"I really enjoyed my innings as the team needed that from me" : Babar Azam

[MenInG]

Quotes from his PCB int after last night's game

"Yes, I really enjoyed my innings as the team needed that from me because Imam had been hurt and establishing a partnership was important"

"I played my normal game and Fakhar Zaman helped me too, but when he was out I wanted to play all the way to the end of the innings"

"We need to improve our fielding a little bit and I hope that we will improve in the next match"

"I had gone in with a positive mind to play attacking cricket which gave me success today"

"I would ask all of you to pray for us and I will give my 100% and continue to put in good performances"

 

[Dr_Bassim]

So he didn't believe he slowed down as approaching century.

Compare that to Glenn Maxwell who said he doesn't care about his century as long as the team wins.

Should have said, in hindsight, I shouldn't have slowed down and we probably needed 20 or 30 more runs that we were robbed off.

 

[amoni]

I literally have no comments...

He's clueless.

Establishing a partnership was important... You'd think after 30 overs that partnership would've been established.

Attacking cricket...which part of his batting was attacking?

 

[MenInG]

In his mind, he played an innings of a lifetime I feel.

 

[MachoKhan]

Negative attitude which means hell never learn.

My eleven for world cup would be:
Fakhar Zaman
Babar Azam
Haris sohail
Sarfaraz ahmed
Mohammad hafeez
Asif ali
Shadab khan
Mohammad amir
Hasan ali
Mir hamza
Zafar gohar.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

So he didn't believe he slowed down as approaching century.

Compare that to Glenn Maxwell who said he doesn't care about his century as long as the team wins.

Should have said, in hindsight, I shouldn't have slowed down and we probably needed 20 or 30 more runs that we were robbed off.

Maxwell doesn't have to carry the team throughout the middle overs. It's fine to compare mentalities but don't blatant ignore the player's role.

 

[SecularPakistanii]

Typical behavior of an uneducated person who lacks simple game awareness. Sad, really.

 

[Dr_Bassim]

Maxwell doesn't have to carry the team throughout the middle overs. It's fine to compare mentalities but don't blatant ignore the player's role.

If Babar Azam's role is to get to a century or close every match, I am happy.

But if his role is to slow down from 80 to 100 while approaching the centuries, Pakistan will end up on the shorter side of the straw each and every time.

I am not even saying Babar should bat like Maxwell by the way.

Just intent.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

If Babar Azam's role is to get to a century or close every match, I am happy.

But if his role is to slow down from 80 to 100 while approaching the centuries, Pakistan will end up on the shorter side of the straw each and every time.

I am not even saying Babar should bat like Maxwell by the way.

Just intent.

He scored at run a ball and maintained it. That's all we should expect from him at this age. When he's 27-28 and fully polished with plenty of experience, then your criticism would be justified.

 

[Dr_Bassim]

He scored at run a ball and maintained it. That's all we should expect from him at this age. When he's 27-28 and fully polished with plenty of experience, then your criticism would be justified.

I don't quite agree.

Run a ball is good on a pitch that demands run a ball.

Yesterday's pitch demanded a bit more than run a ball.

But if I have to wait 5 years before he adapts at 28 to this ability then it will be painful watching Pakistan lose for next 05 years.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

I don't quite agree.

Run a ball is good on a pitch that demands run a ball.

Yesterday's pitch demanded a bit more than run a ball.

But if I have to wait 5 years before he adapts at 28 to this ability then it will be painful watching Pakistan lose for next 05 years.

If Pakistan continue to post these totals, they definitely will not continue to lose.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

There are several types of match losing centuries in modern era.

This is one of them.

Babar with a little bit of tweak in his mindset can be a serious match winner.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Also poor chap has to deal with Pakistan's atrocious bowling and fielding.

 

[shaz619]

[MENTION=141557]Chief Destroyer[/MENTION] there are great players much younger who have shown intent towards the end of his innings, also if we agree with you for a sec; Babar doesn't even recognise that there is room for improvement unless this is his way of trying to take pressure away from him, either way I think if he bats this way in a situation which demands otherwise we could be in big trouble, under pressure he takes the safety first approach; maybe it is ok at times when we are building but still. Anyway he is young and has time to improve, the top order overall is one of our positives but lower order is weak.

Given his talent I think people are just frustrated he doesn't come out of gear 3/4

 

[Dr_Bassim]

If Pakistan continue to post these totals, they definitely will not continue to lose.

On these pitches, yes they will.

If the pitch changes, I doubt Pakistan is scoring this much.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

[MENTION=141557]Chief Destroyer[/MENTION] there are great players much younger who have shown intent towards the end of his innings, also if we agree with you for a sec; Babar doesn't even recognise that there is room for improvement unless this is his way of trying to take pressure away from him, either way I think if he bats this way in a situation which demands otherwise we could be in big trouble, under pressure he takes the safety first approach; maybe it is ok at times when we are building but still. Anyway he is young and has time to improve, the top order overall is one of our positives but lower order is weak.

