First ODI against Sri Lanka: One of worst ODI hundreds ever - Babar Azam

[Amjid Javed]

On a placid wicket with no pace in it and no real turn against a pretty mediocre attack and babar azam feels the need to play a snail like inns when all other batsmen are scoring at more then a run a ball with ease. The whole inns lacked momentum due to babar failing to rotate strike early on or even accelerate later in inns. Fair enough he may have been out of form in tests byt this is a different format. A selfish and poor 100.

Ranks up their rameez rajas lame effort against W.I in the 1992 world cup.

 

[Proactive_]

Reminded me of many of our very own Sachin Tendulkar's hundreds. Who said Babar can't be compared to Sachin? Duh.

 

[waleed88]

On a placid wicket with no pace in it and no real turn against a pretty mediocre attack and babar azam feels the need to play a snail like inns when all other batsmen are scoring at more then a run a ball with ease. The whole inns lacked momentum due to babar failing to rotate strike early on or even accelerate later in inns. Fair enough he may have been out of form in tests byt this is a different format. A selfish and poor 100.

Ranks up their rameez rajas lame effort against W.I in the 1992 world cup.

Don't be surprised, did the same vs Australia in the 5th ODI, a 100 in dead rubber chasing 350+ while batting at a strike rate of 60. Aussies were so relaxed they let the boy enjoy his singles and doubles made him look like a million dolllars while the run rate had crept above 10

 

[Rana]

He celebrated it as if he was shutting up his haters.

 

[kingusama92]

It'll be match-winning innings.

 

[Amjid Javed]

He celebrated it as if he was shutting up his haters.

He seemed more interested in regaining form then helping the teams cause.

 

[Bilal7]

Let both sides bat first. If it was so easy, Babar would not be the only one scoring a century.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Waiting for MIG to post and say he was anchoring the inns

 

[srh]

On a placid wicket with no pace in it and no real turn against a pretty mediocre attack and babar azam feels the need to play a snail like inns when all other batsmen are scoring at more then a run a ball with ease. The whole inns lacked momentum due to babar failing to rotate strike early on or even accelerate later in inns. Fair enough he may have been out of form in tests byt this is a different format. A selfish and poor 100.

Ranks up their rameez rajas lame effort against W.I in the 1992 world cup.

Babar do has some selfish tendencies but you cannot compare this 100 with Rameez Raja's 100 in 1992 WC. That one was pure selfish considering what Pakistan had in batting lineup (Miandad, Inzi etc.). Here Babar has very inferior ODI batsmen like Sarfraz, Imad etc. so Babar dont have the luxury of other good batsmen in batting lineup

 

[Amjid Javed]

Let both sides bat first. If it was so easy, Babar would not be the only one scoring a century.

Why did every other batsmen find it so easy to score at a run a ball then? The two selfish knocks in this inns by shezi and babar.

 

[Mamoon]

One thing he should have inherited from Akmal brothers was unselfishness. Kamran and Umar have their problems, but one cannot accuse them for being selfish with the bat. I don't recall many innings where they have sacrificed the team's cause for personal milestones.

 

[Rana]

Whats sad is that this is our number 3 batsman. He is supposed to be our best player, but he lacks the ability of taking charge of the innings. You cant expect him to singlehandedly take apart a bowler in an over. He doesnt like to hit the ball hard. He would rather the others around him do this. Thats ok, but if thats the case then this guy will forever be the 5th best compared to Kohli, smith, kane and Root. others will catch up and he will remain 5th best and we will never have that domineering player we desire

 

[Syed1]

Pretty selfish innings... wasn't even looking for the boundary in the death overs so that he could safely cruise to his ton.

 

[Indiafan]

Reminded me of many of our very own Sachin Tendulkar's hundreds. Who said Babar can't be compared to Sachin? Duh.

