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Next generation battle - Babar Azam vs Shreyas Iyer

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Gubol123

Tape Ball Captain
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Obviously Babar is ahead of Shreyas as of now in LOIs. But Shreyas has excellent FC stats and has been groomed for bigger things. I expect him to become an integral part of Indian batting setup in future. Shreyas has had a good start to his ODI career but i wouldn't read much into it now. I think he has the ability to play at No 4 for India and succeed.

Babar is the next big batsman for Pakistan. He has already shown his batting prowess in LOIs and I expect him to do well in tests. He is a 10k batsman in both formats.. What are you thoughts...

Babar - Profile
Babar.JPG

Shreyas Profile
Shreyas.JPG
 
Waiting for people to come and say “Indian batsmen can’t be compared with Pakistani batsmen” and conclude that Shreyas > Babar :facepalm:

Can’t wait for this Shreyas to play against us, he’d be a sitting duck.
 
babajee said:
Waiting for people to come and say “Indian batsmen can’t be compared with Pakistani batsmen” and conclude that Shreyas > Babar :facepalm:

Can’t wait for this Shreyas to play against us, he’d be a sitting duck.
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I am waiting to see people come and say Pakistani batsmen are more naturally talented(though I do not understand what does that mean).
 
There is really no point in comparing these two, especially when one has only played like 5 international matches. These comparisons never end well. You can certainly talk about potential but still too early even for that.
 
I don't rate Babar Azam as much as some do here, but Shreyas is nothing great. Babar has more international quality than this guy.
 
Darkrai said:
There is really no point in comparing these two, especially when one has only played like 5 international matches. These comparisons never end well. You can certainly talk about potential but still too early even for that.
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absolutely agree with you, Let Iyer play for an yean and at least 20 matches to judge before reaching any real conclusion. Maybe he comes out a brilliant player as we expect him to be or a dud, only time will tell.
 
Every gully mohallah player is being compared to Babar Azam. Let this Shreyas guy play more than 3 ODIs for him to be compared to Bobby.


I remember during their u19 days Indian PP'ers used to berate Babar and say their Unmukt Chand and Sanju Samson are better batsmen with higher ceiling. Look at where Bobby is now and where those two are.


Babar is just a step behind Kohli and Smith and reaching parity with Kane and Root. Don't disrespect him by comparing him to every new kid on the block.
 
Syed1 said:
Every gully mohallah player is being compared to Babar Azam. Let this Shreyas guy play more than 3 ODIs for him to be compared to Bobby.


I remember during their u19 days Indian PP'ers used to berate Babar and say their Unmukt Chand and Sanju Samson are better batsmen with higher ceiling. Look at where Bobby is now and where those two are.


Babar is just a step behind Kohli and Smith and reaching parity with Kane and Root. Don't disrespect him by comparing him to every new kid on the block.
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Nah bro.

These batsmen are more “complete” and have a higher ceiling than Bobby because they have a superior batting culture in India.
 
Babar is better because he considers some XYZ player as his idol.
 
Why are you comparing Babar with a noob?

He is a champions trophy winner and 4th ranked batter in the world with 7 centuries, 3 centuries in a row and joint fastest to 1000 runs in ODI.

He should be compared to Root,Williamson,De Cock etc
 
Babar Azam is the better batsmen without a doubt. Can't compare him with a player who hasn't even cemented a place in the Indian team.
 
Gubol123 said:
Babar is the next big batsman for Pakistan. He has already shown his batting prowess in LOIs and I expect him to do well in tests. He is a 10k batsman in both formats.. What are you thoughts...
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My thought is that if a batsman with a 23.75 avg goes on to play long enough for Pakistan to score 10K runs, then Pakistan's current #7 ranking makes sense.
 
Napa said:
My thought is that if a batsman with a 23.75 avg goes on to play long enough for Pakistan to score 10K runs, then Pakistan's current #7 ranking makes sense.
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Yeah because a batsman continues to average the same throughout their career and their average after 11 tests is set in stone.


For your info, Sachin Tendulkar averaged a mediocre 39 after his first 11 tests. :shh
 
Iyer is an average player. He is scoring runs against mediocre Lankan attack. to me he is same as Kedar Jadhav or Karun Nair.

Babar looks more assured and looks more complete.

Babar >>>> Iyer.

The comparison should be Babar and KL Rahul and a thread already exists for it.

I am pretty sure Iyer will be replaced by Prithvi Shaw soon.
 
