To be honest, I don’t think it’s a useful discussion since it’s been had so many times already. For me a hater is someone who finds fault even in good moments and things. For example, your criticism of Babar’s 101* on a really slow pitch against a team that went on to crush India and make the finals to me seems like hating.
But no hard feelings brother, I did not mean the term hater in an offensive manner, and I apologize if it came across as such. Maybe we will continue this discussion after the South Africa match.
To be fair to you, I think you are someone who actually changes their mind when presented with other evidence and are willing to have a good discussion. It’s only some other people who literally will find fault in everything Babar does, which is why sometimes I get frustrated with the whole argument. But no disrespect intended, we both just want the best for Pakistani team and think that the way to accomplish that is different.
Now that the game is over, I'll explain my points. Don't worry I won't make it too long.
Babar's Match winning innings
in terms of odi, I'm not taking anything away from Bobby. Nz 2019 innings is good. My disagreement is domination. Your points on results =/= dominating.
Dominating is what kohli and Rahul did to Pakistan, or what Butler has done countless times to the opposition or heck even fakhar's 180 against NZ this year. What babar did isn't domination. Babar last dominated West Indies with a triple century across 3 games, but wi is a toothless attack. Credit to babar is that unlike rizzu who accumulates against minnows, Babar bullies minnows.
Ex Cricketer comments
I don't know what everyone has said but viv didn't say babar is a goat. He considers him a quality bat who has yet to fully Blossom, which is true. Babar hasn't reached a ceiling yet and is clearly undercooked.
As for the Bradman comparison. Bradman comparison is for players like viv, Sachin etc. Bradman was the best batter in his era, same with viv being the best better in his era. Amd this isn't because oh phony ranks or useless stats. Anyone with 2 eyes can see it. Bobby is not the best in his era. Not as long as kohli is still around. He has never been the best in his era.
The Pakistan outdated approach
My issue with babar isn't that he's bad or that I'm overly harsh on him as a batsmen. My issue is that modern era cricket is a simple approach.
While batting first try to score as much as humanely possible and while chasing try to bring the run rate down as much as possible.
Pakistan team does not do that. On batting first, they set a target in mind and play according to that, and that target in mind is usually a below par target. While chasing they believe in ducking for 30 overs and trying to chase 150 to 170 in last 20.
^^ But unless the attack is toothless like Sri lanka, this approach won't work against semi decent bowling as Australia exposed it. This isn't t20, the ball is older now, the fielders are up and very likely a few wickets have fallen. In t20 pp1 rules are still in play and all batsmen are fresh with 20 wickets in hand lol.
It's an outdated and weak approach overall and India will beat us 10 out of 10 times with this approach lol so will NZ and Australia.
My issues with Babar
My issues with babar are the same as my issues with the entire team except fakhar and chacha and saud. These 3 aren't the best but they try to play modern cricket. Chacha today got out trying to play an attacking shot. Fakhar has played innings babar can only dream of, especially his 194 and the match winning 114 in ct 2017.
Babar is clearly more talented then these 2 and has the potential to bash, but he doesn't. Against Nepal while chacha was bashing from the get go, Babar didn't attack Nepal until he already got his 100, then he Accelerated his last 50. Why? He's clearly talented enough to Bully crap bowling, like his 49 ball 100 against sa? But he only played that knock cause the target was 200.
Against Nepal and plenty of times babar will deliberately slow down not caring about rr just to get his milestone. And he's a stay in my comfort zone player.
Rohit sharma for years was memed for being a slow medicore middle order bat who can't play swing and can't play the old ball and can't play long innings. Basically he was seen as india's version of umar akmal, a pinch hitting hack. What does rohit do? He comes into opening where it swings the most and butchers pp1 like anything, hitting 38 sixes of 46 in pp1 of the past 1000 balls whereas all of Pakistan team combined have hit only 2? This is the definition of leaving your comfort zone.
Babar's biggest criticism was that he's slow, takes time to settle and if the platform is set by openers he ruins it when coming in, he needs the openers to depart early so he himself can set the platform. So what does babar do? He stays in his comfort zone by opening in t20 because in t20 opening he can take time to settle and then get going amd play the same way he usually does. God forbid he comes in at over 7 or 8 and has only 12 overs to establish himself? No trying to improve his weakness, just gotta hog for the milestone.
Look at his innings and his 50's in the last 3 games? Are you satisfied with the way he olayed? Now look at kohli, makram etc, Kuldeep made fun of Bobby by saying that every bowler attacks him but with babar, babar doesn't attack just milks so kuldeep kept bowling the same line over and over cause babar wasn't attacking and the game was chill lol.
Just listen to the the damn music in the video, it's not a horror thriller for sakes.
, not this hater hater boom boom 6 drama that babar cares about by literally jumping over the moon once a hit in pp1 has been.