Many of Sachin's 100? Sachin had one of the highest strike rates in ODI cricket at his peak. Just because he struggled with a couple of innings in his retirement time doesn't mean you can spout garbage. Do some of you guys even watch cricket or have ever watched cricket? sachin's 100s were inadvertently over 100 strike rate even in late 90s, early 2000s. He would be over 100 strike rate right after 10 overs and continue throughout his innings

 

[Rana]

One thing he should have inherited from Akmal brothers was unselfishness. Kamran and Umar have their problems, but one cannot accuse them for being selfish with the bat. I don't recall many innings where they have sacrificed the team's cause for personal milestones.

Bechara Umar has never really been in the 90s for us to truly know

 

[Mamoon]

Another Hashim Amla in the making I fear. Thousands of soft runs but little impact and mediocre performances in tournaments.

 

[Enigma_]

Yep truly disgraceful.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Babar do has some selfish tendencies but you cannot compare this 100 with Rameez Raja's 100 in 1992 WC. That one was pure selfish considering what Pakistan had in batting lineup (Miandad, Inzi etc.). Here Babar has very inferior ODI batsmen like Sarfraz, Imad etc. so Babar dont have the luxury of other good batsmen in batting lineup

What difference does it make about the batting line up? His inns was painfully slow even in last 5 overs of inns he was lookinh to just get to a hundred rather then hit out... am sure he did rsmeez proud in combo box with his slow effort.

 

[Mamoon]

Bechara Umar has never really been in the 90s for us to truly know

Well he once hit 3 consecutive boundaries vs SL to go from 79 to 91, but then tried a fourth consecutive one and found the fielder at mid-off, we were cruising at that point but that triggered a collapse. At times, selfishness can be good too, but you need to find the right balance which Babar hasn't so far.

Anyway, Umar has scored 3 international hundreds and he never tried to play it safe in the 90's.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Hopefully we will still win it. Outside of their top 3, I doubt their batsmen have the ability to chase it down.

 

[Billa86]

Its really difficult to judge if Babar indeed plays for his personal milestones instead of team cause. I guess his todays innings was foundation for Pakistan to score these runs.

 

[ads101]

Why he should probably open. He doesn't usually struggle to hit at a decent strike rate, but he's not the greatest at really upping the strike rate and accelerating, especially exploiting the spinners. I think he's a great no.3 for us, but he could be a great opener too, allowing us to fit in a talented middle order bat in Haris rather than including shehzad.

 

[rashmin]

Reminded me of many of our very own Sachin Tendulkar's hundreds. Who said Babar can't be compared to Sachin? Duh.

Brother, don't be a blind hater. In ODIs, 33 of Sachin's 51 centuries resulted in win. Try to find another Indian cricketer to use your troll machine plz. With this false info, no one takes you seriously.

 

[Bilal7]

Another Hashim Amla in the making I fear. Thousands of soft runs but little impact and mediocre performances in tournaments.

Great news for Pakistan, if what you say is true. Babar will be our best ODI batsman by far, and end up as an ATG.

 

[90MPH]

It was def on the slower side.

However we do have to consider he looked totally out of nick and had a horrid show in the Test series so his mindset was definitely cluttered somewhat. He wasn't going to strike the ball and get singles from
Ball one.

Taking that into consideration I think he will play faster in the next few innings. He overall looks so home in this format - compare that to the Test format where he looks so lost and confused you would think there were 2 different players.

It's the same venue, more or less the same wicket but the mindset and format can play tricks if you don't adjust.

 

[another drop catch]

you guys doesnt deserve run machine babar , pakistan deserves players like ahmed shehzad who cannot score single run on placid pitches of U.A.E

 

[JibranAnsari]

Yah one of the worst innings ever , when you are 200 for 3 then there is no need to just take singles

 

[90MPH]

Brother, don't be a blind hater. In ODIs, 33 of Sachin's 51 centuries resulted in win. Try to find another Indian cricketer to use your troll machine plz. With this false info, no one takes you seriously.

No need to get defensive just because he mentioned Tendu - he had flaws like any other player.

 

[Varun]

Why so much hate for a guy who scored a ton and took the team to a combined total of 292 in an ODI? Half of page 1's threads are about this supposedly poor effort.

Pretty sure this is too much for Lanka to defend.

 

[Mamoon]

Great news for Pakistan, if what you say is true. Babar will be our best ODI batsman by far, and end up as an ATG.

