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"Haider Ali is on-par or even better than Babar Azam in white-ball cricket" : Shoaib Akhtar

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"Haider Ali is on-par or even better than Babar Azam in white-ball cricket" : Shoaib Akhtar

Pakistan wrapped up its tour of England with a five-run win in their third and final Twenty20 International (T20I) to draw the series at Old Trafford. There were plenty of positive signs for the visitors with particular praise falling on 19-year-old debutant Haider Ali. Former pacer Shoaib Akhtar also hailed the batsman, who slammed 54 runs off 33 balls. Shoaib, on his YouTube channel, went on to compare him with captain Babar Azam. "Haider Ali is on-par or even better than Babar Azam in white-ball cricket, because he is very talented. A good talent was backed, and its reward has been shown," said Shoaib.

Haidar also grabbed attention with his brilliant partnership with veteran Mohammad Hafeez. The duo had a 100-run partnership for the third wicket. Hafeez scored 86 not out off 52 deliveries. Pakistan defeated England by five runs, after having set a 191-run target.

"I always say that we should use youngsters. See what has happened after Haider Ali got a chance. He put in an excellent display and also scored a half-century," said Shoaib.

Wahab Riaz and Haidar Ali also paid back the faith of the selectors. Riaz registered two wickets off 26 runs in four overs. "Pakistan has learned from their poor selection mistakes after not playing Wahab Riaz and Haider Ali. He scored a smashing half-century on his debut," quipped Shoaib.

He also went on to question the selection of Shoaib Malik. "Why is he playing? If he is not bowling, why isn't batting he higher up the order? Hafeez is proving that his selection is good for the team, but Malik hasn't yet. He is a very productive player and will be useful to us, but will have plenty of pressure due to his age."

https://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/sho...-as-visitors-register-win-in-3rd-t20i-2289250
 
"Haider Ali is on-par or even better than Babar Azam in white-ball cricket"

Ah yes, a half century on debut against a heavily depleted England bowling attack is all it takes to come to this conclusion.

This gives me the Abdul Razzaq vibes when he once claimed Shehzad was more talented than Tendulkar.

Funny how some of the posters are vouching for Shoaib to become the next chief selector.
 
And some people want this guy to be chief selector?
 
Too early for this. You have to remember it was Englands 2nd/3rd string attack. Also the pitch was really flat.

That said I am impressed by Haider , I think he has the potential to be a good player. I would have him as a regular in LO and get him playing regular first class cricket at domestic level to aid his development.
 
He surely has talent but he has just started his career. Pak experts and fans shouldn’t be jumping the gun.

I have said it multiple times that he is best young batting talent since Babar but, he is some years away to be anywhere near Babar in terms of development across the formats.

Fans and experts should be prepared for lean patches as well, he is just 19 so there will be ups and downs but, he should be backed as he has the potential to be a quality batsman.
 
ElRaja said:
not "tuggra" enough for shabbys liking
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Ironically though, Ali's aggression gave the T20 team some much needed balance. He's not that great from what I saw in the PSL, but at least he's got an attacking mindset. England and Australia can lose 3 or 4 early wickets and they will still keep the run rate high, because everyone down to number 8 will be looking to give the ball a good whack.
 
Haider Ali is a match winner.

Haider Ali can be a match winner which Babar Azam hasn't been till now.

Haider Ali is already on par or even better than Babar Azam in white ball cricket.

The deeper we go, the lesser it will make sense. Babar is by far the best Pakistan batsmen across all formats currently and it takes atleast a couple of years of performance to make such claims, Shoaib.
 
Imagine a world without social media, a world where such opinions somehow don't reach us.
 
One game against an England B side.
And people are talking about Shoaib being a selector — oh my.....
 
One of the reasons why our Pakistani experts dont get invited on to good channels like Sky is because of the dumb statement below

He also went on to question the selection of Shoaib Malik. "Why is he playing? If he is not bowling, why isn't batting he higher up the order? Hafeez is proving that his selection is good for the team, but Malik hasn't yet. He is a very productive player and will be useful to us, but will have plenty of pressure due to his age."
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It seems either Akhtar doesn't watch games, or maybe he does and he criticizes just for the sake of it.

