"People want us to keep on hitting sixes and fours only but singles and doubles matter just as much": Babar Azam

The Bald Eagle

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Babar Azam's Pre-Match press conference today at Leeds :

"Look, we have changed our mindset with respect to the modern day requirement.

After the first match, we had a discussion about the kind of cricket we wanted to play, after that we changed our way and style of playing, But it depends on what the situation demands and that needs to be kept in mind as well.

You can't always keep on blindly slogging. People want us to keep on hitting sixes and fours only but singles and doubles matter just as much.

For instance, if the asking rate is around 12-13, you can achieve the target by hitting boundaries now and then and maintaining running between the wickets as well.

So I think this is an efficient plan on which we have been working for quite some time now and in the previous series we got the reward after executing this plan.

Such things of course take time, but once you have achieved them, they give you a lot of confidence."
 
Babar Azam's Pre-Match press conference today at Leeds :

"Look, we have changed our mindset with respect to the modern day requirement.

After the first match, we had a discussion about the kind of cricket we wanted to play, after that we changed our way and style of playing, But it depends on what the situation demands and that needs to be kept in mind as well.

You can't always keep on blindly slogging. People want us to keep on hitting sixes and fours only but singles and doubles matter just as much.

For instance, if the asking rate is around 12-13, you can achieve the target by hitting boundaries now and then and maintaining running between the wickets as well.

So I think this is an efficient plan on which we have been working for quite some time now and in the previous series we got the reward after executing this plan.

Such things of course take time, but once you have achieved them, they give you a lot of confidence."
So the king admits he wasn't playing modern day cricket and was poor with strike rate and now he will change his style of playing?

So wth babar fans been defending for the past 4 years?
 
Stop worrying about the people captain. Some people will find faults in every move you make.
Just keep your head down and focus on your game and what can be done to make Pakistan a better side.
 
Stop worrying about the people captain. Some people will find faults in every move you make.
Just keep your head down and focus on your game and what can be done to make Pakistan a better side.
Yes,

And remove Rizwan the fraud T20 opener and play Fakhar in his natural position.
 
Babar Azam's Pre-Match press conference today at Leeds :



You can't always keep on blindly slogging. People want us to keep on hitting sixes and fours only but singles and doubles matter just as much.
Then why did you let Asif Ali play for so long
 
Yes,

And remove Rizwan the fraud T20 opener and play Fakhar in his natural position.
Don't give up on Saim so easily. Few days back he was your man to replace Rizwan. Now it's Fakhar whereas Fakhar himself seems very comfortable at 4.
Back Saim and then hope someone else comes along and blasts the best oppositions in the world striking at 200 per hundred balls. That way Rizwan might lose his place in the side.
A distant dream but not impossible
 
Don't give up on Saim so easily. Few days back he was your man to replace Rizwan. Now it's Fakhar whereas Fakhar himself seems very comfortable at 4.
Back Saim and then hope someone else comes along and blasts the best oppositions in the world striking at 200 per hundred balls. That way Rizwan might lose his place in the side.
A distant dream but not impossible
Fakhar was pretty bad in 2024 PSL, but even when he did pretty well like in 2023 PSL his average SR during the power play was around 128. Not the guy you would want to open with, especially he is doing pretty well at number 4.
 
“After the first match, we had a discussion about the kind of cricket we wanted to play” Discussion should have taken place 3 years ago.
 
LOL another epic statement by captain fantastic. How does he expect Azam take a quick single or turn 1 into 2?

Like seriously, how?

Also he (Babar) developed a tummy himself. Like always, talking and more talking.
 
Don't give up on Saim so easily. Few days back he was your man to replace Rizwan. Now it's Fakhar whereas Fakhar himself seems very comfortable at 4.
Back Saim and then hope someone else comes along and blasts the best oppositions in the world striking at 200 per hundred balls. That way Rizwan might lose his place in the side.
A distant dream but not impossible
Why is it that no one laughs at your jokes? Why do you have a very poor sense of humour?
 
Definitely, singles and doubles are important but in T20 cricket, you must hit 1-2 boundaries almost in every over to post a winning total on board.
 
Babar Azam's Pre-Match press conference today at Leeds :

"Look, we have changed our mindset with respect to the modern day requirement.