If I what I say is true than he will be the new king of soft runs and not even among the top 20 ODI batsmen of all time. He needs to bat with more fire and passion and not let his talent go to waste due to timidness or selfishness.

He is a quality player but his selfish needs to be nipped from its bud early before it becomes a problem. In Amla's case, it is not selfishness but completely inability to handle pressure.

 

[Abdullah719]

It was def on the slower side.

However we do have to consider he looked totally out of nick and had a horrid show in the Test series so his mindset was definitely cluttered somewhat. He wasn't going to strike the ball and get singles from
Ball one.

Taking that into consideration I think he will play faster in the next few innings. He overall looks so home in this format - compare that to the Test format where he looks so lost and confused you would think there were 2 different players.

It's the same venue, more or less the same wicket but the mindset and format can play tricks if you don't adjust.

Agree with the part about the slow start but during the latter stages of the innings he was clearly playing for his hundred, taking singles and then hitting out straight away after reaching it which is pretty poor in the closing stages of the innings.

Hopefully the total is enough.

 

[161]

He's playing for milestones ... not sure if that is a good or bad thing in this Pak batting line up.

Slow century vs a quick 30 ?

 

[AAli98]

Trouble with Babar is hes one dimensional. Cant step up a gear. Good player to have but others have to go for it while he holds up one end. Very similar to Azhar Ali...

 

[asadee]

OMG we have Umar Akmal is better than Babar Azam fans here!!!

 

[Madplayer]

Yah one of the worst innings ever , when you are 200 for 3 then there is no need to just take singles

Who were the next batsmen after malik? The ever dependable sarfaraz and imad bevan wasim. Pakistan doesnt have a reliable lower order. 200-3 can turn into 210-6 in no time. Who is your reliable hitter? Nobody. Faheem is one but he never gets selected.

 

[Abdullah719]

Trouble with Babar is hes one dimensional. Cant step up a gear. Good player to have but others have to go for it while he holds up one end. Very similar to Azhar Ali...

Not true, see his innings in the World XI series.

It is simply impossible for Azhar to ever make 86 off 52 balls. Which makes Babar's approach all the more disappointing at the death.

 

[90MPH]

Agree with the part about the slow start but during the latter stages of the innings he was clearly playing for his hundred, taking singles and then hitting out straight away after reaching it which is pretty poor in the closing stages of the innings.

Hopefully the total is enough.

Agree def he was playing for it.

But confidence is a big factor in cricket. He was down in the woods last few weeks so sometimes it takes a milestone to build yourself up again.

He doesn't normally score this slow so I expect him to score much faster next few matches.

290 should be enough, unless Pak bowl really poorly.

 

[asfandyar]

Criticize Babar for the right reasons, and scoring a hundred is not one of them.

 

[Mamoon]

He's playing for milestones ... not sure if that is a good or bad thing in this Pak batting line up.

Slow century vs a quick 30 ?

There is a middle ground too. A 60-70 at a good strike rate. The problem is that Babar is certainly capable, but his ambition to go for personal milestones is not helping the team.

While his hunger to score tons is appreciable and also important, he needs to find the right balance. Trotting at a SR of 75 when others around him are going at 90 is not acceptable. Unfortunately it has happened too many times now.

 

[Abdullah719]

Who were the next batsmen after malik? The ever dependable sarfaraz and imad bevan wasim. Pakistan doesnt have a reliable lower order. 200-3 can turn into 210-6 in no time. Who is your reliable hitter? Nobody. Faheem is one but he never gets selected.

I would hope that once you enter the last 10 overs and you have Sarfaraz, Imad, Shadab and Hasan still to bat, you can be reasonably sure of not collapsing to 240 all out against this SL attack.

 

[shady]

If he played recklessly, and got out for a 60-70 then he would be criticized as well. Fact is we haven't had an ODI anchor as good as Babar in some time, his role is to play long innings and he does that better than anyone. It's not his problem that we don't have enough big strikers playing alongside him.

 

[Sirris]

You guys struggle from chronic complaining syndrome.

