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Bangladesh's batting line-up is more mature than Pakistan: Aaqib Javed

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Bangladesh currently have a more mature batting line-up than Pakistan, believes former Pakistan pacer Aaqib Javed, who lauded the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) for their tremendous work in developing players with limited resources. His comments also seem to raise questions over the quality of the current Pakistan batting which has been under scrutiny due to constant failure.

Pakistan are still searching for their perfect batting combination in both Tests and limited-overs sides after sacking Sarfaraz Ahmed as captain. Sarfaraz was removed from captaincy last year after Pakistan's poor show in the 2019 World Cup where they failed to qualify for the knockouts. While Azhar Ali has been leading the Test side, Babar Azam has been handed over captaincy responsibilities in both ODIs and T20Is.

Javed, who played 22 Tests and 163 ODIs for Pakistan between 1989 to 1998, recalled his playing days when Pakistan used to dominate Bangladesh and contests between the two teams used to be one-sided. However, that is not the case anymore as Bangladesh have emerged as a successful side in white-ball cricket in the last few years.

“At the moment, if you compare the Bangladesh batting with Pakistan, you can see that they are not behind. Sometimes they look more mature and seems to have more options in their batting line up than the Pakistan side,” said Aaqib in a conversation with Bangladesh daily Prothom Alo Bangla.

Javed praised BCB for their proper planning and investment on the grassroots level which has helped the country produce some good players in recent times. Javed said Bangladesh have achieved much more than Pakistan despite not having many resources.

"I still remember the time when we use to play with Bangladesh. It was mostly one-sided at that time but recently, Bangladesh has come out with really talented players who actually made their mark at the highest level. The reason behind this is that Bangladesh was very consistent in their development side. They have a very good and consistent development plan under their national academy. If I compare Bangladesh’s progress with Pakistan, I think, Bangladesh has achieved more in their limited resources than Pakistan,” said the former Pakistan pacer.

Pakistan's batting will face a stern test from the England pace attack consisting of the likes of Stuart Broad and James Anderson when they take on the hosts in the three-match Test series starting from August 05.

https://www.timesnownews.com/sports...ved-takes-a-dig-at-babar-azam-led-side/613044
 
He is right. You take Babar out and our lineup is comfortably inferior.
 
This makes no sense. Have Aqib seen the last test match Pakistan played versus Bangladesh. Pakistan won by an innings. And God knows what Aqib mean by maturity of a batting lineup.
 
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MATURE?

Abid Ali 33
Shan Masood 30
Azhar Ali 35
Babar Azam 25
Asad Shafiq 34
Fawad Alam 35

I’ve never seen such a geriatric line-up in my life!!!!!!!
 
Well this current tour has the potential to end a few Test careers.

I don't expect much from too many of the batsmen. It seems it's going to be Babar or bust!
 
Aaqib is 100% correct. Except Babar, there's no one who can match Sakib, Mushfiqur, Tamim in our line up. Really shameful!

But of course, we have a superior bowling line up and win most of the times.
 
Look at how Bangladesh chased that 300 plus score against West Indies in the WC. Other than Babar I really don't see any of our batters batting with that calmness and see security.

He has a point unfortunately.
 
In limited overs cricket, Bangladesh do not have batsmen who are better than....

Babar
Imam
Fakhar
Harris
Abid

Do what you want, produce whatever stat you want. This is the harsh reality.
 
Says the most stupid coach in the world.

But tbh he is correct.

Mushfiqur is more mature than Sarfaraz.

Shakib > Imad

But Soumya Sarkar is the worst.
 
Let’s be honest.

The batting of the two countries is fairly similar in Tests.

But Pakistan has a very strong bowling attack, and Bangladesh doesn’t.
 
Tbh, abid and shan are alright, fawad may score runs if picked. So it's not as bad as Bangladesh.

Asad shafiq and azhar ali are the main culprits. These two should retire as they are weak links in the batting order
 
Have always said this. Bangladesh currently has the second best batting stocks in Asia. But their bowling is below par to say the least and that pits them comfortably behind Pakistan and even Sri Lanka in terms of overall quality.
 