After the first match, we had a discussion about the kind of cricket we wanted to play, after that we changed our way and style of playing, But it depends on what the situation demands and that needs to be kept in mind as well.

You can't always keep on blindly slogging. People want us to keep on hitting sixes and fours only but singles and doubles matter just as much.

For instance, if the asking rate is around 12-13, you can achieve the target by hitting boundaries now and then and maintaining running between the wickets as well.

So I think this is an efficient plan on which we have been working for quite some time now and in the previous series we got the reward after executing this plan.

Such things of course take time, but once you have achieved them, they give you a lot of confidence."
If the asking rate is around 12-13 you can achieve the target by hitting boundaries now and then and maintaining running between the wickets?

What does he mean by now and then? If the rr Is 12 to 13, you have to hit atleast 2 boundaries every over? Theirs no way you can keep taking doubles each delivery lol? In fact typically you need to focus on atleast one 20 to 25 run over since the goal needs to be to bring the RR down to loosen the pressure. Its extremly difficult and risky to keep playing at 12 to 13 and chase 13 or 12 in the last over especially with wickets falling down.

So I think this is an efficient plan on which we have been working for quite some time now and in the previous series we got the reward after executing this plan.

Huh? No you didn't, nothing got solved. The fielding was still garbage, the captaincy was horrible, the bowling was poor and the batting isn't solved with saim being a walking wicket, and ba/riz getting exposed due to limited play.

Rizwan being a legside hack is worrying since it makes him limited. How do you go from striking over 200+ aka 32 of 12 and finish at 58 of 38? Like bro how did rizwan make 24 of 28 deliveries after getting a quick fire start and settling in?

That's the issue, Babar being limited against spin and rizwan getting exposed to quality bowlers who just pitch away from his body causes them to slow down.

Their slow in pp from overs 1 to 6, then even slower from 7-15, and while Bobby increases to 200+ from overs 16-20, how won't reach that far against any top side.
 
Statements like these really reflect the mindset in Pakistan cricket which I feel is somehow always years behind where it should be. Sixes absolutely matter more in T20s and if you say otherwise you're a liar.

It's like in the NBA when teams started embracing a more fast-paced style of play...they quickly realized that scoring 3 pointers was far more effective than scoring 2 pointers, which you should only try to score on lay-ups.

One of the most stunning examples of this in cricket was the 2016 World Cup semi-final. In that match India scored 192, which is a pretty good total in any T20 match. let alone a World Cup semi-final. But India only hit 4 sixes in their entire innings. West Indies chased it down with 2 balls to spare in an innings where they smashed 11 sixes. And that quite simply ended up being the difference between the two teams that night. And this was 8 years ago.

Teams like Pakistan really need to start thinking of this format in that light or they will get left behind. Its not even rocket science, its common sense. You score more runs through sixes than you do through fours, doubles and singles. I can understand someone being honest and saying that we don't have enough players who can play like that, but what Babar is saying is intellectually dishonest, especially for a player of caliber who plays the game at such a high level.
 
This team is the pits with likes of azam ifty.. don’t blame top coaches like Kirsten Gillespie when the hell hits the fan in the next few weeks !
 
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If your idea of efficiency is aiming for 170 then you're out of whack. The scales are already so heavily tilted in the batter's favor. The bowlers have to execute every single plan to perfection to bowl a great spell. Even a minor mistake or two and they get smashed and their figures are ruined. Sometimes bowling a great spell isn't even about taking wickets, its about bowling dot balls. Babar may be a great batter, but these kind of statements really expose how he thinks about the game.

The idea of efficiency in T20 cricket only applies to bowlers who sometimes have to be more efficient in regards to controlling runs. As a batter it does not matter if you are middling the ball every time. Its all about scoring runs at a fast-pace.
 
“After the first match, we had a discussion about the kind of cricket we wanted to play” Discussion should have taken place 3 years ago.
Babar fans need to answer this. According to them everything was perfect and everyone other than Babar and rizwan are the problem

But it took the captain 4 years to decide what sort of cricket he needs to play

Too busy eating biryani and cakes and showing off on social media
 
Still talking about “singles and doubles” means the mindset hasn’t changed at all.

and they talk about singles and doubles as if they are the kings at it. They still consume dot balls, and not only that they are not exactly the best runners between the wickets too.

