Pakistan's obsession with comparing their players to Indian players

[FearlessRoar]

Pakistan's cricket fans have a habit of comparing their players to India's best. But this constant comparison can be harmful. It puts pressure on our players and overlooks their unique strengths.

We've seen this with Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad, who were expected to match Virat Kohli's success. But they struggled to meet those expectations. Now, Babar Azam is facing similar pressure.

The truth is, India's players have raised the bar with their hard work and dedication. Instead of comparing, we should focus on helping our own players grow and develop.

It's time to shift our focus from 'can they be the next Kohli?' to 'how can we help them become the best version of themselves?' By doing so, we can create a brighter future for Pakistan cricket.

 

[hafizexpress]

It's ridiculous. I remember when U Akmal came blazing on to the scene and Kohli did not have a legendary start to his career, some people were offended that they were both being compared because they thought Akmal was set to be the next Tendulkar.

He's always "he's the next this/that" or "he's our so and so". I don't get the point of this. Let someone be themselves for once. The worst thing is, only Pakistani players have to be subject to this pressure and these comparisons.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Yep it's a bad obsession we need to be a benchmark for other players let alone even idolizing Aussies performers

 

[mominsaigol]

The sad part is that you will never see that from Any top rated sides because they aren't focused on chasing legends, their focused on becoming legends.

Their is no such claim as David Warner is the next gilchrist because David Warner made himself his own brand, Similarly Travis head made himself his own brand.

The very fact you can't bring up babar azam without bringing kohli into the limelight shows how far behind babar really is.

Babar has created a brand on social media, but is the King really a cricket icon? Will future superstars ever say I wish to take the mantle from Babar? I think not

 

[mominsaigol]

It's ridiculous. I remember when U Akmal came blazing on to the scene and Kohli did not have a legendary start to his career, some people were offended that they were both being compared because they thought Akmal was set to be the next Tendulkar.

He's always "he's the next this/that" or "he's our so and so". I don't get the point of this. Let someone be themselves for once. The worst thing is, only Pakistani players have to be subject to this pressure and these comparisons.

Umm no, Pakistani players themselves create this image lol. And when they create it, they can't compete and then start playing the blame game.

When umar akmal emerged in 2009, he was considered as the next best thing, aka the world will know UA's name.

However that was not the case, UA never kept up with his fitness, he considered himself a finished product. UA was the one who brought up kohli and Sachin comparisons by saying, "Unfair to compare me to kohli as he's a no 3 and I'm a no 6, the moment you play me at no 3, I will easily be superior to kohli"

^^ Note he said this in 2015 when Kohli was at the absolute peak of his career lol.

It's the same with Babar, he's the only one chasing nonsense milestones that frankly no one really cares about.

Travis head doesn't have any Milestone to his name, he isn't the highest t20 run getter, nor does he have the most centuries, nor is he the fastest to any runs nor was the highest run scorer in any cup. But despite that TH is already considered a household name and is in the ranks of future ATG status.

That's the problem with Pakistani players. They chase useless numbers but don't chase improvement amongst themselves. Seriously why is babar finding endless upon endless excuses for his fitness, SR and form?

Sometimes it's, I'm a t20 anchorer, sometimes it's I'm not here to please anyone, sometimes it's you need singles and doubles and 4's and 6's won't get a job done.

Like bro, If you know you're not a t20 striker or you're not comfortable in getting 4's and 6's, then pad up, get out your comfort zone and practise in the nets and improve game by game? Play more against top sides, try to attack aussie bowlers etc?

What's all this, im a t20 anchorer but it's okay because I'm ranked higher then kohli in rankings so I'm king?

 

[Mesozoic]

It's natural for rival fans to compare their players with the other but Pak fans seem to take it to a whole level.

The Babar vs Kohli comparison was so cringeworthy and sad. It still is...

 

[Kianig89]

Exactly Pakistan desperately needs player like Damien Martyn, Jacob Oram and Dwayne Bravo

 

[NishanKonar]

It's the same with Babar, he's the only one chasing nonsense milestones that frankly no one really cares about.

Travis head doesn't have any Milestone to his name, he isn't the highest t20 run getter, nor does he have the most centuries, nor is he the fastest to any runs nor was the highest run scorer in any cup. But despite that TH is already considered a household name and is in the ranks of future ATG status.