Malik is not a hitter. After a very good partnership by Haider and Hafeez there were less overs left and alot of wickets in hand, thus it was preferable to use a hitter. Shadab who has had success in t20 got the call up, than imad. Infact if we had another out i would had sent Sarfraz above Malik.
Situation did not require malik to come
 
Another over reaction from the idiot. HA has potential to be good and may well go onto become a good player but he takes risks to score quickly, whereas Babar can score quickly without much risk.
 
I am waiting for PP posters calling for Haider Ali to be made captain. Not a joke, look what they did to Babar.

I fairly confident that Babar’s batting will suffer significantly (in all formats) as a consequence.
 
... and he is being considered for the post of chief selector?!

This guy has a claim on being one of the most daft analyst on cricket on TV these days! and there are quite a few of them going around . . Once in a generation bowler, but questionable on every other aspect . .
 
Bewal Express said:
Another over reaction from the idiot. HA has potential to be good and may well go onto become a good player but he takes risks to score quickly, whereas Babar can score quickly without much risk.
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In T20s you want both kind of players. Haider's FC average and last years performances manifest that he can play the minimum risk game as well. Also playing shots doesnt necessarily means high risk as far as you have control over them. Viv Richards was one of the best the world has seen and he carried on playing his own way and had high averages across the formats.

So in my opinion playing shots doesnt necessarily means high risk as far as you have control over them.

Obviously Haider is nowhere near Babar at the moment as I have said in my post. He is just 19 and needs much more development to be anywhere near Babar.
 
Hasan said:
I am waiting for PP posters calling for Haider Ali to be made captain. Not a joke, look what they did to Babar.

I fairly confident that Babar’s batting will suffer significantly (in all formats) as a consequence.
Click to expand...

Babar's record in T20s since becoming the captain has been pretty decent I think. Lets see how he develops.
 
Extra_Cover said:
Imagine a world without social media, a world where such opinions somehow don't reach us.
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Why would you think he wouldn't say this in after match analysis or when some random media person asks him for comment?
 
Haider is very good and confident for his age. He easily replaces Malik in this side and I wish to see Rohail Nasir replace Rizwan/Sarfaraz very soon. Decent cricketers coming through for Pakistan now
 
Babar has a good average but he's not proven himself to be an impact player against good teams.

Can anyone debate that? He's shown glimpses of taking control of games but generally speaking hes compiled runs against weaker teams in low pressure situations.
 
unemployedgm said:
Babar has a good average but he's not proven himself to be an impact player against good teams.

Can anyone debate that? He's shown glimpses of taking control of games but generally speaking hes compiled runs against weaker teams in low pressure situations.
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2019 World Cup vs nz? Other than that even hes performed very well in all 3 formats against good teams. Our team is pure mediocrity so a lot of blame is bound to go to our best player for not doing even better
 
Haider Ali is very exciting but Akhtar as usual is talking out of his behind
 
Cpt. Rishwat said:
Ironically though, Ali's aggression gave the T20 team some much needed balance. He's not that great from what I saw in the PSL, but at least he's got an attacking mindset. England and Australia can lose 3 or 4 early wickets and they will still keep the run rate high, because everyone down to number 8 will be looking to give the ball a good whack.
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totally agree, but the hyperbole wont help him. babar is arguably paks best ever odi batsmen, and to imply, even flippantly that one t20i 50 somehow equates to babar as t20/odi player is wrong because it shows that there is no value for consistency, improvement and mental appilcation, three things which we will only know if haider has after two or three years. ironically three values if shoaib had himself he would pbly have been an ATG.

such off the cuff remarks may seem harmless, but they hint at the problem in paks player development, the "talent" myth. batting is a lot more than sparks of genius, but shabby was a quickie, so hes pbly not the best to comment on whether haider is superior to babar.
 
aliasad1998 said:
2019 World Cup vs nz? Other than that even hes performed very well in all 3 formats against good teams. Our team is pure mediocrity so a lot of blame is bound to go to our best player for not doing even better
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Correct. That was the first game I felt Babar carried his team which great players must do. If I'm going to play devils advocate then even in that game Haris Sohail was the one who really pulled it in Pakistan's direction.
 