Another dumbo statement
 
Lookw like babar has copied the statement from the kohli klrahul t20 handbook- 1s 2s still vital & strike rate is overrated nonsense. Modern t20 game- you have to go from ball one - and frequent 6a have to be hit. One 6 is 6 singles - thats 6 balls wasted for the singles. The T20 game has changed forever
 
Pretty old stuff said by Babar again. Not sure why he comes out for a presser when he has to say the same thing over and over again. Still talking about singles are important. I mean, what? singles are important but not more important when 12-13 and over is required and you cannot hit sixes then. Singles won't win you any games if the scores you are chasing is in excess of 200+.
 
Stop trolling your king. :babar

The knowledge shared by him above is invaluable.

Looking at these statements it seems Bobby is more suited for the role of coach/tactician than skipper/batter.

Retire him already and hire him as coach/tactician of Pak team. :inti
 
I mean seriously - this type of advice, a coach gives you when you are a child. “Singles, doubles are important”. It’s as fundamental as “get on the front foot to play a ball pitched up”.

Why even mention it - there are many things that should be a given.

He is just trying to justify his nonsense way of batting.

Do you think anyone would criticise him if we were chasing 120 and he played “singles and doubles”? In fact a lot of fans would say for this match just take your time, no need to take risks.

The problem is, rarely do you get the opportunity to chase 120 odd.

And what happens when you bat first? Do you look for 120-160 to start with?
 
I mean seriously - this type of advice, a coach gives you when you are a child. “Singles, doubles are important”. It’s as fundamental as “get on the front foot to play a ball pitched up”.

Why even mention it - there are many things that should be a given.

He is just trying to justify his nonsense way of batting.

Do you think anyone would criticise him if we were chasing 120 and he played “singles and doubles”? In fact a lot of fans would say for this match just take your time, no need to take risks.

The problem is, rarely do you get the opportunity to chase 120 odd.

And what happens when you bat first? Do you look for 120-160 to start with?
Babar does, par score is 160 or 180 on every single ground in the world for him add 280 in odis I've never ever heard him give any different figures
 
He won't be able to please anybody. People will never be satisfied. BTW babar should make this nation happy by winning this world cup.
People will be happy when Babar starts winning games for his team. Nobody cares if Babar or Rizwan scores a 50; only their fans do, so they can glorify them. Most people are fans of Pakistan and want Pakistan to win.
 
Simplistic logics by our simple Pakistani cricket brethren.

World cricket is talking about new batting and bowling inventions and innovations, and here we are giving our ground-breaking pathological insights on importance of boundaries and singles/doubles when scoring at 12 rpo.

Obviously, we don't have the IQ to put together even one meaningful statement, so I would refrain our players from giving media statements.
 
Oh God. Rabb please help Pakistan cricket.
Yeh toh soch hai team ke captain ki.

How are they gonna progress with this guy as the captain...

If I were chairman I would sack this guy just for thinking like this.
 
Singles and doubles are only appreciated in t20s if you are chasing a total and the run rate is under control.

Apart from that you got to play every ball with the mentality of hitting a boundary, especially when you are setting totals.
 
You can’t see Kirsten’s face clearly but from this angle, it feels as if he is regretting taking this job having spoken to this guy.
He looks disappointed at babar lol

Kirsten probably fell for Babar stats everyone keeps posting here and now realised how misleading they are.

I can see a babar vs kirsten coming soon

Managment taking babars side and sacking kirsten after the worldcup
 
Thank God he didn’t threaten to use a rocket launcher instead of a cricket bat in order to show positive intent
Bro i don't get what babar means if the rr is 12 to 13, we will hit a boundary here and their and take singles and doubles?

If the rr is 12, you need a massive 20 run over atleast to bring it down.

Rr of 12 means atleast 2 boundaries need to be HIT per over. That's impossible against quality bowling so it's better to target the weak bowler, Get that massive 25 run over, bring the rr down to 8-9 ans take your side home
 
Raat, Din, Jeet haar, sardi, garmi and now single double.

Babar is just expanding on the successful Quadrat Ka Nizam formula.
 