Looks like aaqib is pandering to the bangladesh public

Lets be honest bar one or two players youd always choose more of pakistans test batters than bangaldeshs Its a fact
 
Looks like aaqib is pandering to the bangladesh public

Lets be honest bar one or two players youd always choose more of pakistans test batters than bangaldeshs Its a fact

Wouldn’t be surprised if he is looking for a coaching role with them
 
Aqib could've right had he made that comment 2-3 years ago (when BD was doing well and Pakistan was struggling).

Present Bangladeshi batting lineup is associate level. They lost to Afghanistan at home in Test.
 
In limited overs cricket, Bangladesh do not have batsmen who are better than....

Babar
Imam
Fakhar
Harris
Abid

Do what you want, produce whatever stat you want. This is the harsh reality.

Think he was talking about LOIs bcoz BD hardly plays test cricket. So lets keep test cricket aside.

He has a point though. Wont you agree with the below in ODIs:

Tamim > Fakhar
Liton > Imam
Sowmya < Babar
Mushfiq > Sarfraz
Shakib > Haris
 
Not sure what he means by mature - but not a stretch to say Bangladeshi batting is better than Pakistan's.

Outside of Babar, there isn't a single other threatening, or even above average batsmen in Pakistan.
 
Think he was talking about LOIs bcoz BD hardly plays test cricket. So lets keep test cricket aside.

He has a point though. Wont you agree with the below in ODIs:

Tamim > Fakhar
Liton > Imam
Sowmya < Babar
Mushfiq > Sarfraz
Shakib > Haris

Whatever floats your boat mate
 
Think he was talking about LOIs bcoz BD hardly plays test cricket. So lets keep test cricket aside.

He has a point though. Wont you agree with the below in ODIs:

Tamim > Fakhar
Liton > Imam
Sowmya < Babar
Mushfiq > Sarfraz
Shakib > Haris

Why don’t you compare Babar to Mushfiq and Shakib to Harris?

Babar>Mushfiq
Harris> Shakib
Imam> Tamim
Fakhar> Liton
Abid> Soumya
 
Why don’t you compare Babar to Mushfiq and Shakib to Harris?

Babar>Mushfiq
Harris> Shakib
Imam> Tamim
Fakhar> Liton
Abid> Soumya

Are you saying Imam Ul Haq is a better batsman than Tamim? Haris Sohail is better than Shakib?

You cant be serious right?
 
Our batting is more mature in LOIs

In tests we don't have that level of maturity. Pakistan test batting is MORE mature easily.
 
Why don’t you compare Babar to Mushfiq and Shakib to Harris?

Babar>Mushfiq
Harris> Shakib
Imam> Tamim
Fakhar> Liton
Abid> Soumya

Why stopped there?

Babar> Viv
Harris>Sobers
Imam>Hayden
Fakhar>Sanga
Abid>Sachin
 
Our batting is more mature in LOIs

In tests we don't have that level of maturity. Pakistan test batting is MORE mature easily.

BD team has lost the plot completely since World Cup. Even our LOI batting is now associate level.

BD batting was better between 2015 and 2018 but that's not currently the case.

Bullying Zimbabwe doesn't count.
 
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Are you saying Imam Ul Haq is a better batsman than Tamim? Haris Sohail is better than Shakib?

You cant be serious right?

And you are serious by comparing a rookie imam with experience tamim .

Just google imam odi record he has made great start and has potential to take it to next level so i don't why you are so surprised. Current tamim is not same batsmen he was 2 year ago
 
Think he was talking about LOIs bcoz BD hardly plays test cricket. So lets keep test cricket aside.

He has a point though. Wont you agree with the below in ODIs:

Tamim > Fakhar
Liton > Imam
Sowmya < Babar
Mushfiq > Sarfraz
Shakib > Haris
Litton > Imam???
You're being sarcastic, right?
 
Bangladesh has some better batsmen then us...but their team has still not learned how to win games when they’re under pressure.
 
Tamil is hit or miss, mushfiqur is OK, slightly overrated.
Shakib is their main player.
Cumulatively, they are clearly weaker than paks batting in all formats
 
Shakib is excellent. But I don't really rate the rest of their batsmen. Mushfiq is pretty good at times and Tamim seems to be a minnow basher who's past his prime. A few years ago they were great but not currently. In all formats.
 
He can't be talking about the Test batsmen because Pakistan have Azhar and Asad and now Babar. Neither of these 3 are perhaps world class or established (yet), but they can compete easily with Bangladesh's top batsmen.