Even taking into account the usual rubbish that comes of shoaibs mouth this is outrageous
 
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Let the kid find his feet in the international arena. Shabby :akhtar
 
I genuinely think Haider has the potential to be better than Babar in ODIs and T20s. He has all the shots, including the power game that Babar still lacks. Babar will probably stay better in tests though.
 
To think that this guy is being considered for the post of Chief selector. This statement is downright stupid.
 
I saw only his boundaries , so tough to make a call but from little I saw I think the timing was completely off ,so the hits dint look very impressive cos of that and there wasn't much of a offside game ..that said timing can be entirely nerves , his body balance was pretty good and seems to have a good every . Pretty impressive for a 19 year old .
 
Nice, quite clean-hitting - at least from highlights. Not sure if he was slogging in between them. But a couple of shots even reminded me of Afridi :runaway:

But while watching him, I was thinking - please don't start overhyping him and ruin him like so many before. And then we have this motormouth saying this. :uak

The problem with Akhtar is, he is incredibly selfish and driven by being in the limelight. He knows Pak fans today must be excited and this overboard statement is just a way of jumping onto the bandwagon and gaining mileage for himself.
 
jusarrived said:
I saw only his boundaries , so tough to make a call but from little I saw I think the timing was completely off ,so the hits dint look very impressive cos of that and there wasn't much of a offside game ..that said timing can be entirely nerves , his body balance was pretty good and seems to have a good every . Pretty impressive for a 19 year old .
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He has off side shots! He was just targeting the leg side boundary.
 
I really really wish he becomes chief selector or coach
 
Akhtar has lost it. Haider played well. We have to remember that it was a mediocre English attack who were bowling short on the flattest of wickets.

Credit to Haider that he played well. But comparing to Babar who has proven himself against world class attacks is absurd. We have to wait until Haider plays against Aus or England or India to assess his talent properly. So far, he had a great start.
 
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Haidar Ali reminds me of young Rohit Sharma, very pleasing on the eyes and plays elegant shots. With Babar, Pakistan already has next Kohli. If Haidar Ali becomes next Rohit Sharma, we are in for a treat. Pak fans should be happy.
 
This! This is exact reason why no one should take this guy and what he says seriously. And imagine some people believing that he'd become a good chief selector!

This guy is absolutely insane!
 
Before even debuting in ODI cricket(let's not even mention that he has only a lone game of t20 under his belt) Haider is already better than our best batsman currently, in white ball cricket.

:facepalm
 
So he is dailar and badmash and capable of dishing out phaintas?

Shoaib jaisay sastay analysts lol. Imagine if he becomes selector we will be debuting 5-6 new guys every series :))
 
Steady on Shoaib.

Over-reaction or what.

Let the lad play 20 or 30 international matches first and then let's see where he is.
 
Cpt. Rishwat said:
Ironically though, Ali's aggression gave the T20 team some much needed balance. He's not that great from what I saw in the PSL, but at least he's got an attacking mindset. England and Australia can lose 3 or 4 early wickets and they will still keep the run rate high, because everyone down to number 8 will be looking to give the ball a good whack.
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Haider did good in the psl if you compare him to bantom who also played in psl he did much better in terms of runs and 6s
 
Haider ali is a very good player hes ganna win matches on his own in the future but hes also not going to be constant as babar nevertheless we will have a quality players for next 10 years both in t20s,odis and tests hope he can keep his head intact
 
Indiafan said:
I really really wish he becomes chief selector or coach
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Akhtar has denied the rumors now. Seems he was content on letting the rumors simmer for a few days while Misbah took a beating from the media. Smart guy :afridi
 
Honestly, how can you guys take Shoaib Akhtars view's seriously.