With all the expectations put on him and all the hype created by the fan group we shouldn't forget that he is still a kid in developing stage. A finished product. The kid was coming from a horrible test series with all the critics out. At leaset he didn't let the pressure crush him and effect his Odi game. During the test series he couldn't make runs to save his life. Hopefully the innings gave him much needed self confidence and he will improve his scoring rate in the future.

You guys sound like as if we have an army of players who can score centuries at a 100+ strike rate. A while back we were struggling to find a batsmen who could score 50s on a consistent basis.

I am happy for babar and think his century was a positive sign. Let's be encouraging for once in a while and trust him to improve his striking rate the more experience he gets.

I belive in baby steps.

 

[KingKhanWC]

When it was time to up the pace Malik was scoring quickly at the other end .

Good innings under the circumstances. Sri Lanka have littlr chance against this Pak bowling line up .

 

[htariq25]

Allow it he's out of form and low on confidence. This hundred was the glue to the innings.

 

[rashmin]

No need to get defensive just because he mentioned Tendu - he had flaws like any other player.

Completely agreed, Sachin had many flaws like any other cricketer but should be criticised with reasonable truthful facts, no need to overexagerate real facts to make one's point.

 

[JibranAnsari]

Who were the next batsmen after malik? The ever dependable sarfaraz and imad bevan wasim. Pakistan doesnt have a reliable lower order. 200-3 can turn into 210-6 in no time. Who is your reliable hitter? Nobody. Faheem is one but he never gets selected.

Simply he wanted his 100 and nothing else , malik was there and sarfraz can stick around. Even imad can bat well. In the last 10 overs it was worst display of batting from azam showing how selfish he is.

 

[Ab Fan]

Good inning Vs a pretty mediocre attack at a low SR.

If this is Pakistan's answer to the world, no wonder Babar will never become a great great OdI player.

 

[Madplayer]

I would hope that once you enter the last 10 overs and you have Sarfaraz, Imad, Shadab and Hasan still to bat, you can be reasonably sure of not collapsing to 240 all out against this SL attack.

Your hope is false hope. These guys are either inexperienced (shadab) or simply incapable of accelerating for a sustained period of time (imad). Sarfaraz is simply not a lower order bat.

 

[Madplayer]

Simply he wanted his 100 and nothing else , malik was there and sarfraz can stick around. Even imad can bat well. In the last 10 overs it was worst display of batting from azam showing how selfish he is.

Yes it wasnt ideal. But i dont trust Pakistan's lower order including sarfaraz, imad and the rest to last long while accelerating. They can get out for 10 runs combined.

 

[JibranAnsari]

I still remember his 100 against australia chasing 370 , he didnt even try to chase the score and preferred his 100.

 

[Syed1]

Yes it wasnt ideal. But i dont trust Pakistan's lower order including sarfaraz, imad and the rest to last long while accelerating. They can get out for 10 runs combined.

This is the reasoning Misbah fans used to use for his usual garbage innings of 60(90)

 

[Syed1]

It's funny how in Pakistan cricket... the names and faces change but everything remains the same.

 

[JibranAnsari]

Yes it wasnt ideal. But i dont trust Pakistan's lower order including sarfaraz, imad and the rest to last long while accelerating. They can get out for 10 runs combined.

You have to play your shots , and once he got his 100 why did he try a big shot? Why not a couple of overs before when he was at 95? Goes on to show that he wanted his 100 more than anything.

 

[SaadAliG]

Criticize Babar for the right reasons, and scoring a hundred is not one of them.

Not when it comes off 22 overs on a flat track while he batted the entire power plays. It's more of a hindrance.

 

[90MPH]

Good inning Vs a pretty mediocre attack at a low SR.

If this is Pakistan's answer to the world, no wonder Babar will never become a great great OdI player.

What based on this one slow innings ?

What about all his other innings, do they not count or answer anything ?

He is exactly the player Pakistan needs in the one day format and he has proved it many times.

 

[Madplayer]

This is the reasoning Misbah fans used to use for his usual garbage innings of 60(90)

You are right. Same reasoning.

But Babar's ODI SR is 90. Misbah's was 75. And people forget babar is 23 while misbah was 38.