Hasan123 said:
Babar Azam is the better batsmen without a doubt. Can't compare him with a player who hasn't even cemented a place in the Indian team.
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While you are correct that Babar is a better batsman at this point in time.The theory that Iyer is bad because he cant get into Indian is not.As a batsman, getting into Indian teams top 3 is a tough job.
 
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While, Babar being better batsman currently is indubitable. This fad of lampooning the guy with unusual technique should be abnegated, even if the guy doesn't imbue the cricketing perfectionist in you. Even if it currently seems iniquitous to compare a newbie with babar, I feel Iyer will surpass him someday impact-wise expounded by the fact that anchor roles that babar play is of less impact compared to shreyas whose modus operandi seems to give impetus to the innings in the middle. The way he invigorated the RR by being busy at the crease and not letting the spinners to settle was something amiss from the team since Raina left and portend of a possible replacement.That being said, it will quite an onerous task for him to stay in the team once Kohli arrives.
 
Syed1 said:
So you think Babar will continue averaging 24 for the rest of his career :))) :))) :)))
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No, I think he will probably add about 15 runs to his average like Tendulkar did to his average from the 11th Test to the end of this career. However, that only gets Babar to 39, which is not quite what the team needs for a better future.
 
cricketjoshila said:
While you are correct that Babar is a better batsman at this point in time.The theory that Iyer is bad because he cant get into Indian is not.As a batsman, getting into Indian teams top 3 is a tough job.
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Wow I never said he is bad. I said he shouldn't be compared to Babar when he isn't a regular for India.
 
Hasan123 said:
Wow I never said he is bad. I said he shouldn't be compared to Babar when he isn't a regular for India.
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The whole point of him not regular for Indian lineup is due to numerous options available. There is KL Rahul, Pant, Shaw knocking on the door to make it into Indian lineup.

Iyer still looks unfinish product to me, however from whatever we saw against SL he do have strong off side and not so strong leg side. It would be interesting to see how he fares in SA if he is selected. If he doesnt improve his leg side game then teams will work him out.

As of now Babar Azam is comfortably ahead of him, however Azam needs to perform against top teams in order to join the elite group alongside QdK. The comparison is flawed as one is established batsman for his team while the other is only trying to get in.
 
Comparing shreyas to babar is like comparing babar to kohli. U can't compare 2 cricketers when 1 has played many more matches.
 
Napa said:
No, I think he will probably add about 15 runs to his average like Tendulkar did to his average from the 11th Test to the end of this career. However, that only gets Babar to 39, which is not quite what the team needs for a better future.
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Where did you come up with that 15 runs number? History is littered with batsmen that started with averages in the 20s. Do you remember how Steve Smith started his career? Mohammad Yousuf? Younis Khan? And that's without doing much research, you can find many more if you do research.
 
aniket1911 said:
While, Babar being better batsman currently is indubitable. This fad of lampooning the guy with unusual technique should be abnegated, even if the guy doesn't imbue the cricketing perfectionist in you. Even if it currently seems iniquitous to compare a newbie with babar, I feel Iyer will surpass him someday impact-wise expounded by the fact that anchor roles that babar play is of less impact compared to shreyas whose modus operandi seems to give impetus to the innings in the middle. The way he invigorated the RR by being busy at the crease and not letting the spinners to settle was something amiss from the team since Raina left and portend of a possible replacement.That being said, it will quite an onerous task for him to stay in the team once Kohli arrives.
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Are you reading Shashi Tharoor now-a-days?
Agree to the points made.
 
It's unfair on both to compare at this stage. Babar doesn't deserve to have comparisons with another rookie who just came into the scene when he's made one of the best ODI career starts, period, and Iyer has barely got his feet wet in international cricket to give himself the opportunity to be compared. Give it some time, Rahul and Babar is a fair comparison for that reason, it's the same reason why Fahim vs Pandya is not.
 
I gotta say Barbar got tighter technique than Iyer. He has done well against touring sides. He has the tendency to score at faster clip in all formats with lot of risks. I am not sure he will survive long with this plonk the front foot and hit through the line technique. I will be shocked if he is successful
 
A few months in the finals of a tri-series tournament in South Africa Iyer toyed with the South Africa-A bowling attack and made 140 in 131 balls to lead India A to the title.
In a three-day warm-up fixture between India A and the visiting Australian side earlier this year,Iyer had lambasted the Aussie spinners — Nathan Lyon and Stephen O'Keefe — and raced to a double hundred at run a ball with seven sixes.
Against SL he has 2 fifties in 3 ODIs..
That shows talent and capabilty.
Iyer may not be compared to Babar as of now, that i agree as sample size is too small, but if Iyer does manage to cement his place as no 4 in Indian team, this thread may well turn out to be Akmal vs Kohli type of thread.
 