Given his talent I think people are just frustrated he doesn't come out of gear 3/4

I think he's just frustrated with the media asking him stupid question and this is his way of retaliating. Mickey's basically come out and responded for him in another interview that he knows he has to improve his SR.

 

[shaz619]

I think he's just frustrated with the media asking him stupid question and this is his way of retaliating. Mickey's basically come out and responded for him in another interview that he knows he has to improve his SR.

This is true plus he has always batted this way and will be tough to pull out though release shots beyond his 50, don't expect it in this WC and he is sort of doing his job to an acceptable level

 

[Chief Destroyer]

On these pitches, yes they will.

If the pitch changes, I doubt Pakistan is scoring this much.

If we compare our last tour to England, we've improved astronomically. I know we've had a poor record on paper of late but I've seen improvement every series in terms of building the overall team strength. If we continue on this trajectory, that improvement will translate to wins, inshaAllah, especially against the lesser teams.

 

[Saj]

Baffling comments.

They seem to think that this sort of innings on this type of pitch is fine.

 

[shaz619]

If we compare our last tour to England, we've improved astronomically. I know we've had a poor record on paper of late but I've seen improvement every series in terms of building the overall team strength. If we continue on this trajectory, that improvement will translate to wins, inshaAllah, especially against the lesser teams.

I was thinking the same, we lost yesterday but bowlers got a much needed confidence boost to an extent. What is your ideal attack and how do we get Shadab in?

 

[Chief Destroyer]

I was thinking the same, we lost yesterday but bowlers got a much needed confidence boost to an extent. What is your ideal attack and how do we get Shadab in?

Hasan, Shaheen, Hasnain/Rauf, Zafar, Imad. Since Zafar has no chance of selection, Shadab in his place.

 

[QalandarFan]

Come on man, you know you played slow when even Ramiz Raja is calling at an old style slow hundred. Worst hundred I have seen in a while. On a flat deck with only 1 wicket down he slowed the heck down to get to his hundred. Embarrassing stuff really, your not some Warner or Bairstow, so you gotta take every opportunity to score runs, because you know your not gonna be able to accelerate once you get your hundred.

 

[Pete Rose]

I think it was a fair question to ask and to put him on the defensive about it

 

[Ahmed216]

I thought he played a good innings he got out just when he ws starting to accelerate.
We couldnt do much in last 5 overs plus our fielding efforts ensured we lost the game

 

[saeed5646]

He talked like this because none of the 3 stooges (Sarfraz, Micky and Inzi) told him what is the actual issue when you bat on the flat pitch.
He seems to be over confident about his performance or abilities.May be its genetic. Either he is too dumb or too arrogant.

What is inzi fault ?Should he have phone call babar during batting to bat aggressively ?Matlb kch bi

I don't like inzi either but here it is not his fault if babar is not batting with higher strike rate

 

[Shafi]

What is inzi fault ?Should he have phone call babar during batting to bat aggressively ?Matlb kch bi

I don't like inzi either but here it is not his fault if babar is not batting with higher strike rate

For the sake of the team he can always give him some tips plus advice him to rotate strike more if he doesn't have muscle to hit 4s or 6s

 

[saeed5646]

For the sake of the team he can always give him some tips plus advice him to rotate strike more if he doesn't have muscle to hit 4s or 6s

BUT HE IS NOT THERE WITH THE TEAM And not his job

 

[Shafi]

BUT HE IS NOT THERE WITH THE TEAM And not his job

I understand!!! But he should be act like a father figure not like a selfish foreigner who only thinks within his job range. A phone or skype chat for 15-20 min will not be a heavy burden on him.

 

[Zaz]

poor comments Your team have lost again, they were 30 runs short of which you were chiefly responsible but you feel you played well and not a tinge of disappoinment

Im beyond words

Is nobody having a word with him telling him and the others these sort of innings on these pitches are not acceptable?

 

[Kroll]

At least he enjoyed, who cares if the team puts up a winning total or not.

 

[Khwaja78]

Woww... your team has lost and you are boasting how you enjoyed your innings. This is their attitude and Pak fans are hoping this joke will support his team in the World Cup. Will any other country player speak like this when his team loses? Babar Azam literally is saying he does'nt need to play for his place as his uncle Inzi has his back he is just playing for himself, even if it compromises result for the team, its not his problem. Such a pathetic selfish loser.

If someone has seen the match and Fakhar dismissal, one can see how this selfish guy played 4 dots on this pitch and handed over pressure to Zaman who tried to heave as selfish Azam made just one run in that over.

 

[wasimjunior]

If Babar Azam's role is to get to a century or close every match, I am happy.

