is that Somerset are loaded with quality especially with the likes of Tom banton which helped babar top the charts
Pakistan are not loaded with anywhere near the same depth and quality
 
Yes, Umar Akmal should be utilized as a keeper, as if he doesn't have enough problems right now.

I don't see this guy having a career by the end of this tour.
 
Yes Babar's batting but sarfaraz captaincy in the format also, cover some flaws
Given a T20 is almost a 50:50 game, we have done amazing to.have the win %age we have with our flaws.
 
More like we missed FZ.

Who are those people who recommended Selfie over FZ?
 
Fakhar Zaman only has 4 50s in 29 innings at an average of 25.8, in other words, he's not as reliable as some people here seem to think. In his last 8 innings, his highest score is 24.
 
Darkrai said:
Fakhar Zaman only has 4 50s in 29 innings at an average of 25.8, in other words, he's not as reliable as some people here seem to think. In his last 8 innings, his highest score is 24.
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Fakhar and Shehzad have practically the same T20I averages but Fakhar's strike-rate is 20+ higher. Shehzad's SR of 115 is just abysmal.
 
Both Fakhar and Babar should play.

Replace Akmal with Haris and Shehzad with Fakhar.

Where is Sharjeel nowadays? I remember he was a destructive batsman.
 
Even though he had issues in regards to increasing the run rate/ general boundary hitting, I thought Hussain Talat was still a decent t20 bat. He couldn't score boundaries at will, but he could still rotate strike with relative ease. If he was persisted with, that'd be one more batsman who could bat with Babar at a decent click.
 
Hafeez has been a big factor in T20 as well, his last 6 T20 innings: 53*, 34*, 45, 32*, 40, 39

Fakhar was also missed - still baffled they selected Shehzad over him

The batting failure has more to do more with having Shehzad, Akmal, Sarfraz, Asif and Ifthikar as 5 of your top 6 - that is totally pathetic. Pakistan wouldn't have chased 160+ even if Babar had scored 50
 
TeamPak95 said:
Even though he had issues in regards to increasing the run rate/ general boundary hitting, I thought Hussain Talat was still a decent t20 bat. He couldn't score boundaries at will, but he could still rotate strike with relative ease. If he was persisted with, that'd be one more batsman who could bat with Babar at a decent click.
Click to expand...

Talat is better batsmen than 5 of the top 6 that played today
 
The whole batting order that has worked for us many years was tampered with. Haris Sohail and fakhar zaman didn't play the game. The players were a bit out of touch after a long break from cricket. I am not too worried about this loss.
 
Just one loss and knives are already out. Let the series finish, I am sure Akmal and Shehzad will come through in next match.
 
Darkrai said:
Fakhar Zaman only has 4 50s in 29 innings at an average of 25.8, in other words, he's not as reliable as some people here seem to think. In his last 8 innings, his highest score is 24.
Click to expand...

You can't judge a player in T20s like it's an ODI. Strike rate is what's more important these days. Averaging 25 at a SR of 135 is better than averaging 35 at 110.
 
big_gamer007 said:
Just one loss and knives are already out. Let the series finish, I am sure Akmal and Shehzad will come through in next match.
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If they play I hope they get embarrassed again. I'm willing to get walloped again if it means the end of Shehzad and Akmal.
 
coy0607 said:
Hafeez has been a big factor in T20 as well, his last 6 T20 innings: 53*, 34*, 45, 32*, 40, 39

Fakhar was also missed - still baffled they selected Shehzad over him

The batting failure has more to do more with having Shehzad, Akmal, Sarfraz, Asif and Ifthikar as 5 of your top 6 - that is totally pathetic. Pakistan wouldn't have chased 160+ even if Babar had scored 50
Click to expand...

Hafeez has been a liability to his CPL team. On current form Shoaib Malik deserves it more but hopefully none of them will be seen In a Pakistan jersey again.
 
Misbah making the same point in post game presser:


"We became #1 in T20Is but if you dig deeper, what has been our strength mostly? Babar Azam's runs and he didn't score in two games and we've been exposed. I think we need to find six match-winners, not one. Until you don't have that powerhouse in the middle-order and a powerhouse at the top-order for the powerplay, you can't do well. Similarly in the bowling powerplay if you can't get wickets and then in the death overs you can't finish well, you struggle and I think we have failed in all departments. It's an eye opener. We need to look at these things. If we were doing well, we couldn't do that here. Our strong points didn't deliver. We need to find other players, how long can you rely on one or two batsmen?"
 
There is a over reliance on Babar.

Haris Sohail is an upgrade on Shehzad and UA and should really be playing.
 
Hope he gets his customary 50+ and we bat first

Unable to chase for some reason.
 
Babar failed again today and Pakistan lost.

Seems to be a regular pattern in the Babar or Bust scenario.
 
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Same old story again, Rizwan was batting as if he is a cripple.

Fakhar needs to get his mojo back.
 
Darkrai said:
Babar 59(38)
rest of the team 47(52)

deja vu
Click to expand...

Then people complain he plays too slow. They single him out.

Many Pakistani fans have a habit of overcriticising and blaming their best player. They will never put the blame in or criticise a bad player or their favourites.
 
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The difference in quality between Babar and the rest of the batting lineup is staggering.

Today, in a situation where he was quite obviously the only Pakistan batsman capable of scoring at a consistent enough rate, the rest of the order deprived him of the strike. How did he only face 38 out of the 90 balls in the innings, given that he opened and faced the first ball of the innings?!
 