 

[shaz619]

On a placid wicket with no pace in it and no real turn against a pretty mediocre attack and babar azam feels the need to play a snail like inns when all other batsmen are scoring at more then a run a ball with ease. The whole inns lacked momentum due to babar failing to rotate strike early on or even accelerate later in inns. Fair enough he may have been out of form in tests byt this is a different format. A selfish and poor 100.

Ranks up their rameez rajas lame effort against W.I in the 1992 world cup.

Look at the bigger picture, we got to 292 which is a defendable total.

 

[Madplayer]

You have to play your shots , and once he got his 100 why did he try a big shot? Why not a couple of overs before when he was at 95? Goes on to show that he wanted his 100 more than anything.

Yes he played for a century. Probably because of low confidence.

 

[Shafi]

Another Hashim Amla in the making I fear. Thousands of soft runs but little impact and mediocre performances in tournaments.

Did we ever produce Amal calibre batsman?

 

[SaadAliG]

You are right. Same reasoning.

But Babar's ODI SR is 90. Misbah's was 75. And people forget babar is 23 while misbah was 38.

There's difference when your team is struggling and you're supposed to stay at the crease which happened under misbah too often. Babar is completely different, his knock today was unjustifiable. We had wickets in hand and it was a flat track, we needed him to try to hit in the latter overs but he kept on pushing for singles for his 100. Remember his 100 against Australia? We were chasing 370 odd and Sharjeel provided us with an excellent platform but Babar completely undid that for his 100.
He should be sent back to school to read that lalach buri bala hai story, perhaps his granny should tell him at night.

 

[SaadAliG]

Yes he played for a century. Probably because of low confidence.

Don't you think he should go and play first class cricket for that purpose?

 

[Amjid Javed]

Look at the bigger picture, we got to 292 which is a defendable total.

We got to 292 due to malk showing some aggression at end of the inns, without that knock we would have got 250-60. 290 will probably be enough but with a platform of 200/3 we should have gone past 300 with ease instead a few decent blows from imad n hasan got us to a decent score.

 

[PerfectionPersonified]

It was OK innings but selfish definitely not the worse .

 

[Nil Dhumrojal]

Nope. Good innings.

 

[Madplayer]

Don't you think he should go and play first class cricket for that purpose?

No i dont think so.

 

[fawad_wellwisher]

An innings has to be judged within the context of the game, which is not over yet. I believe he was given a role which he fulfilled to a T. Holding up one end while the others kept the scoreboard moving briskly.

How SL batsmen fare on this wicket will decide whether this was a meaningless 100 or a innings from someone who has a unique gift of understanding what a winning total will be on a particular pitch.

 

[Madplayer]

There's difference when your team is struggling and you're supposed to stay at the crease which happened under misbah too often. Babar is completely different, his knock today was unjustifiable. We had wickets in hand and it was a flat track, we needed him to try to hit in the latter overs but he kept on pushing for singles for his 100. Remember his 100 against Australia? We were chasing 370 odd and Sharjeel provided us with an excellent platform but Babar completely undid that for his 100.
He should be sent back to school to read that lalach buri bala hai story, perhaps his granny should tell him at night.

Fact is, he was low on confidence. He is already a proven good ODI batsman. The best in Pakistan. Sorry to say but the harah truth is that Pakistani fans are beggars at this time in terms of getting quality batsmen. And beggars cant be choosers. Babar is the best you have and you have to back him to become better and better which he is capable of.

Quite sure he would play a better innings in the next game.

Also we should wait till both teams bat before judging an innings.

 

[Bilal7]

If I what I say is true than he will be the new king of soft runs and not even among the top 20 ODI batsmen of all time. He needs to bat with more fire and passion and not let his talent go to waste due to timidness or selfishness.

He is a quality player but his selfish needs to be nipped from its bud early before it becomes a problem. In Amla's case, it is not selfishness but completely inability to handle pressure.

This is not a norm for Babar. A slow hundred here and there is perfectly acceptable. He usually bats at a SR of over 85 which is fantastic.

As for Amla, you are incapable of giving an unbiased account of the man's cricket so let's just drop it.