But if his role is to slow down from 80 to 100 while approaching the centuries, Pakistan will end up on the shorter side of the straw each and every time.

I am not even saying Babar should bat like Maxwell by the way.

Just intent.

Doesn’t matter if he slows down. He scored almost a run a ball hundred. Job of rest of the team To play around him

 

[NauV]

The thing is . . they get told by the team management that you have to play through the innings and your role is to bat at 100 strike rate .. he did that, and hence he achieved his goal . . they don't have the ability to reason how little periods can have an impact on the game . . which is why education is very imporatnt . . it dictates out cricket . . a department where Pakistan has been the worst since the 90s . .

But . . let me give Babar Azam a break for a second . .

We were 298/5 at the end of 45 overs . . only 40 runs in the last 5 overs
We were 318/6 at the end of 47 overs . . only 22 runs in the lat 3 overs
Over number 48 - 4 runs scored
Over number 49 - 4 runs scored (Imam ducked 3 bouncers)

So instead of having a myopic view and saying that Babar cost us the game . . please look at teh whole game . . we lost the game in the last 5 overs and Babar had nothing to do with it . . Imam came out to bat with 1 arm . . we lost out on at least 10 15 runs in the last 5 overs . . and that eventually cost us the game . .

And then when you drop catches in every game . . Dropped Roy again today when he was 20. . you get Roy in the beginning, its a different game . .

So while I am not defending Babar's innings (from 80 to 100), it is very unfair to blame him for the loss . .

 

[Khwaja78]

Doesn’t matter if he slows down. He scored almost a run a ball hundred. Job of rest of the team To play around him

This is Pakistan XI not your street XI, everybody is playing for Pakistan. Rest of the team are not his servants that they'll play around him or hit scoring shots so that this joke can play 60+ dots.

He did not slow down only he put pressure on his partners and got them out by playing dots. And selfish Azam was playing dots thruout the match not just when he is on 40s or 80s going for a milestone rofl.

Player with such attitude should be thrown out of the team even a tailender who plays few bowls for his team total is a superior sportsperson than his selfish bloke.


On a pitch where average is 350-360 the longer Azam occupied the crease the less chances for Pakistan to score a formidable target. He sucked blood for 40 overs going at 5.89 runs per over, made his hundred then got out leaving the rest of the middle order with few overs and only option to heave.

What you have is a repeat of collapses.
Shame on Mickey Arthur and Inzamam they have been ignoring this problem.

Same thing he does in T20 knock aropund for his 50 up and until the 14th over with a pathetic scoring rate and then leave 6 overs for the rest to hit and get out. Those are UAE pitches what would they do on drop-in wickets where bowlers are worse than bowling machines.

 

[Khwaja78]

The thing is . . they get told by the team management that you have to play through the innings and your role is to bat at 100 strike rate .. he did that, and hence he achieved his goal . . they don't have the ability to reason how little periods can have an impact on the game . . which is why education is very imporatnt . . it dictates out cricket . . a department where Pakistan has been the worst since the 90s . .

But . . let me give Babar Azam a break for a second . .

We were 298/5 at the end of 45 overs . . only 40 runs in the last 5 overs
We were 318/6 at the end of 47 overs . . only 22 runs in the lat 3 overs
Over number 48 - 4 runs scored
Over number 49 - 4 runs scored (Imam ducked 3 bouncers)

So instead of having a myopic view and saying that Babar cost us the game . . please look at teh whole game . . we lost the game in the last 5 overs and Babar had nothing to do with it . . Imam came out to bat with 1 arm . . we lost out on at least 10 15 runs in the last 5 overs . . and that eventually cost us the game . .

And then when you drop catches in every game . . Dropped Roy again today when he was 20. . you get Roy in the beginning, its a different game . .

So while I am not defending Babar's innings (from 80 to 100), it is very unfair to blame him for the loss . .

The interview above explains how much this guy listens to team management. He is being backed by certain connections which has push the team down.

Team management is in total disarray it can be seen in Junaid Khan and rest of the team's fielding. Sasfraz has gone quiet nobody cares about team result. Just going through the motions.

Ona paitch where 400 can be chased no team management would advise players to knock the bowl around for their personal milestones.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

What this interview tells you is that the team management are endorsing, and perhaps even encouraging this type of innings from Babar. There is no way he would have come out and congratulated himself if Arthur or Sarfraz had told him off for not pushing on once he got past 50.

We need to stop picking on Babar and start asking questions what exactly is the coach gameplan when we go in to bat?

 

[ARK Rafay]

No way Babar can win games for Pakistan with this approach and attitude

 

[wasimjunior]

This is Pakistan XI not your street XI, everybody is playing for Pakistan. Rest of the team are not his servants that they'll play around him or hit scoring shots so that this joke can play 60+ dots.