That's the problem with Pakistani players. They chase useless numbers but don't chase improvement amongst themselves. Seriously why is babar finding endless upon endless excuses for his fitness, SR and form?

Wrong to say that no one really cares about. The thing is Pakistan fans and journos have an incredible obsession with stats, ICC rankings. Post 2021, almost every week when ICC rankings wud come out, fans & journos wud remind us that Babar is No1 or Rizwan is o1 or Babar is" best all format " batter. In fact the whole narrative of Babar is best all format batter started bcoz of craze for ICC rankings among fans & media in Pakistan. I remember when SKY replaced Babar & Rizwan as No 1 T20 batter - there was so much disappointment among Pakistan fans. Someone on this forum made it a point to mock SKY on a thread every time SKY had a bad innings !

Its that obsession from fans & media that drove these players to chase all sorts of trivial milestones. Even our friend Saj wud regularly post such stats & rankings on his twitter account every week - even if babar scored a 100 against Nepal

The thing is after the disaster in Asia Cup & World Cup most fans & media guys have realised that these stats or rankings count for little. Or as Misbah correctly mentioned on a tv show that these rankings were largely bcoz Pakistan has mostly played B / C teams in the last few years

 

[mominsaigol]

Wrong to say that no one really cares about. The thing is Pakistan fans and journos have an incredible obsession with stats, ICC rankings. Post 2021, almost every week when ICC rankings wud come out, fans & journos wud remind us that Babar is No1 or Rizwan is o1 or Babar is" best all format " batter. In fact the whole narrative of Babar is best all format batter started bcoz of craze for ICC rankings among fans & media in Pakistan. I remember when SKY replaced Babar & Rizwan as No 1 T20 batter - there was so much disappointment among Pakistan fans. Someone on this forum made it a point to mock SKY on a thread every time SKY had a bad innings !

Its that obsession from fans & media that drove these players to chase all sorts of trivial milestones. Even our friend Saj wud regularly post such stats & rankings on his twitter account every week - even if babar scored a 100 against Nepal

The thing is after the disaster in Asia Cup & World Cup most fans & media guys have realised that these stats or rankings count for little. Or as Misbah correctly mentioned on a tv show that these rankings were largely bcoz Pakistan has mostly played B / C teams in the last few years

people hate every good cricketer who has achieved success(David Warner, SKY, Sarfraz) and loves every cricketer if Misbah has backed them irrespective if their good(Abrar Ahmed), medicore (Rizwan), or outright Awful (Chacha).

I wouldn't mind that thread to much or take it too seriously.

As for Pakistan fans in general, Pakistan fans are passionate about their sport and understandably so. Most pakistani fans are not analysts. They see things like rankings or Ramiz raja wanking Babar to oblivion amd believe them because their just fans that's all.

It's not the fans that are issue, it's the players and these corrupt journalists that are not only feeding incorrect information to players such as Babar truly is the no 1 batter in the world and pakistan is the no 1 odi team,

But also the fact that the players themselves are claiming that they are goats. For example why is the dugout calling Muhammad Rizwan the Bradman of T20 cricket. Bradman in his era was superior to every other batsmen by every metric (performance, avg, SR, no of runs, centuries etc)

So what? Are these players and journalists who have insight and knowledge about the game really so naive and full of themselves that they think Muhammad Rizwan is objectively the greatest t20 batsmen of this era?

Even if these players social media accounts are not managed by them, at the very least they can keep their mouths in check when their doing interviews live on tv, Who told chacha to go to Live TV and Say the words "Their is no doubt we are the best team in the world and I am famous in pakistan as their Finisher?"

Fans can say what they want, However the moment journalists and pakistani players themselves run their mouths is when it all collapses.

No one told Umar Akmal to claim live in tv that he's a better no 3 then Kohli.

 

[NishanKonar]

people hates every good cricketer who has achieved success(David Warner, SKY, Sarfraz) and loves every cricketer if Misbah has backed them irrespective if their good(Abrar Ahmed), medicore (Rizwan), or outright Awful (Chacha).

