- Joined
- Aug 1, 2023
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- 3,827
Babar has been dismissed six times so far in this ICC 2023 World Cup. Only once was it a geniunly good ball that got him. That was against India, when Siraj bowled a cross-seam delivery that kept low. The others have been very soft dismissals; they should have been hit to the fence or left alone. Look at the screenshots below:
1) Against the Netherlands, he got out pulling a half-tracker from Ackermann (a spinner) to mid wicket:
2) Against Sri Lanka, he feathered a ball that was going down the leg side to the keeper:
3) Against Australia, he again pulled a half-tracker from Zampa to mid-wicket:
4) Against Afghanistan, he cut a half-tracker from Noor Ahmed (a spinner) to cover point:
5) Against South Africa, he feathered one to the keeper that was angling on his legs:
To me, it's a sign of a player who is not concentrating; all of these deliveries should have been put away to the fence. A short ball from a spinner should at least reach the deep mid-wicket boundary, and Babar hasn't been able to clear the inner circle. And the balls that were on his pads should have been helped along to the fence (or at the very least to fine leg for a single)
Everyone is human, and getting out to a poor ball happens once every so often, but 5 out of 6 times is a pattern and is possibly a sign of Babar not being present and losing focus. He is a good batsman, but perhaps it's a sign that the captancy is starting to take too much of a mental toll on him and that it's starting to impact his batting. Or is it a technical problem? What do you guys think?
1) Against the Netherlands, he got out pulling a half-tracker from Ackermann (a spinner) to mid wicket:
2) Against Sri Lanka, he feathered a ball that was going down the leg side to the keeper:
3) Against Australia, he again pulled a half-tracker from Zampa to mid-wicket:
4) Against Afghanistan, he cut a half-tracker from Noor Ahmed (a spinner) to cover point:
5) Against South Africa, he feathered one to the keeper that was angling on his legs:
To me, it's a sign of a player who is not concentrating; all of these deliveries should have been put away to the fence. A short ball from a spinner should at least reach the deep mid-wicket boundary, and Babar hasn't been able to clear the inner circle. And the balls that were on his pads should have been helped along to the fence (or at the very least to fine leg for a single)
Everyone is human, and getting out to a poor ball happens once every so often, but 5 out of 6 times is a pattern and is possibly a sign of Babar not being present and losing focus. He is a good batsman, but perhaps it's a sign that the captancy is starting to take too much of a mental toll on him and that it's starting to impact his batting. Or is it a technical problem? What do you guys think?