He did not slow down only he put pressure on his partners and got them out by playing dots. And selfish Azam was playing dots thruout the match not just when he is on 40s or 80s going for a milestone rofl.

Player with such attitude should be thrown out of the team even a tailender who plays few bowls for his team total is a superior sportsperson than his selfish bloke.


On a pitch where average is 350-360 the longer Azam occupied the crease the less chances for Pakistan to score a formidable target. He sucked blood for 40 overs going at 5.89 runs per over, made his hundred then got out leaving the rest of the middle order with few overs and only option to heave.

What you have is a repeat of collapses.
Shame on Mickey Arthur and Inzamam they have been ignoring this problem.

Same thing he does in T20 knock aropund for his 50 up and until the 14th over with a pathetic scoring rate and then leave 6 overs for the rest to hit and get out. Those are UAE pitches what would they do on drop-in wickets where bowlers are worse than bowling machines.

Ok so drop him and replace him with someone who scores 40 off 18 balls.

Babar is the best player in Pakistan and the rest of your tulla team need to bat around Him. If he takes risks and gets out no chance you score 360

 

[Khwaja78]

Ok so drop him and replace him with someone who scores 40 off 18 balls.

Babar is the best player in Pakistan and the rest of your tulla team need to bat around Him. If he takes risks and gets out no chance you score 360

Hahahah you post as if Babar finishes the game with 360 on board. Go and check what was Pakistan's score when he got out. 360 rofl is too too further its not even 240 or 250. Yeah if he makes century and lower order refuses to fire Pakistan won't even give a target of 260 on the worst bowling pitch on earth.

 

[Yezir]

Another Inzi in the making.

 

[wasimjunior]

The thing is . . they get told by the team management that you have to play through the innings and your role is to bat at 100 strike rate .. he did that, and hence he achieved his goal . . they don't have the ability to reason how little periods can have an impact on the game . . which is why education is very imporatnt . . it dictates out cricket . . a department where Pakistan has been the worst since the 90s . .

But . . let me give Babar Azam a break for a second . .

We were 298/5 at the end of 45 overs . . only 40 runs in the last 5 overs
We were 318/6 at the end of 47 overs . . only 22 runs in the lat 3 overs
Over number 48 - 4 runs scored
Over number 49 - 4 runs scored (Imam ducked 3 bouncers)

So instead of having a myopic view and saying that Babar cost us the game . . please look at teh whole game . . we lost the game in the last 5 overs and Babar had nothing to do with it . . Imam came out to bat with 1 arm . . we lost out on at least 10 15 runs in the last 5 overs . . and that eventually cost us the game . .

And then when you drop catches in every game . . Dropped Roy again today when he was 20. . you get Roy in the beginning, its a different game . .

So while I am not defending Babar's innings (from 80 to 100), it is very unfair to blame him for the loss . .

This. If the rest of the team did their job Babar has played a stunning match winning knock.

Pak lost the game for three reasons

1) 20 runs left with the bat. Babar is not responsible
2)Poor bowling again. Particularly from Imad Wasim. Another 20 runs
3)fielding. Junaid Khan alone gave 10 plus runs. Add 30 runs here.

That’s 70 runs differential and Babar has zero to do with it. Unlike Roy he gave no chances and was flawless. Cricket is a team sport and the rest of the side has let Babar down.

 

[wasimjunior]

Hahaha btw you're very intelligent in making excuses for selfish Azam. You're implying Babar knocking 9 on 23 deliveries on a pathetic pitch to get to his 100 will take Pakistan to 350-370 rofl.

Stop data mining his numbers. He scored 100 at over a strike rate of 100.

Should Pakistan be scoring 100 off the last 10 with 7 wickets left in a powerplay? Everyday of the week. That gets you your treasured 350.

Every other team would do so and that’s where you lose the game

 

[Titan24]

Singles and no attacking shot in last 20 odd balls and that too at such a stage wasnt the requirement. Team management is to be blamed if they give such roles to top players especially when the rest of the lineup doesnt have a lot of big hitters.

I think Babar’s centuries are surprisingly odd as his 2nd 50 also comes at same rate as first and sometimes even slower while for batsmen of other teams its opposite now a days.

 

[Titan24]

Stop data mining his numbers. He scored 100 at over a strike rate of 100.

Should Pakistan be scoring 100 off the last 10 with 7 wickets left in a powerplay? Everyday of the week. That gets you your treasured 350.

Every other team would do so and that’s where you lose the game

But isnt it the fact that he could have scored that 100 at a much faster rate if he wouldnt have bogged down in last 20 odd balls of his innings?

Also what would you say about the fact that every single batsmen in Pakistan’s innings had a better SR than Babar except injured Imam and Hasan Ali who played 2 balls?

And in the end we ended up with par score.

 

[Indiafan]

So he didn't believe he slowed down as approaching century.