Another premature and meaningless comparison. Shreyas Iyer is just starting his career and hasn't played enough to compare with anyone. He needs to first establish himself in the Indian X1 before we can compare him with anyone.
 
Even i am also skeptical about Iyer. But one thing is for sure , the bloke has immense self confidence and seems like a clutch player. If he clicks , he will be a high impact player .
 
Shreyas is a complete hack, Babar has a limited technique while KL Rahul is easily the best all-round player of the lot technically.

Of course, confidence and fitness are equally if not more important than technique so knows how their careers are going to progress.
 
This comparison isn't exciting.
Let iyer establish himself in odi first.
He isnt gonna play test cricket any soon either. Rohit karun shanker pandya etc are all ahead of him for no. 6 spot.

Babar vs rahul is somewhat worthy comparison but
babar's best competitor is de kock IMO. He is regular in all 3 formats like babar.
 
Babar Azam has more potential than any other young Asian batsman. Ilyer has played six matches and you're comparing him with someone who is already a world class ODI batsman. Sad.
 
babajee said:
Waiting for people to come and say “Indian batsmen can’t be compared with Pakistani batsmen” and conclude that Shreyas > Babar :facepalm:

Can’t wait for this Shreyas to play against us, he’d be a sitting duck.
Click to expand...

Babajee, lets encourage the new kid instead of totally degrading him so much down. All the best to both young batsmen.
 
Sin Nombre said:
Shreyas is a complete hack, Babar has a limited technique while KL Rahul is easily the best all-round player of the lot technically.

Of course, confidence and fitness are equally if not more important than technique so knows how their careers are going to progress.
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Limited technique? Elaborate.
 
I don't like shreyas iyer technique ,looks ugly with excessive high backlift and slices the ball.I think azam has better technique and for now is obviously ahead.But iyer keeps scoring despite his technique which shows as smith did that you don't need classic technique to score runs.
 
1, For Pakistan perspective Babar Azam is our best batsman but in overall he is no where near to Shreyas Iyer who has better defense, shot selection and selfless for the team.
2. Babar has potential to be a good accumulator (Fawad Alam) in shorter format but he is can't be a game changer like AB, Smith, Kohli, Root, Rohit... Shreyas Iyer does have potential to be an explosive batsman.
3. Babar has no future in test due to his poor defense and timidness, Shreyas Iyer can do well in test.
 
Shafi said:
1, For Pakistan perspective Babar Azam is our best batsman but in overall he is no where near to Shreyas Iyer who has better defense, shot selection and selfless for the team.
2. Babar has potential to be a good accumulator (Fawad Alam) in shorter format but he is can't be a game changer like AB, Smith, Kohli, Root, Rohit... Shreyas Iyer does have potential to be an explosive batsman.
3. Babar has no future in test due to his poor defense and timidness, Shreyas Iyer can do well in test.
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Shafi said:
Hope Babar don't end up like Umar Akmal and Shreyas Iyer became new Kohli later stage.
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Over exaggeration, he is a very fine batsman
 
Shafi said:
1, For Pakistan perspective Babar Azam is our best batsman but in overall he is no where near to Shreyas Iyer who has better defense, shot selection and selfless for the team.
2. Babar has potential to be a good accumulator (Fawad Alam) in shorter format but he is can't be a game changer like AB, Smith, Kohli, Root, Rohit... Shreyas Iyer does have potential to be an explosive batsman.
3. Babar has no future in test due to his poor defense and timidness, Shreyas Iyer can do well in test.
Click to expand...
Shreyas Iyer plays with hard hands and lacks any real timing even when set, as he is generally late on the ball (which generally suggests a lack of natural ability). He draws the bat in from the off-side like Guptill, which makes him vulnerable, and tail-ender esque against any swing or seam movement (re Dharamsala innings). Taking that into consideration Iyer won’t survive in test cricket outside of Asia. Iyer having a better defensive technique than Babar is a mere delusion.

The only aspect in which he is superior to Babar is the ability to hit, which is a aspect that Babar has to work on and will be capable of doing as he has the levers and timing to do so.
 
Chip32 said:
Shreyas Iyer plays with hard hands and lacks any real timing even when set, as he is generally late on the ball (which generally suggests a lack of natural ability). He draws the bat in from the off-side like Guptill, which makes him vulnerable, and tail-ender esque against any swing or seam movement (re Dharamsala innings). Taking that into consideration Iyer won’t survive in test cricket outside of Asia. Iyer having a better defensive technique than Babar is a mere delusion.