Bro i don't get what babar means if the rr is 12 to 13, we will hit a boundary here and their and take singles and doubles?

If the rr is 12, you need a massive 20 run over atleast to bring it down.

Rr of 12 means atleast 2 boundaries need to be HIT per over. That's impossible against quality bowling so it's better to target the weak bowler, Get that massive 25 run over, bring the rr down to 8-9 ans take your side home
Guy has entered the KL Rahul zone.

Soon, he will be out of his depth with the B.S
 
Bro i don't get what babar means if the rr is 12 to 13, we will hit a boundary here and their and take singles and doubles?

If the rr is 12, you need a massive 20 run over atleast to bring it down.

Rr of 12 means atleast 2 boundaries need to be HIT per over. That's impossible against quality bowling so it's better to target the weak bowler, Get that massive 25 run over, bring the rr down to 8-9 ans take your side home

This has always been the issue: Babar and Rizwan prefer to play it safe for the first 14 overs, leaving it to players like Shadab, Nawaz, and Chacha to go all out and try to catch up in the remaining overs. I would even go so far as to say that Babar likely told them their place on the team depends on cleaning up the mess made by him and Rizwan.

babar will destroy saim and fakhar if they don't play according to him. babar alone is responsible for wasting so many talented players in pakistan

even muhammed harris said something along these lines recently that how babar and rizwan make it so difficult for players to bat at number 5

don't think we will see muhammed harris in the team anytime soon after this comment
 
This has always been the issue: Babar and Rizwan prefer to play it safe for the first 14 overs, leaving it to players like Shadab, Nawaz, and Chacha to go all out and try to catch up in the remaining overs. I would even go so far as to say that Babar likely told them their place on the team depends on cleaning up the mess made by him and Rizwan.

babar will destroy saim and fakhar if they don't play according to him. babar alone is responsible for wasting so many talented players in pakistan

even muhammed harris said something along these lines recently that how babar and rizwan make it so difficult for players to bat at number 5

don't think we will see muhammed harris in the team anytime soon after this comment
Sarfi's team whitewashed a half strength Australia in t20 that granted had b string players, also had finch, maxwell stones etc. That Australia team would murder the c team NZ team and the Irish team that Pakistan drew and managed to scrap a 2-1 victory.

This is what happens when you have a captain and wahab riaz and saya or whatever who creates a conflict of interest team, where everyone's roles are to bat around babar and rizwan rather then contribute and gell a team where everyone's roles are understood.

Seriously what Is everyone's role in this t20 team? No seriously what is it?

1) What is rizwan's role as an opener? What's his purpose? Traditionally a t20 opener needs to utilise the PP, what exactly is Rizwan's role at opening? Is it to bat through the innings? Okay bat through and do what? What's the sr and what's the contribution?

2) What is saim's role? Is his role to provide a quick fire start? Is his role to bat through? Babar said we expect saim to hit 80 of 5 overs? Okay well what's the contingency plan if he gets out and ba/riz must bat now? What's plan B?

3) What's babar role? Is it the same as rizwan? To bat through? Again how does that help you if saim fails? Even if saim succeeds doesn't batting through just destroy the hard work?

4) What even if fakhar's role? Seriously what is it? He's not a quick fire player, he's a big innings player who needs as many balls as possible? So what is his role at no 4?

5) What is shadab's role? If he a bowling allrounder? Batting allrounder? What is it? Sometimes he doesn't even bowl at all? Is his role to provide quick fire hitting since he has a 19 avg only and can't bat more them 2 to 3 overs? Okay then why is he at 5 and not 7/8?

6) What is chacha's role? Is he a finisher with 127 sr? Or is he an anchorer? Or is he another shadab esc allrounder?

7) What is imad's role? He's a finisher with the bat but what's his role qith tye ball? Is he a pp bowler? A middle over spin wicket taker? An economy bowler? What is Bobby's plan to utilise him?

what about abass afridi, abass is a 7-15 over bowler so what's the point of bowling him in PP and death?

It seems besides shaheen and the new ball bowlers no one's role is clear.

Same qith usman khan? What role is he playing?

With sarfi it was Fakhar, Hafeez and everyone goes bang bang with only babar anchoring and batting through to avoid a collapse.