Compare that to Glenn Maxwell who said he doesn't care about his century as long as the team wins.

Should have said, in hindsight, I shouldn't have slowed down and we probably needed 20 or 30 more runs that we were robbed off.

There are different types of selfishness. Maxwell has lost his side won matches by being selfish when the moment called for responsible batting but he threw it away by slogging

 

[Khwaja78]

Stop data mining his numbers. He scored 100 at over a strike rate of 100.

Should Pakistan be scoring 100 off the last 10 with 7 wickets left in a powerplay? Everyday of the week. That gets you your treasured 350.

Every other team would do so and that’s where you lose the game

Hahahah what is data mining putting portions of technical information as an excuse for a joke player?

You have incredible knowledge of the game btw
In a series and pitches where 370 is not safe total you are calling 350 treasured total.

Definitely scoring 100 with a 100 strike rate by knocking around singles and playing dots where the bowl does'nt seam, swing or spin is an incredible achievement. On the same wicket Roys and Bairstows have'nt gone below 120-130 strike rate. Every other team would need such a player [Babar Azam] who is busy thinking about his 50 and 100 while the team total can take a hike. Can't bloody bat on seaming wicket without edging to the slips, could'nt survive on NZ tour averaging 6. Such an amazing palyer who was part of the grand totals of 74 and 70 in Christchurch.

 

[wasimjunior]

But isnt it the fact that he could have scored that 100 at a much faster rate if he wouldnt have bogged down in last 20 odd balls of his innings?

Also what would you say about the fact that every single batsmen in Pakistan’s innings had a better SR than Babar except injured Imam and Hasan Ali who played 2 balls?

And in the end we ended up with par score.

Look I fully agree where you and everyone is coming from.

But we don’t have the quality in our batting order for Babar to take unnecessary risks and get out for 70-80 off 60 balls. If we had a rohit sharma or a David Warner alongside him I’d say ok that’s fair enough but we don’t- we have Hafeez and Sarfraz.

He shouldn’t have got bogged down but he did, but he still did his job. I’d give him a 9 out of 10 rather than 10 but Babar scoring 112 off 110 is hands down better than him scoring 80 off 60.

Why? Because our other batsmen aren’t doing anything with the extra balls. We just don’t have the team to do so, and Micky knows this.

The way we collapsed at the end and limped to 340 is testament to that.

Fakhar and Hafeez had similar strike rates and got out below 60 so actually they’ve played far worse knocks. The others were in the finishing stage and apart from Malik also did a poor job.

Let’s put it this way. Ideally Babar does get a move on and he scored 130 off 110, but in an attempt to do so he gets out for 70 off 40.

How are we getting 350-370 now and who is scoring those runs? Because my read of yesterday’s game is that we would have struggled to get 320 even if this happened.

Happy to consider your view but I’ve watched too many dud Pakistan batting efforts to watch us criticise a centurion.

 

[Titan24]

Look I fully agree where you and everyone is coming from.

But we don’t have the quality in our batting order for Babar to take unnecessary risks and get out for 70-80 off 60 balls. If we had a rohit sharma or a David Warner alongside him I’d say ok that’s fair enough but we don’t- we have Hafeez and Sarfraz.

He shouldn’t have got bogged down but he did, but he still did his job. I’d give him a 9 out of 10 rather than 10 but Babar scoring 112 off 110 is hands down better than him scoring 80 off 60.

Why? Because our other batsmen aren’t doing anything with the extra balls. We just don’t have the team to do so, and Micky knows this.

The way we collapsed at the end and limped to 340 is testament to that.

Fakhar and Hafeez had similar strike rates and got out below 60 so actually they’ve played far worse knocks. The others were in the finishing stage and apart from Malik also did a poor job.

Let’s put it this way. Ideally Babar does get a move on and he scored 130 off 110, but in an attempt to do so he gets out for 70 off 40.

How are we getting 350-370 now and who is scoring those runs? Because my read of yesterday’s game is that we would have struggled to get 320 even if this happened.

Happy to consider your view but I’ve watched too many dud Pakistan batting efforts to watch us criticise a centurion.

If it would have been a difficult wicket than I totally would have agreed with you that Babar shouldnt be taking much risk and bat through as he is technically the best or one of the best we have.

However, you have to realize that yesterdays wicket was flat and even if Babar have gone out by scoring 80 of 60 rest of the batsmen could have easily done a job on that wicket and we might have ended up winning and scoring some extra runs as we would have got 40-50 balls more and only 20 runs less from Babar.

 

[wasimjunior]

If it would have been a difficult wicket than I totally would have agreed with you that Babar shouldnt be taking much risk and bat through as he is technically the best or one of the best we have.