The only aspect in which he is superior to Babar is the ability to hit, which is a aspect that Babar has to work on and will be capable of doing as he has the levers and timing to do so.
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A certain Amla has his back lift coming from point. Graeme Smith had an angled bat. In my view , both came out really well.
 
giri26 said:
Another premature and meaningless comparison. Shreyas Iyer is just starting his career and hasn't played enough to compare with anyone. He needs to first establish himself in the Indian X1 before we can compare him with anyone.
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KING kholi is better than both of them
 
Uh oh... let's hope for Pakistani fans this doesn't go the Umar Akmal vs Kohli way lol. Both are great young batsman. I hope it's a much closer contest.

Iyer has impressed me a lot. It's initial days for him, but he's looked good. IMO Kohli should take a big call as captain and push himself down to four to let Iyer bat at 3.

Iyer is known to score quick, so Kohli can do better at 4 to control India's batting. India needs some weight in the middle order now since Dhoni isn't as good as he used to be. Also it solves our number four problem.
 
WengerOut said:
A certain Amla has his back lift coming from point. Graeme Smith had an angled bat. In my view , both came out really well.
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But Shreyas lacks the natural ability to make up for it. Hence, he tries to muscle the ball a lot as he is unable to play a balanced cricketing stroke unless it’s a 130 kph trundler.

Amla has a bat swirl but does not really angle the bat in from point.
 
Chip32 said:
But Shreyas lacks the natural ability to make up for it. Hence, he tries to muscle the ball a lot as he is unable to play a balanced cricketing stroke unless it’s a 130 kph trundler.

Amla has a bat swirl but does not really angle the bat in from point.
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Give the kid some time. Lets see what he made of. Although the comparison with Babar is uncalled for.
 
Shafi said:
Hope Babar don't end up like Umar Akmal and Shreyas Iyer became new Kohli later stage.
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I don't like to hype batsmen unnecessarily. Kohli is from another planet compared to Shreyas Iyer. Iye a bit less hack than Yusuf pathan. His game is high risk game. So won't be a reliable batsman for one thing. Also he can be exposed easily. As somoone said KL Rahul will have better future overall as he has an all round game to be solid stroke player.
 
ahsan17 said:
Where did you come up with that 15 runs number? History is littered with batsmen that started with averages in the 20s. Do you remember how Steve Smith started his career? Mohammad Yousuf? Younis Khan? And that's without doing much research, you can find many more if you do research.
Click to expand...

M Yousuf after 11 matches: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...9;spanval1=span;template=results;type=batting

Younis Khan after 11 matches: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...1;spanval1=span;template=results;type=batting

Steve Smith after 11 matches: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...3;spanval1=span;template=results;type=batting

Only Smith averaged 29. Please check before posting. In any case, justifying someone's failures by citing exceptions is outrageous.
 
asfandyar said:
M Yousuf after 11 matches: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...9;spanval1=span;template=results;type=batting

Younis Khan after 11 matches: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...1;spanval1=span;template=results;type=batting

Steve Smith after 11 matches: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...3;spanval1=span;template=results;type=batting

Only Smith averaged 29. Please check before posting. In any case, justifying someone's failures by citing exceptions is outrageous.
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FYI - YK's average dropped later on and then picked up after the India series in 2005. This is not about how close other players' averages were to 25. Fact of the matter is their averages were poor, and they got much better later on. No one is justifying the failure, it's just that Babar Azam appears to have the most potential to go on and do big things amongst young Pakistani batsmen. Whether he does that remains to be seen.
 
ahsan17 said:
FYI - YK's average dropped later on and then picked up after the India series in 2005. This is not about how close other players' averages were to 25. Fact of the matter is their averages were poor, and they got much better later on. No one is justifying the failure, it's just that Babar Azam appears to have the most potential to go on and do big things amongst young Pakistani batsmen. Whether he does that remains to be seen.
Click to expand...

Babar averaged in the mid 30s in FC for a considerable time, then scored a 266 which propelled his avg to around 40 when he debuted. A brilliant ODI player (and rightly so as he has one of the top List-A records in Pakistan), his FC average ceiling of 40 is quite mediocre, and many batsmen in domestics have that average. What we should look for is someone who averages 45+ over a sustained period. If, however, you think potential should guide selection instead of performance, read my signature.
 
asfandyar said:
Babar averaged in the mid 30s in FC for a considerable time, then scored a 266 which propelled his avg to around 40 when he debuted. A brilliant ODI player (and rightly so as he has one of the top List-A records in Pakistan), his FC average ceiling of 40 is quite mediocre, and many batsmen in domestics have that average. What we should look for is someone who averages 45+ over a sustained period. If, however, you think potential should guide selection instead of performance, read my signature.
Click to expand...