He's literally giving soundbites and masala for YouTube views. Hence the pandering to Indian fans and "controversial anecdotes". He's a cricket fan and he is successful in his YouTube style.

Some of what he says, like in this case, should be taken with a pinch of salt. PakPassion users of all people should know that.
 
Major said:
One of the reasons why our Pakistani experts dont get invited on to good channels like Sky is because of the dumb statement below



It seems either Akhtar doesn't watch games, or maybe he does and he criticizes just for the sake of it.

Malik is not a hitter. After a very good partnership by Haider and Hafeez there were less overs left and alot of wickets in hand, thus it was preferable to use a hitter. Shadab who has had success in t20 got the call up, than imad. Infact if we had another out i would had sent Sarfraz above Malik.
Situation did not require malik to come
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What is the point of Malik in the playing 11, what is the strategy and thought process behind his inclusion?
 
Presenting our next chief selector...

God knows what havoc he will wreak with the team with his ** thinking and logic.
 
Lets see if he can better his debut innings today
 
Over reactions so far. Been a bit unlucky with a bad third umpire decision in the second ODI, followed by a genuinely good ball in this latest T20.

I don’t disagree with people who are saying he needs to be a little less excitable when playing, especially in ODIs or in T20s where there is a low run rate chase. Should look to play like Babar in these situations.

However, when batting first in T20s or chasing a high total, I fully expect him to play his natural game and come out hitting 3 fours off the bat like he did just a couple days ago.

Most importantly, he needs to develop the hunger for big innings and I am confident he is realizing this as well, getting out 3 times in 3 matches with Babar his partner, only to watch Babar score big despite initially playing slower than Haider. Off the field Babar will be an excellent mentor and one would hope he works with Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan closely. Misbah is not the right coach for him.

Lastly, I’m horrified by the calls for fans asking for him to be dropped. If you so wish, go back to your Iftikhar Ahmeds and Shoaib Maliks. I know where I would rather put my money.
 
Thunderbolt14 said:
Over reactions so far. Been a bit unlucky with a bad third umpire decision in the second ODI, followed by a genuinely good ball in this latest T20.

I don’t disagree with people who are saying he needs to be a little less excitable when playing, especially in ODIs or in T20s where there is a low run rate chase. Should look to play like Babar in these situations.

However, when batting first in T20s or chasing a high total, I fully expect him to play his natural game and come out hitting 3 fours off the bat like he did just a couple days ago.

Most importantly, he needs to develop the hunger for big innings and I am confident he is realizing this as well, getting out 3 times in 3 matches with Babar his partner, only to watch Babar score big despite initially playing slower than Haider. Off the field Babar will be an excellent mentor and one would hope he works with Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan closely. Misbah is not the right coach for him.

Lastly, I’m horrified by the calls for fans asking for him to be dropped. If you so wish, go back to your Iftikhar Ahmeds and Shoaib Maliks. I know where I would rather put my money.
Click to expand...
New player comes in, looks to express himself, makes a few mistakes, media/fans massacres him by calling for his head, gets dropped from the team, makes a come back insecure and nervous and starts playing for his place in the team.

What a vicious cycle, applicable to pretty much every player besides Babar in the last few years.

Then we wonder why we don't produce confident cricketers.
 
Usman Chadda said:
New player comes in, looks to express himself, makes a few mistakes, media/fans massacres him by calling for his head, gets dropped from the team, makes a come back insecure and nervous and starts playing for his place in the team.

What a vicious cycle, applicable to pretty much every player besides Babar in the last few years.

Then we wonder why we don't produce confident cricketers.
Click to expand...
You nailed it man.
 
His issues are a result of overexcitement resulting in him not watching the ball on to the bat.
Needs to go back to the basics and try to play the ball late and under his eyes.
 
Pacy with wisdom said:
His issues are a result of overexcitement resulting in him not watching the ball on to the bat.
Needs to go back to the basics and try to play the ball late and under his eyes.
Click to expand...

Who will tell him that? Why is it that we can see this but his domestic at the national and international level cannot?
 