However, you have to realize that yesterdays wicket was flat and even if Babar have gone out by scoring 80 of 60 rest of the batsmen could have easily done a job on that wicket and we might have ended up winning and scoring some extra runs as we would have got 40-50 balls more and only 20 runs less from Babar.

Fair enough and I get that.

80 off 60 means 50 more balls to score 50 more runs than we did and we get to 360.

Hafeez Fakhar And Imam were already done.

I guess you have far more faith in Sarfraz Malik Asif and Imad than I do. Don’t see any of those capable of adding the extra 50 apart from Malik perhaps who already played a v good knock by his standards but it’s a fair view.

Regardless- there’s many other issues with the side that caused this loss than to go after Babar

 

[Humza_Razzaque]

Match awareness is all Babar Azam needs

Something i have noticed with that this Pakistan side keeps on backing players to play their "natural game" and i feel some of these guys take this literally. Make no mistake that last 100 from babar was probably the worst one he could have ever scored was he to get out at any stage of game any body literally anybody could have come in and struck at a better pace i believe that this mindset is limiting babar.
I am not saying he needs to be muscling the ball i am well aware that its out of his capability and nor is it his role BUT WHAT HE ACTUALLY NEEDS IS MATCH AWARENESS and this he really lacks at so in course of playing his natural game he literally ruins the entire rythem at the end of the innings not being sensible and not judging and analying the situation
Any sane person would understand that when you are 1 down and there is so much batting to come you can take the risks
Defend him all you like say it came at run a ball and a 100 sr but truth is he could have easily scored much more at a better pace take imams innings for example in a much more pressure situation and a comparitivly tougher ground to score on

 

[Titan24]

Look I fully agree where you and everyone is coming from.

But we don’t have the quality in our batting order for Babar to take unnecessary risks and get out for 70-80 off 60 balls. If we had a rohit sharma or a David Warner alongside him I’d say ok that’s fair enough but we don’t- we have Hafeez and Sarfraz.

He shouldn’t have got bogged down but he did, but he still did his job. I’d give him a 9 out of 10 rather than 10 but Babar scoring 112 off 110 is hands down better than him scoring 80 off 60.

Why? Because our other batsmen aren’t doing anything with the extra balls. We just don’t have the team to do so, and Micky knows this.

The way we collapsed at the end and limped to 340 is testament to that.

Fakhar and Hafeez had similar strike rates and got out below 60 so actually they’ve played far worse knocks. The others were in the finishing stage and apart from Malik also did a poor job.

Let’s put it this way. Ideally Babar does get a move on and he scored 130 off 110, but in an attempt to do so he gets out for 70 off 40.

How are we getting 350-370 now and who is scoring those runs? Because my read of yesterday’s game is that we would have struggled to get 320 even if this happened.

Happy to consider your view but I’ve watched too many dud Pakistan batting efforts to watch us criticise a centurion.

Also Fakhar scored 57 off 50 and he got out accelerating and if he would have played as many balls as Babar he would have scored atleast 25-30 more runs as we saw in first ODI and we would have scored around 360-70.

On such wickets which are If all 4 of our bastmen when playing insider 30 overs target to accelerate after their first 30-50 runs and even if one of them end up scoring a 100 at SR of 120-130 we would be winning much more matches. We have to realize we dont have a lot of power in the lower middle order, players who can play with SR of 160+ for 20-30 balls.

 

[goran]

The amount of hate Babar is receiving is quite surprising. Not very long ago, we were struggling to find even one batsman with 80+ S/R. Now we have quite a few of these, Babar being one of them. People need to realise that Babar is not a boundary-hitter. He doesn't have the game to hit big. But has the ability to score big with 80+ S/R. He needs support from other batsmen who can hit big. Fans should lower their expectation and stop comparing Babar to Kohli. He is a very good batsman but not great.

 

[wasimjunior]

Also Fakhar scored 57 off 50 and he got out accelerating and if he would have played as many balls as Babar he would have scored atleast 25-30 more runs as we saw in first ODI and we would have scored around 360-70.

On such wickets which are If all 4 of our bastmen when playing insider 30 overs target to accelerate after their first 30-50 runs and even if one of them end up scoring a 100 at SR of 120-130 we would be winning much more matches. We have to realize we dont have a lot of power in the lower middle order, players who can play with SR of 160+ for 20-30 balls.

And therein lies the problem.

You can’t win games anymore on these tracks with dud finishers. It’s just too big an ask imo from the top 4 every game... and it’s unfair.

England have butler, Aussies have Maxwell, India have Ms and Pandya (but will also struggle imo), who do we have?

First game we also couldn’t score 50 off 30 to win the game which gets chased down every time now. This game our lower order scored nothing in last five and the extra 20 runs made all the difference

Our poor lower order hitting is going to lose us games and a fat captain who can’t clear the square as well as fake Ronaldo are the two biggest problems.

How we solve this I don’t know...