I wouldn't mind that thread to much or take it too seriously.

As for Pakistan fans in general, Pakistan fans are passionate about their sport and understandably so. Most pakistani fans are not analysts. They see things like rankings or Ramiz raja wanking Babar to oblivion amd believe them because their just fans that's all.

It's not the fans that are issue, it's the players and these corrupt journalists that are not only feeding incorrect information to players such as Babar truly is the no 1 batter in the world and pakistan is the no 1 odi team,

But also the fact that the players themselves are claiming that they are goats. For example why is the dugout calling Muhammad Rizwan the Bradman of T20 cricket. Bradman in his era was superior to every other batsmen by every metric (performance, avg, SR, no of runs, centuries etc)

So what? Are these players and journalists who have insight and knowledge about the game really so naive and full of themselves that they think Muhammad Rizwan is objectively the greatest t20 batsmen of this era?

Even if these players social media accounts are not managed by them, at the very least they can keep their mouths in check when their doing interviews live on tv, Who told chacha to go to Live TV and Say the words "Their is no doubt we are the best team in the world and I am famous in pakistan as their Finisher?"

Fans can say what they want, However the moment journalists and pakistani players themselves run their mouths is when it all collapses.

No one told Umar Akmal to claim live in tv that he's a better no 3 then Kohli.

Its a chicken & egg thing

Pakistani fans are very passionate. So they love any stat or ranking which shows their players are better than Indians. The media guys & tv experts know this. So to farm engagement they feed the fans with more suh stuff. Fans get more delusional and start believing that Babar / Rizwan are actually better than Kohli / Rohit based on such rankings / stats. Players love that sort of attention. They start focusing more on statpadding to keep their rankings intact. Its beneficial for players, media guys & the fans. Everyone believes in what makes them happy

That's how the wheel keeps going on on. May be the onus is on the fans to become more intelligent. That will force journos to do their job more honestly and ask tough questions of the players. That in turn might force players to reassess their priorities and focus on team performances instead of mindless individual stat chasing

 

[mominsaigol]

Its a chicken & egg thing

Pakistani fans are very passionate. So they love any stat or ranking which shows their players are better than Indians. The media guys & tv experts know this. So to farm engagement they feed the fans with more suh stuff. Fans get more delusional and start believing that Babar / Rizwan are actually better than Kohli / Rohit based on such rankings / stats. Players love that sort of attention. They start focusing more on statpadding to keep their rankings intact. Its beneficial for players, media guys & the fans. Everyone believes in what makes them happy

That's how the wheel keeps going on on. May be the onus is on the fans to become more intelligent. That will force journos to do their job more honestly and ask tough questions of the players. That in turn might force players to reassess their priorities and focus on team performances instead of mindless individual stat chasing

Oh bhai, it is not a chicken and egg thing.

Their is no debate on what comes first. Media propaganda comes first and then fan reactions lol.

If the media propaganda on twitter was that Babar is a good batter but has dipped in form over the last 2 years and was never ever in the leagues of the top tier batsmen like Warner, Travis, Rohit, qdk, kohli etc

Then fans would have a similar reaction.

Also you're generalising fans as one and the same. Not every fan is delusional, their all different.

Look how many videos popped up about fans outright screaming at The Pakistan team for taking their Daddies, Wives, Aunts and uncles and booking 60-100 freaking rooms overall for a 25 man unit(15 players, 2 reserves and managment)

Look how many videos and reactions have surfaced on the Fake King Mantra etc.

The fandom is divided. Their not all one and same. Yes their defo many out their who think what's happening is an off season, will buy into whatever media propaganda, will believe icc rankings and heck will even go so far as to believe babar is the reincarnation of Bradman, but it doesn't universally apply to everyone like you're insinuating.

 

[sweep_shot]

"He is the next Lara."

"He is the next Tendulkar."

"He is the next Wasim."

These comparisons are really pointless. Every player is unique. A player can't be the next anything.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Pakistan never had great batting legends in the mould of Gavaskar, Sachin, Kohli. Hence they compare. They had very good batsmen. None will walk into any ATG side. Now this has spilled over to bowling department as well.