In ODIs maybe he has a point but it doesn't matter but because in limited overs' games your all rounders/ bowlers can win you matches too.

If Pakistan had given Fawad Alam more chances he could have achieved more than any Bangladeshi batsman, but that's another discussion.
 
ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Match 43 Fri 5 July, 10:30 Local ( 11:30 CEST ) Lord's, London, England

Pakistan win by 94 runs

Pakistan - 315/9 50/50 ov RR: 6.30
Bangladesh - 221 44.1/50 ov RR: 5.00

https://www.icc-cricket.com/match/8234#scorecard

Yes, Aqib. Sure they are.
Good luck with that coaching stint in the BPL.

No point bringing in recent forms and results you are denying the usual doom and gloom Pak fans opportunity to gloat how rubbish Pak are.
 
BD team has lost the plot completely since World Cup. Even our LOI batting is now associate level.

BD batting was better between 2015 and 2018 but that's not currently the case.

Bullying Zimbabwe doesn't count.

We haven't played much LOIs cricket tbf since the World Cup.
 
We haven't played much LOIs cricket tbf since the World Cup.

What? We played 15 LOI games between end of World Cup till COVID-19. That's enough games over the space of 9 months. We also played 5 Tests.

We played in SL (lost 0-3). Got hammered in Pakistan (0-2). Got beaten against 2nd string Indian team (1-2). Faced Afghans in 2 T20 games (lost 1 and won 1) during the tri-series.

Only opponent we bullied was Zimbabwe. We won 5 LOI games against them.

Team has been outrageously bad since the World Cup.
 
What? We played 15 LOI games between end of World Cup till COVID-19. That's enough games over the space of 9 months. We also played 5 Tests.

We played in SL (lost 0-3). Got hammered in Pakistan (0-2). Got beaten against 2nd string Indian team (1-2). Faced Afghans in 2 T20 games (lost 1 and won 1) during the tri-series.

Only opponent we bullied was Zimbabwe. We won 5 LOI games against them.

Team has been outrageously bad since the World Cup.

I don't know what happened to BD. Prior to the WC, It seemed like they had an upward trajectory and were constantly posting big totals and also chasing them down too? Now, my view is only of a non-Bangladeshi so I might not be fully aware of stats, but that is what it looked like to me as an outsider.
 
Considering nobody brought any stats to party, lets draw up some basic numbers.

Pakistan.png

These are the stats of the mainstream Pakistani batsmen in the last 24 months (2 years). I've omitted those that are not in contention at the moment for the playing XI.


Bangladesh.png

Similarly, here we can see the same variables for Bangladesh batsmen in the preceding 2 years as well.



Now the concept Aqib is arguing, 'maturity', can subjectively mean a lot of things however, first hands stats based on any given batting metric (at least the ones that we normally use) show that Pakistani batsmen on almost all accounts have performed better than their Bangladeshi counterparts. It can be argued (in a fringe manner) that Aqib might be referring to overall cricketing experience here but then again Aqib is also the head coach of Lahore Qalandars so we can probably do the math there as well :)

P.S. RPI and BFI in the above are Runs Pre Innings and Balls Faced Per Innings respectively.
 
Just curious, how is Azhar at 31?

Azhar has played 23 innings and score 717 runs in the last 2 years. That puts his RPI at 31.17. Even if we calculate his average it still comes to 31.17 because in the given time frame he does not have any not outs.
 
Wth has they ever won to even merit this discussion vs Pak, that 99 wc gift or that 3-0 vs the worst Pak Odi outfit in history, they have zilch to show for other than that, defeat after defeat. Nothing against BD but results speaks for themselves. [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] sorry buddy but these people are really underselling pak batsman, they are not world beaters but still wipe the floor with BD. Hopefully BD improve in future and start winning something which actually matter or some overseas victories vs a proper team.
 
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Wth has they ever won to even merit this discussion vs Pak, that 99 wc gift or that 3-0 vs the worst Pak Odi outfit in history, they have zilch to show for other than that, defeat after defeat. Nothing against BD but results speaks for themselves. [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] sorry buddy but these people are really underselling pak batsman, they are not world beaters but still wipe the floor with BD. Hopefully BD improve in future and start winning something which actually matter or some overseas victories vs a proper team.

Well, nobody asked Pakistan to gift 1999 WC game and nobody asked Pakistan to field a bad team in 2015 (the one that got whitewashed). These are just excuses.