 

[Titan24]

Fair enough and I get that.

80 off 60 means 50 more balls to score 50 more runs than we did and we get to 360.

Hafeez Fakhar And Imam were already done.

I guess you have far more faith in Sarfraz Malik Asif and Imad than I do. Don’t see any of those capable of adding the extra 50 apart from Malik perhaps who already played a v good knock by his standards but it’s a fair view.

Regardless- there’s many other issues with the side that caused this loss than to go after Babar

Even Sarfaraz, Malik etc could have scored run a ball a ball with ease on that wicket from ball one post Babar and they did end up getting runs at a much higher SR however, it was Babar who was set when he score his first 70-80 runs and had to move on and scored at a higher SR as run a ball from a settled batsmen on that wicket after his first 50 wasnt enough.

 

[wasimjunior]

Even Sarfaraz, Malik etc could have scored run a ball a ball with ease on that wicket from ball one post Babar and they did end up getting runs at a much higher SR however, it was Babar who was set when he score his first 70-80 runs and had to move on and scored at a higher SR as run a ball from a settled batsmen on that wicket after his first 50 wasnt enough.

My equation is 50 more off 50 balls than we already did.

So Malik is scoring 91 off 76... or 61 of 46 and Sarf is scoring 51 off 40.

Possible but a massive stretch imo unless Asif Ali fires every time- which makes him crucial for us.

And if they play exactly how they did yesterday than we score 310 and the games over for sure.

It comes down to the fact that you have more belief in the lower order than i do.

 

[Titan24]

And therein lies the problem.

You can’t win games anymore on these tracks with dud finishers. It’s just too big an ask imo from the top 4 every game... and it’s unfair.

England have butler, Aussies have Maxwell, India have Ms and Pandya (but will also struggle imo), who do we have?

First game we also couldn’t score 50 off 30 to win the game which gets chased down every time now. This game our lower order scored nothing in last five and the extra 20 runs made all the difference

Our poor lower order hitting is going to lose us games and a fat captain who can’t clear the square as well as fake Ronaldo are the two biggest problems.

How we solve this I don’t know...

Even after that other teams have aggressive top 3 or atleast 2 aggressive batsmen in their top 3 as well who score runs according to the conditions because Maxwell, Buttler, Dhoni arent gonna click in every game. We are struggling with lower order hitters as well as most of our top 4 batsmen being too one dimensional.

Warner
Finch
Smith

Roy
Baitstow
Root

Dhawan
Rohit
Kohli

Yes I completely understand that Babar as well as Imam are young but its the job of the team management to plan for the win and give role and modify those roles according to conditions and requirements. So I blame team management more than Babar or anybody else for that matter.

 

[Hawkeye]

Stop data mining his numbers. He scored 100 at over a strike rate of 100.

Should Pakistan be scoring 100 off the last 10 with 7 wickets left in a powerplay? Everyday of the week. That gets you your treasured 350.

Every other team would do so and that’s where you lose the game

Good post!

Babar played a good innings, and he's also capable of accelerating whenever required. He had a role to play yesterday and did a good job.

Sarfraz, Imad Wasim and Imam failed us in the last 10 overs.

 

[Hawkeye]

There are different types of selfishness. Maxwell has lost his side won matches by being selfish when the moment called for responsible batting but he threw it away by slogging

You're a batting powerhouse so this post is not a surprise coming from you.

Shows the good understanding of the overall game and picture, not just mindless slogging.

We should understand the role of each player.

Issues arise when one player is too limited to play different roles, e.g. if they can only accumulate.

 

[wasimjunior]

Good post!

Babar played a good innings, and he's also capable of accelerating whenever required. He had a role to play yesterday and did a good job.

Sarfraz, Imad Wasim and Imam failed us in the last 10 overs.

Thanks pal. Please see my posts above referring to Ronaldo and our fat captain

Doesn’t matter about anything else if you can’t score 100 off the last 60 in a powerplay now you can’t win. We got 90 and ended up 20 short of a v good total and 10 short of a par total

End of discussion.

 

[Titan24]

My equation is 50 more off 50 balls than we already did.

So Malik is scoring 91 off 76... or 61 of 46 and Sarf is scoring 51 off 40.

Possible but a massive stretch imo unless Asif Ali fires every time- which makes him crucial for us.

And if they play exactly how they did yesterday than we score 310 and the games over for sure.

It comes down to the fact that you have more belief in the lower order than i do.

Not at all a stretch Malik has 9 centuries and 44 50s and most of them are on such flat surfaces while Sarfaraz also can play on these surfaces. They both are much much inferior players than Babar in terms of talent and technique but in these conditions where there is nothing much on offer for the bowlers they can do the job easily especially when base was already set.

 

[Ronaldo7]

Really liked the shots he was playing in the beginning. The timing was brilliant. Very pleasing to the eye. But no one can deny that he slowed down a lot when he was nearing his hundred.