MenInG said:
Who will tell him that? Why is it that we can see this but his domestic at the national and international level cannot?
Click to expand...
I am sure it will be picked on soon.
It is a pretty basic error and is just a result of overeagerness and inexperience.
Babar, yousuf are all masters of playing the ball late. I am sure they will sit down with him to instill this into his batting.
 
Thunderbolt14 said:
Over reactions so far. Been a bit unlucky with a bad third umpire decision in the second ODI, followed by a genuinely good ball in this latest T20.

I don’t disagree with people who are saying he needs to be a little less excitable when playing, especially in ODIs or in T20s where there is a low run rate chase. Should look to play like Babar in these situations.

However, when batting first in T20s or chasing a high total, I fully expect him to play his natural game and come out hitting 3 fours off the bat like he did just a couple days ago.

Most importantly, he needs to develop the hunger for big innings and I am confident he is realizing this as well, getting out 3 times in 3 matches with Babar his partner, only to watch Babar score big despite initially playing slower than Haider. Off the field Babar will be an excellent mentor and one would hope he works with Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan closely. Misbah is not the right coach for him.

Lastly, I’m horrified by the calls for fans asking for him to be dropped. If you so wish, go back to your Iftikhar Ahmeds and Shoaib Maliks. I know where I would rather put my money.
Click to expand...

Spot on with your assessment and the last point about haider being dropped is absolute ridiculous like you said people would prefer malik and iftikhar instead
 
shamaan said:
The ball haider got was genuinely a very good ball
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No doubt but he should have been presenting the full face of the bat in defense rather than trying to whip it to mid wicket for a boundary.

I get it he is aggressive, and by God we need such batsmen in our sea of tuk tuk but there is a difference in being aggressive and just mindlessly trying to smash everything into the next town over.


He will learn, I think he needs a couple more domestic seasons has been inducted too early.
 
Haider Ali looks like a special batsmen on eyes but has similar technical flaws like Prithvi Shaw.

I think both these players are in same mould but Shaw will get a lot of backing in Indian setup and being a Mumbaikar will always get prioritised over some of the other guys in Indian setup. I will wait before concluding anything on Haider Ali because he can go on and become a very special player for Pakistan over the years or probably end up as a failure.
 
Syed1 said:
No doubt but he should have been presenting the full face of the bat in defense rather than trying to whip it to mid wicket for a boundary.

I get it he is aggressive, and by God we need such batsmen in our sea of tuk tuk but there is a difference in being aggressive and just mindlessly trying to smash everything into the next town over.


He will learn, I think he needs a couple more domestic seasons has been inducted too early.
Click to expand...

Yes agreed he should have shown the full face of the bat.looking back at the delivery it didnt look like he wanted to hit it out the ground It seemed as if he wanted a single.

The thing is Pakistan dont have much explosive young Bateman baring a a few but he has played u19s so I'd say he can play t20s and odis only
 
Ab Fan said:
Haider Ali looks like a special batsmen on eyes but has similar technical flaws like Prithvi Shaw.

I think both these players are in same mould but Shaw will get a lot of backing in Indian setup and being a Mumbaikar will always get prioritised over some of the other guys in Indian setup. I will wait before concluding anything on Haider Ali because he can go on and become a very special player for Pakistan over the years or probably end up as a failure.
Click to expand...

Haider is a special player he will play special knocks but he will also fail in matches on his day he will be devasting
 
His urge to play on leg side shows he has a mental block and his defense is also not good enough yet , definitely need a season underbelt
 
Usman Chadda said:
New player comes in, looks to express himself, makes a few mistakes, media/fans massacres him by calling for his head, gets dropped from the team, makes a come back insecure and nervous and starts playing for his place in the team.

What a vicious cycle, applicable to pretty much every player besides Babar in the last few years.

Then we wonder why we don't produce confident cricketers.
Click to expand...

Exactly! Let the lad play. He needs to be given a long rope. He will come good with Babar on his side.
 
He just needs to be more watchful at the start of his innings. Once he gets in, then he can play his shots.
 
I've haven't properly followed cricket in the last half year or so. What happened to Haider?
 
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