Now what is everyone's role in this new team?
 
Bro i don't get what babar means if the rr is 12 to 13, we will hit a boundary here and their and take singles and doubles?

If the rr is 12, you need a massive 20 run over atleast to bring it down.

Rr of 12 means atleast 2 boundaries need to be HIT per over. That's impossible against quality bowling so it's better to target the weak bowler, Get that massive 25 run over, bring the rr down to 8-9 ans take your side home
Exactly - and moreover, this guy is talking about discussing “what brand of cricket we want to play”. You are still discussing this after all this time?

You’ve been captain for 5 years, what have you been discussing? Cake mixing ratios?

And even then, what is there to even discuss with T20s? T20 is a dumb game. It gives you certain things for free - e.g. the brand of cricket you should play! Also, the types of players you need! T20 was created to play a specific brand of cricket - attack, attack, attack!

In just in awe of how dumb they can get
 
Exactly - and moreover, this guy is talking about discussing “what brand of cricket we want to play”. You are still discussing this after all this time?

You’ve been captain for 5 years, what have you been discussing? Cake mixing ratios?

And even then, what is there to even discuss with T20s? T20 is a dumb game. It gives you certain things for free - e.g. the brand of cricket you should play! Also, the types of players you need! T20 was created to play a specific brand of cricket - attack, attack, attack!

In just in awe of how dumb they can get
Every brand of cricket needs to be aggressive irrespective of format.

Even in test you need be aggressive albeit not in the t20 sense to attack but in the sense that you need to be tactically on your feet 24/7.

This interview is just an excuse and translates to : I will play however I want, stop critising me.
 
Thank God he didn’t threaten to use a rocket launcher instead of a cricket bat in order to show positive intent
U can expect such an anwer from him in next press conference after a defeat because he usually doesnt think before speaking.
 
Yep you do need singles and doubles but after hitting a boundary every over not after 10 or more balls.
 
He plays his friends no matter how bad they are in batting and bowling. It’s seems like the opposition should have a really bad day for Pakistan to make progress, even then top teams try to thrive the bad phase and emerge victorious

Pak vs Aus semi 2021
Ind vs Pak league game in 2022
Pak vs Eng 2022 final.
 
Sarfi's team whitewashed a half strength Australia in t20 that granted had b string players, also had finch, maxwell stones etc. That Australia team would murder the c team NZ team and the Irish team that Pakistan drew and managed to scrap a 2-1 victory.

This is what happens when you have a captain and wahab riaz and saya or whatever who creates a conflict of interest team, where everyone's roles are to bat around babar and rizwan rather then contribute and gell a team where everyone's roles are understood.

Seriously what Is everyone's role in this t20 team? No seriously what is it?

1) What is rizwan's role as an opener? What's his purpose? Traditionally a t20 opener needs to utilise the PP, what exactly is Rizwan's role at opening? Is it to bat through the innings? Okay bat through and do what? What's the sr and what's the contribution?

2) What is saim's role? Is his role to provide a quick fire start? Is his role to bat through? Babar said we expect saim to hit 80 of 5 overs? Okay well what's the contingency plan if he gets out and ba/riz must bat now? What's plan B?

3) What's babar role? Is it the same as rizwan? To bat through? Again how does that help you if saim fails? Even if saim succeeds doesn't batting through just destroy the hard work?

4) What even if fakhar's role? Seriously what is it? He's not a quick fire player, he's a big innings player who needs as many balls as possible? So what is his role at no 4?

5) What is shadab's role? If he a bowling allrounder? Batting allrounder? What is it? Sometimes he doesn't even bowl at all? Is his role to provide quick fire hitting since he has a 19 avg only and can't bat more them 2 to 3 overs? Okay then why is he at 5 and not 7/8?

6) What is chacha's role? Is he a finisher with 127 sr? Or is he an anchorer? Or is he another shadab esc allrounder?

7) What is imad's role? He's a finisher with the bat but what's his role qith tye ball? Is he a pp bowler? A middle over spin wicket taker? An economy bowler? What is Bobby's plan to utilise him?

what about abass afridi, abass is a 7-15 over bowler so what's the point of bowling him in PP and death?

It seems besides shaheen and the new ball bowlers no one's role is clear.