That Bangladesh team in 2015 was on fire. They also beat a full-strength Indian side at home (2-1) and also a full-strength South Africa side (2-1). That team also won Tests against Australia, England, and SL.

Having said that, present Bangladesh team is in complete disarray. Those golden days are gone.
 
Well Asad Shafiq needs a big series, not a case of just a 70 or 80 in the final Test.
 
Thats debatable, but Pakistan are a much better batting unit in Tests than Bangladesh overall.

In tests Shakib is better than harris
Tamim is better than imaam
Liton is better than fakhar
 
In tests Shakib is better than harris
Tamim is better than imaam
Liton is better than fakhar
No denying.

My argument was specifically for limited overs cricket.

I do think that if the three players you mentioned play enough Test cricket, we can make a more sensible comparison then. Imam and Fakhar have hardly played any Test cricket, even Harris has a handful
 
KARACHI: Pakistan’s former Test fast bowler and head coach of PSL franchise Lahore Qalandars Aaqib Javed on Tuesday said that West Indies and Pakistan Test series against England are very crucial for the revival of international cricket and the contests will encourage more cricket boards to organise bilateral series soon.

“It is so unfortunate that we didn’t see any cricket in last three months because of Covid-19 but its a great development that West Indies and Pakistan teams have reached England and we are all set to witness Test cricket in England along with T20 matches,” he said.

Aaqib said despite the selection of 29 players for the England tour, Pakistan’s Test squad looks inexperienced and unsettled and England may win the series 3-0.

“Pakistan did well in the last two Test series [in England] and we were able to draw the Test series, but during the last one or two years England have really raised their game and the way they are playing cricket in lall three formats is just remarkable,” he observed.

“Pakistan will struggle in the Test series as they have quality line-up, They have world class fast bowlers in shape of James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Jofra Archer as well as a match-winning all-rounder like Ben Stokes and also they have a fine Test batting line up.

“Their batsmen not only score big but also at a rapid pace and that is where Pakistan will lack as we are still playing the game in an old fashioned way,” said Aaqib.

“If Pakistan manage to play 125 overs we still may not score enough runs as compared to England who can smash a huge score in as many overs and can out play the opposition after that.”

Aaqib echoed the views of former captain Ramiz Raja and expressed doubts about Mohammad Abbas’ utility and said he has lost considerable pace and may not be effective as he was last year.

“If we look at the Pakistan pace attack, it lacks experience and a bit of quality,” noted Aaqib. “Abbas is a experienced bowler but he has lost pace and it will affect his performance.

“Also, after ban of saliva, most of Pakistan fast bowlers will struggle as they mostly rely on reverse swing and take wickets with the old ball.

“Shaheen Shah Afridi is a rising fast bowlers and he can do well but the highly rated Naseem Shah lacks experience and this series will be a big test for the young pacer, said Aaqib.

“As for Yasir Shah, he performed all over the world before but during the last two years or so, his form has been on the decline. But i still feel that his performance will be the key in Test series,” added Aaqib.

Speaking about talented young pacer Haris Rauf, Aaqib said: “He can do well in Tests if given a chance as he has pace which is required to topple batting line ups in a time of saliva ban and also he has aggression to surprise England team.

“Haris did well in Australia in Grade Cricket and later played first class matches too. So he has the credentials to do well in Tests and is also a very commited bowler who always wants to do well.”

But when reminded that Haris failed to excel in PSL 5 games, Aaqib said: “He played in PSL despite injury because he wanted the Qalandars to do well for Qalandars. But he was not fit and was not able to perform well.”

Aaqib further said that Pakistan Cricket Board must try and stage remaining matches of PSL 5 and the winner should be decide through competition.

“PSL 5 should be completed. PCB must try and host remaining matches whether in Pakistan or in the UAE but the winner should be decided through competition on ground. I hope PCB will be able to find a small window this year around November to complete PSL 5,” Aaqib said.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1566228
 
No denying.

My argument was specifically for limited overs cricket.

I do think that if the three players you mentioned play enough Test cricket, we can make a more sensible comparison then. Imam and Fakhar have hardly played any Test cricket, even Harris has a handful

Fair enough even in limited overs Shakib is 2and best in the world when he was playing in terms of all rounder harris is behind him.

Other than that your right :)
 
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