 

[RyanRyan10]

Funniest comparison was made of Shaheen. Initially, he was compared to Bumrah, and then fans of Babar Azam turned against him, claiming he wasn't good enough for the Pakistan team. A conspiracy theory emerged suggesting he intentionally underperformed, and comparisons were drawn to Hardik Pandya's loyalty for Team India, based on half-baked news such as "Hardik was sacked from the captaincy".

 

[sam_ahm]

Social media and in general cheap TV media in subcontinent has harmed Pakistan cricket a lot more than it looks.

In the past even though there were characters like Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Inzamam ul Haq, Javed Miandad, Imran Khan and they had massive fan following, although I haven't seen Imran play I know what kind of a fan following he had and he had like bigger than the game kind if image... But success and fame never got to the heads of these players probably because there was no cheap publicity or cheap Social Media users hyping them up or putting them down.

Imagine characters like Miandad, Social Media would have made him a criminal for kicking Dennis Lillee, people would have questioned if he is even a professional?... But that's the way he was. Wasim Akram after skipping the 1996 QF would probably have been called a traitor or a fixer. Shoaib Akhtar had many incidents where people would have questioned what kind of impact he has on the dressing room.

Imagine the fury in Social Media after Inzamam picked a bat to hit a fan in the stands in toronto!!!

Afridi would have had a very short career because people would have called him a slogger with zero technique and all that.

The bottom line is, that most of the successful Pakistani players were very strong characters, they were not very humble or polite, they had their own ways and were bloody successful and they were not influenced by the media or what the fans think. They were mentally strong and knew how good or bad they are.

These days the player doesn't do much but Social Media hypes them up like anything or alternatively puts them down or belittles their achievements. Players are now not mentally strong but get influenced by SM hypes without focussing much on things that they can control and become better players.

 

[Bhaijaan]

To be honest, Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad were generational talents and could not achieve their full potential due to the corrupt system in Pakistan cricket.

 

[Misia]

Our roots are from India, that's where we are from, if there was no Bharrat, there would be know Pakistan, even after all the wars we've fought and countless lives lost (and still losing) between the two nations, who else are you going to copy?

 

[Unbiased-Fan]

Nothing wrong in comparison with counterparts. But, most of the times these comparisons made me laugh. Many of the comparisons were illogical and forced ones.

 

[Kianig89]

Tbh bar Kohli, Pakistan fans never compared their players with Indian ones, Pakistan fans always had a liking for Haydens Jayasuriya De Villiers and Lara.

As far as fast bowlers are concerned Indian were never worth a mention don't forget the legendary Zak has poor Test match stats than Jacques Kallis.

 

[Aang_The_last_airbender]

Nothing wrong in comparisons, but it becomes a problem when one fails to acknowledge the gap between the players.
Recently, I saw a video where Umar Akmals or (i dont know if it was Kamran) Stats were being compared with Kohli by putting some weird level of filters to show that Akmal was a little better than Kohli in T20Is. That was cringey.

 

[jeeteshssaxena]

To be honest, Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad were generational talents and could not achieve their full potential due to the corrupt system in Pakistan cricket.

Umar Akmal had talent, not sure about generational talent but yeah good enough to do well in Internationals.
Ahmed Shehzad could have done okay in tests, he didn’t have the game to score fast in limited overs and was in no way a generational talent.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Pakistani players are too talented to be compared to India's.

Should only be compared to West Indies, Saffers and Aussie players .

Nobody has Rauf's talent in all of India, for example.

 

[nish_mate]

"He is the next Lara."

"He is the next Tendulkar."

"He is the next Wasim."

These comparisons are really pointless. Every player is unique. A player can't be the next anything.

But no one says he's the next Ashraful or Mortaza or Shakib or Tamim or Mustafiz

Wonder why BD haven't produced ever s single player that's inspired a comparison

 

[RyanRyan10]

Tbh bar Kohli, Pakistan fans never compared their players with Indian ones, Pakistan fans always had a liking for Haydens Jayasuriya De Villiers and Lara.

As far as fast bowlers are concerned Indian were never worth a mention don't forget the legendary Zak has poor Test match stats than Jacques Kallis.

Has there not been a comparison made between Shaheen and Bumrah? Pakistani fans have felt increasingly insecure with the rise of Bumrah.