Babar has become an excellent player. The rest of the batsmen are either not T20 players like Haris and Rizwan or just guys that are not good enough anymore like FZ or never good enough like Asif.
 
delpiero10 said:
The difference in quality between Babar and the rest of the batting lineup is staggering.

Today, in a situation where he was quite obviously the only Pakistan batsman capable of scoring at a consistent enough rate, the rest of the order deprived him of the strike. How did he only face 38 out of the 90 balls in the innings, given that he opened and faced the first ball of the innings?!
Click to expand...

Because unlike Babar, other batsmen don't have the ability to take singles, which results in them wasting many deliveries by playing dot balls and therefore depriving Babar of the Strike.
 
Darkrai said:
Because unlike Babar, other batsmen don't have the ability to take singles, which results in them wasting many deliveries by playing dot balls and therefore depriving Babar of the Strike.
Click to expand...

Babar only played 3 or 4 dots today. He has really improved in all aspects of batting. He was poor at rotating strike a few years ago, now he is excellent at it. His power game has drastically improved, especially after the world cup. His defence is brilliant. His ability against spin has also improved.

He is hungry to improve and be the best. He is what so many Pakistanis promised to be but never became. Many talented batsmen have played for Pakistan but none have been as hard working as Babar.

Extreme talent + continuous hard work = a brilliant player
 
Danyaalr01 said:
Babar only played 3 or 4 dots today. He has really improved in all aspects of batting. He was poor at rotating strike a few years ago, now he is excellent at it. His power game has drastically improved, especially after the world cup. His defence is brilliant. His ability against spin has also improved.

He is hungry to improve and be the best. He is what so many Pakistanis promised to be but never became. Many talented batsmen have played for Pakistan but none have been as hard working as Babar.

Extreme talent + continuous hard work = a brilliant player
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Totally agree.... Question is, how long will Babar persist to have this mindset untill he questions the point of it, with other players consistently letting the team down.
 
We're lucky that Misbah had retired from LOI's before Babar was established and before he was made CS otherwise he would still be blocked out citing that he's still too "young".
 
The big worry is that Babar loses form due to the burden of captaincy.

I hope it doesn't happen, but it could.
 
Bewal Express said:
Babar has become an excellent player. The rest of the batsmen are either not T20 players like Haris and Rizwan or just guys that are not good enough anymore like FZ or never good enough like Asif.
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I dont know how you managed to club Haris with Rizwan. Haris is a top notch player, you will see in the next two matches.
 
Slim said:
I dont know how you managed to club Haris with Rizwan. Haris is a top notch player, you will see in the next two matches.
Click to expand...

Haris is just as bad as T20 player but I do hope you are right. For me Haris gets bogged too often, which is not a good sign for a T20 player.
 
Sean143 said:
Pakistan are a terrible batting side in T20Is. Babar Azam's brilliance has overshadowed the fatal flaws that exist in the lineup. Barring him we don't even have a single batter who scores consistently at a decent strike rate. A guy like Sarfaraz is our T20I captain (and honestly Rizwan isn't good enough to replace him either). With this batting setup, I can't see us making the semis in T20WC 2020.

This series was a chance to try out guys like Ahsan Ali, but we are still stuck with the likes of Shehzad. Sarfaraz Ahmed should retire from T20Is and focus on Tests and ODIs, even in his prime he was never a T20 batter. Umar Akmal or Kamran Akmal should be utilized as keepers.

This batting lineup is awful.
Click to expand...

Hey man, is this the thread you told me to check out post-SL series?

I pretty much agree with most of what is discussed here. I went looking at the minnow-bashing argument though because I wanted to see if the rankings were boosted by beating Zimbabwe, Scotland, Ireland etc in most games. If you check out my post, I found that the majority of games were actually played against much higher-ranked teams. AUS and NZ combined were 38% of all games.

The strength of those sides is another argument altogether. I didn’t make any judgments there—just posted the teams which we played against. Like you said, our batting line-up needs sorting out.
 
Boiz Played Well said:
Hey man, is this the thread you told me to check out post-SL series?

I pretty much agree with most of what is discussed here. I went looking at the minnow-bashing argument though because I wanted to see if the rankings were boosted by beating Zimbabwe, Scotland, Ireland etc in most games. If you check out my post, I found that the majority of games were actually played against much higher-ranked teams. AUS and NZ combined were 38% of all games.

The strength of those sides is another argument altogether. I didn’t make any judgments there—just posted the teams which we played against. Like you said, our batting line-up needs sorting out.
Click to expand...

No this is a separate thread.

Actually my argument revolved around the strength of those sides.
 
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Boiz Played Well said:
Hey man, is this the thread you told me to check out post-SL series?

I pretty much agree with most of what is discussed here. I went looking at the minnow-bashing argument though because I wanted to see if the rankings were boosted by beating Zimbabwe, Scotland, Ireland etc in most games. If you check out my post, I found that the majority of games were actually played against much higher-ranked teams. AUS and NZ combined were 38% of all games.

The strength of those sides is another argument altogether. I didn’t make any judgments there—just posted the teams which we played against. Like you said, our batting line-up needs sorting out.
Click to expand...

http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/s...m-2-amp-Shadab-Khan-4&p=10510366#post10510366

#6
 
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