Pakistan's batting approach is not right

[Dr_Bassim]

I have seen the last two matches against Afghanistan and I saw the first match vs India.

People are wondering what has happened to Fakhar, why Imam can't score like he did against Zimbabwe C and why Babar Azam is not firing on all cylinders.

Many people are thinking its just a mental thing because once upon a time the same players fired in the Champions Trophy final and won it for us.

I feel that Pakistan are not doing enough in batting at the moment as is.

People seem super and hyper excited about how Babar and Imam negated the spinners for over 25 overs at an average of 3 runs an over while the asking rate climbed to over 6 an over. Infact, barring an experienced Malik miracle, the approach was on course for Pakistan to lose the game. An experienced Afghan bowler might have killed off the game for Pakistan with more than 10 runs to defend off the last over.

Yesterday again, we batted at 3.5 an over for well over 25 overs and people were classifying it as a building phase and then suddenly we will attack.

I don't know why we are chasing lost theories and ideas.

Look at how India paced their chase? Did they decide to bat at 3.5 an over to build the innings and then attack in the last 10? They kept up with the runrate never letting it reach to a level where remaining batsmen have to come and hit 6's from the word go.

Our approach to batting is all wrong and we don't need snails and slow pokes in our team.

Which begs the question? Do they have it in them?

I might be criticized for saying this, but barring the miraculous Champions Trophy win, this team has been destroyed in NZ, and Asia Cup is just showing that our top 3 don't have the brains or the brawn to bat against good teams at a good strike rate.

It's all good to say the team is mentally shot and are mentally disturbed and hence the slow scoring.

But maybe Champions Trophy was rightly a one off event at least in terms of batting, where everything clicked in Pakistan for batting. If you can't reproduce those performances except against weak Zimbabwe C teams, then perhaps its time to question whether that performance really was a one off thing?


But if Pakistan believes they are winning the next match against Bangladesh or the final against India by batting at 3.5 an over for 30 overs whether batting first or chasing, they have already lost the match.

Discuss.

 

[Cric1234]

These pitches are not 350 par score wickets but they are also not 220 type wickets aiming for 270-280 is the best thing for that batting at close to 5 an over is a must.
Imam and Babar seem to lack the ability to do that against good bowling finding another opener who can bat at 90+ s/r is a must getting quick starts can shift the momentum and put the bowlers under pressure.

 

[Usman Chadda]

Pakistan is losing early wickets every game, which gives Babar Azam the license to bat at a SR of 40-50 in the Powerplays. These two aspects put a lot of undue pressure on the middle-order, since Babar is premeditating his approach to an innings regardless of how the opposition is bowling. Sarfraz has forgotten how to bat, while Malik just does not have the capability to play at a SR of 100 against pacers. All in all we are pretty much dead against Bangladesh, and I'm shocked people here still think we might make the final easily.

 

[amvbfm]

Its not a matter of approach, our batting is just not skilled and balanced enough to be competitive in sub-continental conditions. Fakhar is the only player in this team who can score at a S/R of around 100 but he will never do it on a consistent basis. Babar and Malik, who are the backbone of this lineup will score runs but the rate at which they will do it means you need lower order hitters to finish the innings. Unfortunately, you don't have a lower middle order - at all - there is a yawning gap after Malik at 4 and the lower order has no hitters except Faheem. In such a situation you are entirely dependent on the top 4 for your runs. If they score, the lower order will also contribute a few quick ones, but if you lose 2 wickets cheaply, then either the rest of the overs will be spent in rebuilding or there will be a complete collapse. We dearly need a batsman at 5 who is as adept at rebuilding as he is at accelerating. And the extent of our batting woes are evident from the fact that given our existing pool of talent, the only person I can think of who had the potential to fill that role (not that I would ever want him to be selected) is Umar Akmal.

 

[cricket_cfa]

Rebuilding run rate now a days is 4-5 per over. Getting more singles can help a lot.

 

[Pete Rose]

Pakistan is losing early wickets every game, which gives Babar Azam the license to bat at a SR of 40-50 in the Powerplays. These two aspects put a lot of undue pressure on the middle-order, since Babar is premeditating his approach to an innings regardless of how the opposition is bowling. Sarfraz has forgotten how to bat, while Malik just does not have the capability to play at a SR of 100 against pacers. All in all we are pretty much dead against Bangladesh, and I'm shocked people here still think we might make the final easily.

Babar Azam bats at his slow pace regardless: he did that consistently in Australia when he would come in to bat and sharjeel was doing all the heavy lifting, he did that in the ct final when he was struggling against Kedhar Jadav despite the platform Pakistan had. Babar Azam is not going to change his style of play now or later. We might as well live with that. But then you need to partner Zaman with someone more dynamic. All the pressure in the beginning is on Zaman because he has to bat with: imam, the Babar, then Sarfraz, then malik. And then after malik/Sarfraz/imam/Babar have plodded along at 3.5 runs an over, they expect young guys with barely 30 Odis under their belt to whack ten an over.

 

[in_cutter]

Misbah’s fault

Signed: Misbah haters

 

[Mamoon]

It is the lack of skill, not approach. Their is not a single batsman in Pakistan who is anywhere near the ability and caliber of the Indian openers, and neither of them is the best batsman in India.

Such is the massive gulf in class between the two teams. When you have the skill-set, the right approach naturally comes.

Mickey knows that our dot ball percentage is a big problem, and he is trying hard to rectify it. Our batsmen are aware of the problem as well, but apart from Malik, none of them have the ability to maneuver the ball and find the gaps.

Rohit and Dhawan have the ability to score runs off good deliveries as well. They can convert wicket-taking deliveries into singles and doubles frequently and never fail to punish bad deliveries.

Our batsmen are sitting ducks against tight bowling and have very limited scoring zones. Even our most dynamic batsman (Fakhar) is paralyzed when the ball is not in his arc. Moreover, we regularly fail to punish bad deliveries as well.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Don't think they understand the value of singles. Gambhir/Sehwag/Tendulkar set the template.Dhawan/Rohit continue. Sehwag can spank you for 5 fours in one over yet always look for quick singles. Don't think Pakistani batsmen are good at singles. Y day they picked up like 60 dots in the 15 overs or so.