Babar still averages in the mid 30s. But has excellent average in LOIs. We will have to wait and see how he turns out in Test cricket. On the other hand Shreyas has excellent FC stats and has impressed on and all. He doesn't seem to have the best of technique.. But whatever he has seems to be working from him at the FC level. Lets see if he can elevate his game to Intl cricket
 
Napa said:
My thought is that if a batsman with a 23.75 avg goes on to play long enough for Pakistan to score 10K runs, then Pakistan's current #7 ranking makes sense.
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well, obviously either he will do better than 24 or won't play that long.. I actually think 10k run a stretch target for Babar. Now that number of tests are reducing overall and Pakistan tend to play 2 test match series more, he may not have enough time. If we assume Pakistan plays 8 test matches an year for the next 17 years (total around 140 tests) and Babar plays in 80% of those matches he will play approximately around 110 more test matches.. So he might end up playing around 125 test matches in total and for him to reach that 10k goal he will have to score around 85 runs/test match for the reminder of his career. Currently Kohli, Root and Kane are all scoring anywhere between 80 to 88 per test match. So Babar will have to lift his game to their level to reach 10k test runs.. he can do it, but it is not going to be easy. Safer prediction would be around 8k runs if he cements his place
 
Sin Nombre said:
See struggles with the red ball. Can't rotate strike with a close field, can't play attacking spin well.
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His issues with the red ball are more to do with pacing his innings and general temperament rather than any technical fault. He did have an issue with the head falling on to off side when playing on the leg side in Aus, which Hazlewood exploited very well (much like how Cummins has done so against Root) but he’s rectified that issue.

Babar does have his troubles against spin bowling, that’s one aspect he has to improve in; but for the first time in a long time we have a batsman that’s a natural player of pace bowling.
 
asfandyar said:
Babar averaged in the mid 30s in FC for a considerable time, then scored a 266 which propelled his avg to around 40 when he debuted. A brilliant ODI player (and rightly so as he has one of the top List-A records in Pakistan), his FC average ceiling of 40 is quite mediocre, and many batsmen in domestics have that average. What we should look for is someone who averages 45+ over a sustained period. If, however, you think potential should guide selection instead of performance, read my signature.
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He hasn’t played FC cricket since his international debut, you genuinely believe he hasn’t improved as a player?
 
Chip32 said:
He hasn’t played FC cricket since his international debut, you genuinely believe he hasn’t improved as a player?
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What I believe is irrelevant. What facts point towards is that he should be sent back to the domestics (FC) to find his feet, or his ODI form will suffer due to his poor Test form.
 
asfandyar said:
What I believe is irrelevant. What facts point towards is that he should be sent back to the domestics (FC) to find his feet, or his ODI form will suffer due to his poor Test form.
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But his test form hasn’t been affected due to his poor test exploits as of now, which suggests it isn’t a form issue.

He’s one of those players the management have indentified as future leader of the batting attack (already is in ODI cricket). With this you have to invest in the player, as you know that the small amount of extra faith given with be repaid in consistent performances for many years.

The West Indies have identified Hope as player they’re going to invest in; and look at the manner in which he’s repaid the faith given by the management. He averaged a poultry 18.xx (with a large sample size as well, don’t remember the exact no. of tests he had played at that point) before his Headingly heroics. He’s growing in confidence and fluency in every innings, and I have no doubt that in a couple of seasons he will eventually establish himself as a world class player.
 
Iyer has a long way to go to establish himself.

Babar has established himself in limited overs and is on his way to making his name in test cricket as well.
 
Why are we fooling ourselves?! When will we ever learn! Babar is miles ahead of this Iyer.
 
Iyer is a strong leader and is also talented

The comparison is valid but Iyer needs a year or two before we open the thread again
 
Babar is top notch .. there is no comparison yet, Iyer needs to establish himself in the team as a regular first.
 
The comparison looks unfair at the moment Babur is well established in Pakistan team and now creating the right name for himself internationally. I think Babur is more comparable to players like De Kock.
 
dhump said:
The comparison looks unfair at the moment Babur is well established in Pakistan team and now creating the right name for himself internationally. I think Babur is more comparable to players like De Kock.
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You're being very kind and generous sir. Let me tell you this as an Indian - Iyer is a very average batsman and will not be able to stand 1 over of good bowling from the likes of Starc/Amir/Rabada.
 
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