Same qith usman khan? What role is he playing?

With sarfi it was Fakhar, Hafeez and everyone goes bang bang with only babar anchoring and batting through to avoid a collapse.

Now what is everyone's role in this new team?


Answers for these can be expected from a professional team that is serious about their cricket.

Least expectation for me from this unit.I’m expecting Pakistan go out early

I think 🤔 this usual thing to happen which is they will lose against USA, fight to win against Ireland , lose comprehensively against India and win comfortably against Canada and then wait for Ireland to beat USA in a way Pak to sneak through it has been such ICC tournaments since 2019 except 2021 which was propelled by their 10 wicket thumping win against India.
 
Babar and his “definitely, bilkul”…..”Singaaal, Dubbaaal”

What an embarrassment. Who talks about 1s and 2s when discussing t20s.

I think Pak fans need to accept that babar is a poor player in every format.

You’d think that someone with such a poor strike rate in t20s would be better in the longer formats

ODIs - outside bilaterals is a walking wicket as he proved in the World Cup.

Tests - apart from the odd century, his recent performances have been very poor. Was a bunny down under.

It’s getting to the point where he’s becoming more detrimental to pak cricket than Misbah was. And that’s saying something
 
I think Pak fans need to accept that babar is a poor player in every format.

You’d think that someone with such a poor strike rate in t20s would be better in the longer formats

ODIs - outside bilaterals is a walking wicket as he proved in the World Cup.

How??

He has played 2 odi world cups and was the top scorer in one of them.

babar was top scorer for Pakistan in 2019 world cup, but his 2023 stint was bad.

He is not bad in odis as you said.
 
How??

He has played 2 odi world cups and was the top scorer in one of them.

babar was top scorer for Pakistan in 2019 world cup, but his 2023 stint was bad.

He is not bad in odis as you said.
That was 5 years ago. Was he a good player a few years ago? Yes.

Is he good now? no.

We need to stop this hero worship and get back to reality.

Babar has ability no doubt. But his selfish nature and mental weakness that has taken hold of him last few years has finished him. He had the perfect opportunity after the World Cup with the removal of the captaincy burden to go back to basics and work on his batting, but he spent his time scheming away to get the captaincy back and find a way for him and bff Rizwan back opening.

The guy has become a cancer to pak cricket.
 
Babar bhai this is a T20 cricket and ur philosphy of singles and doubles is better suited for ODI cricket so plz dont try to hide behind the tuk tuk mentality
 
How??

He has played 2 odi world cups and was the top scorer in one of them.

babar was top scorer for Pakistan in 2019 world cup, but his 2023 stint was bad.

He is not bad in odis as you said.
In the same way I as an aussie fan have to accept that Steve Smith is a poor white ball player and tbh, his red ball skills are also dwindling now.

People cant keep living in the past. For whatever reason babar was beyond bad in 2022, afterwards in 2023 despite playing against a c string NZ on a pindi pitch, he wasn't all that great, Scoring a century and averaging 55 may not look bad on paper however in that series he was getting out on soft dismissals and clearly struggling against spinners and pacers, You know you're in hot water when chacha is striking it better then you are.

Same with Nepal.

He ended up getting exposed in asia cup and world cup eventually when you realised that he was basically just a labu type batter who's max limit was hitting a 50 of 75 against good pacers and quakity spinners.

In 2024 he hasn't been great at opening and has been downright awful. His best scores have come at no 3 but even then his best performances being against Ireland don't inspire confidence.

It's just atm he's lucky in that compared to shadab, Azam, Chacha and saim babar is a million dollar fortune. Fakhar is inconsistent and only outshines everyone on his day and finally rizwan the one dude who was consistently better then Bobby 4 tournaments in a row and since 2022 has been superior, his form has dwindled as well, the 2023 legside drama he was pulling has come to an end
 
People want u not to lose to Zimbabwe and Afghanistan in WT20 and Worldcups

Also to Ireland. Fans want you to win matches against top teams , atleast try to match with them play competitive cricket instead of chickening out every game.
 
Then win games hitting singles and doubles.

If you're losing so much maybe the "people" are right.
 
but here they are even worst in taking singles and doubles all they just know tapping the ball right on their feet.
 
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