 

[Bilal7]

It's funny how in Pakistan cricket... the names and faces change but everything remains the same.

There has been no name or face with Babar's stats in the history of Pakistan, other than Babar's.

Why bash the one guy who's making tons of runs? The fault lies with Shehzad and Hafeez, players who can neither score lots of runs nor bat at a fast pace.

 

[Amjid Javed]

You have to play your shots , and once he got his 100 why did he try a big shot? Why not a couple of overs before when he was at 95? Goes on to show that he wanted his 100 more than anything.

Excellent point and exactly whst i was thinking, why did he start slogging after his 100 and not before?

 

[Bilal7]

Selfish Babar ki selfish hundred Sri Lanka par bohat bhaari par rahi hai.

This is a knee-jerk thread, with all due respect to the OP. Pakistan's ODI bowling is second only to Australia's and a total of 290 will be defended by us far more often than not.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Selfish Babar ki selfish hundred Sri Lanka par bohat bhaari par rahi hai.

This is a knee-jerk thread, with all due respect to the OP. Pakistan's ODI bowling is second only to Australia's and a total of 290 will be defended by us far more often than not.

The point of thread is to highlight the selfish nature of the knock not the teams final score.

 

[Bilal7]

The point of thread is to highlight the selfish nature of the knock not the teams final score.

It's not selfish if it helps Pakistan win. The team benefits from one of its players scoring a century, even if it may be a slow one.

 

[msb314]

It's funny how in Pakistan cricket... the names and faces change but everything remains the same.

Bhai relax and take a breather lol

We have posted 290+ on a slow low wicket. I think we are fine...

We are comfortably winning this barring some crazy innings by someone.

 

[Bewal Express]

Its important that Babar learns to rotate the strike early in his innings and looks for boundries, once his eye is in. He is going through a good spell and tends to catch up with strike rate but if he loses form in ODI cricket, his poor strike will leave the team in the lurch.

 

[Sirris]

Excellent point and exactly whst i was thinking, why did he start slogging after his 100 and not before?

Babar isn't someone holy and there is no taboo in criticizing him. The thread title you chose is way over the top though. For me it was refreshing to see that babar still has his ODI game under control and didn't completely lost the plot after a terrible test series. Pakistani players have a habit where if they lose their form it takes ages for them to get back. Take Ahmed Shehzad, Shoaib Maqsood and Umar Akmal as prime example.

With this in mind you can't be too hard with the guy who his just finding his ways in the international arena and isn't a 30 years veteran.

When a kid has been writing Cs and Ds during the whole year and when he finally writes a B+ you encourage him to keep it up instead of belittling his efforts and pointing out all the reason why he couldnt get an A+.

Babar isn't a kid who needs safe space and special treatments. But Pakistani batsmen aren't known for consistently scoring big scores. His 100 came at a strike rate of almost 80 had it been 70 or below then you could argue it was an ugly innings. He only hit 5 boundaries which is a low number at the same time he had the willingness to run hard for the other 80 runs. If we chose to only concentrate on the negatives here in an exaggerated manner than we would truly the forest for the trees.

 

[asfandyar]

Babar is not going anywhere in ODIs so this thread is pointless. The thread on Ahmed Shehzad deserves more traffic.

 

[mmkextreme_1]

Extreme overreaction by the OP. This was by no mean a selfish inning.

What did you expect him to do, make a quickfire 30-40 and then get out? Pakistan collapse. The idea was people bat around him.

He was extremely low on confidence if anything this will be a good confidence booster for him. Sometimes one has to just fight it out, he was in poor form going into bat.

 

[mmkextreme_1]

Not to mention, this inning has set up a competitive total for Pakistan, and a good chance for us to win the match.

 

[fawad_wellwisher]

The point of thread is to highlight the selfish nature of the knock not the teams final score.

This is an example of selfishness that actually benefits the team. We desperately need a batsmen who can consistently score 100s in ODIs and big scores in T20s. So far he is done exceptionally well in these 2 formats.

His performance in tests has been baffling to say the least. Gives the impression he wouldn't mind being dropped from the test team.