 

[Titan24]

Really liked the shots he was playing in the beginning. The timing was brilliant. Very pleasing to the eye. But no one can deny that he slowed down a lot when he was nearing his hundred.

His talent cant be denied and he is only gonna get better. He just needs bit of guidance but team management is failing in this aspect as well along with almost every other thing.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Will be interesting to see the stats of Babar outside first power play. Has anyone done that analysis? 2 year analysis is suffice to see how his batting pattern is.

 

[Titan24]

My equation is 50 more off 50 balls than we already did.

So Malik is scoring 91 off 76... or 61 of 46 and Sarf is scoring 51 off 40.

Possible but a massive stretch imo unless Asif Ali fires every time- which makes him crucial for us.

And if they play exactly how they did yesterday than we score 310 and the games over for sure.

It comes down to the fact that you have more belief in the lower order than i do.

Malik already got 41 off 26 before he got out, which shows such rates were possible on this surface even by the likes of Malik and co.

Dont rate our lower order much in terms of making a difference except maybe Asif Ali on his day but on these surfaces they can do the job and a batsman doesnt need to slow down because he cares too much about what will happen if he gets out on these surfaces. A difficult wicket is another matter though.

 

[Afhan Ali]

Hahahah what is data mining putting portions of technical information as an excuse for a joke player?

You have incredible knowledge of the game btw
In a series and pitches where 370 is not safe total you are calling 350 treasured total.

Definitely scoring 100 with a 100 strike rate by knocking around singles and playing dots where the bowl does'nt seam, swing or spin is an incredible achievement. On the same wicket Roys and Bairstows have'nt gone below 120-130 strike rate. Every other team would need such a player [Babar Azam] who is busy thinking about his 50 and 100 while the team total can take a hike. Can't bloody bat on seaming wicket without edging to the slips, could'nt survive on NZ tour averaging 6. Such an amazing palyer who was part of the grand totals of 74 and 70 in Christchurch.

Named his replacement for number 3

 

[Hadi Rizvi]

Baffling to see that on these English roads (they're not pitches) the centurion is the one getting bashed rather than those "so-called" powerhitters who play "aggressive" cricket and scored 20s and 40s.

 

[light]

Already people are ****** at him for his selfish type of batting and then he has the audacity to throw comments like this. You can be the best batsmen in the world but when you play for yourself and not the team, no one will care in the long run

 

[shah_1]

He played a selfish knock


Babar and his fans need to accept the bitter truth

 

[Technics 1210]

Babar doesn't score a century vs top team - he is rubbish
Babar does score a century vs top team - he is selfish.

Such is the plight!

Moving on, this century will do a world of good to him, especially in the confidence department.

 

[pakistani pride]

Question should be did he also enjoy playing all the dot balls vs Denly out of all people?

 

[Hasan123]

He has every shot in the book. Elite batters know when to accelerate. Babar clearly doesn't know when to accelerate. If he isn't going to accelerate, he needs to keep on rotating strike . He plays too many dot balls.

 

[gazza619]

Babar needs a big tell off. How can he not hit a single boundary between 80 and 100.

 

[Zaz]

The fact is he scored the 2nd fifity at a similar rate to the 1st fifty

Surely once set and he scored a 50 he shouldve been looking to step on it rather than going along at the same rate no?

 

[PakLFC]

Rubbish. It was a selfish innings where he was playing for himself. Should have scores at least 150 after all the time he occupied at the crease. Ramiz bhai telling it the way it is

 

[hadi123]

He's absolutely clueless. I wish someone asked him directly why did he slow down

 

[Ronaldo7]

The worst part is that he thinks he's done nothing wrong. I thought he would realise that he was too slow but by the looks of it and from sarfaraz's press conference, they think babar hasn't done anything wrong. How is the player supposed to improve?

 

[imshally81]

I think.. He played good innings... He just needs to increase his SR...

 

[Ronaldo7]

He probably going to overtake joe root in the odi rankings now so it's all good for him.

 

[AAli98]

Pak batsman live in there own little planet. Baba thinks his played the greatest odi innings since ponting 2003 wrld cup final.

Not so long ago Azhar tried to get the last 10 runs of 10 OVERS in a test v NZ succeeded in the first 2 overs failed miserably in the 3rd..

G flower should hang his head in shame!!

 

[Mean&Green]

The problem is with the team management not the players. They are given specific roles like Babar is given a role to play through to make sure pakistan doesn’t get all out before 50 overs that what he’s doing basically. Same with Asif Ali his role is to start hitting from ball one. This is why I’m against faheem getting dropped to even rashid Latif said you’ve stuck with for over 2 years makes no sense to drop him now they gave him a role to come in and start hitting right away it doesn’t work like that. Pathetic team management.