What's new

[PICTURES] How to turn Babar Azam into a match winner?

Farabi said:
Yup. Babar is a better batter than anyone in India’s test and ODI teams bar Rohit and Kohli, who are also past their prime. There are some promising prospects but no one mature enough to carry the team.
Click to expand...
Sneaky extrapolation. He is a #3 batter. There is no evidence he is better than other batters either.
 
He is 30 plus and not that good to begin with. Massive, massive hype. He never even in his so called prime was able to dominate or win crunch games.

The biggest example of the downfall (Pak cricket) is Babar Azam.
 
He is a stat padder but he hasn’t got the ability nor the mentality to be a match winner.

If he was a match winner, he would have made a 100 here but he was mentally satisfied after making a 50. In hindsight, Babar has been a big disappointment.
 
Mesozoic said:
Even Jaiswal defecates all over Babar on current form.

Babar was literally dropped for a home series due to his pathetic form , now brought back and got out for 4 again. :ROFLMAO:

Last time Babar actually played a memorable knock in ODIs or Tests was in 2022 in the Galle Test against Sri Lanka. since then , it has only been either failures or bullying non serious bowling attacks on cement highways in Karachi/Pindi. His fans will try desperately to prove otherwise but deep inside...they know.
Click to expand...
Exactly, Indians should focus on surpassing Travis head who is better then everyone in India atm. Not crap like bobby
 
I am a big Babar fan but this was truly dreadful. He had done the hard work but thought 50 was enough. Poor thinking and poor execution
 
Still a fan of Babar Azam, but it seems just like his Akmal cousins: very gifted but not the mental toughness to grind out extreme conditions. Either its his way or the highway.

Also wonder how much of his technique has been changed in order to improve as a T20 batsman. I remember a few years back Simon Doull criticizing Babar for not being attacking enough in the T20 format and since then Babar has totally lost it against better attacks negating any movement off the wicket. Did he change his batting stance or technique in order to become more effective in the T20 format?
 
SpiritOf1903 said:
He obviously was. Pakistani cricketers get chewed up by the pressure.

Rest of world already employs them meanwhile Pakistan is in dark age
Click to expand...
When did he ever dominate TEST cricket?
Which big 100s did he score to win Pak TEST matches.

What has he done in SENA?
 
saimayubera said:
From the times of "the fab 5" to being better than KL lol.

Like I said, KL himself is not that good of a player. Just a decent player with a purple patch (sort of like Murali Vijay/Gambhir etc who were world class for 4-5 years).

Being better than him is no barometer of a great batsman. But Babar isn't even better than him now. It's not like he is a kid. He's already 30.

Pant is a WK-batsman and has already achieved a lot in red ball cricket. Don't know if Babar ever will achieve those things. Pant is also 3 years younger than Babar.
Click to expand...
We will see in 5 years.
Yeah expectations are mad from this guy. Hes not allowed to fail.
He scores a 50 in a minefield today. He’s castigated. Expectation is always a 100.
Had this same inning came from anyone else in this team, people would have been singing praises
 
saimayubera said:
From the times of "the fab 5" to being better than KL lol.

Like I said, KL himself is not that good of a player. Just a decent player with a purple patch (sort of like Murali Vijay/Gambhir etc who were world class for 4-5 years).

Being better than him is no barometer of a great batsman. But Babar isn't even better than him now. It's not like he is a kid. He's already 30.

Pant is a WK-batsman and has already achieved a lot in red ball cricket. Don't know if Babar ever will achieve those things. Pant is also 3 years younger than Babar.
Click to expand...
I still think he will be in “fab 5”. I think there is another peak to come when he around 33-35
 
Farabi said:
We will see in 5 years.
Yeah expectations are mad from this guy. Hes not allowed to fail.
He scores a 50 in a minefield today. He’s castigated. Expectation is always a 100.
Had this same inning came from anyone else in this team, people would have been singing praises
Click to expand...
LOL
55 Test matches, what has he achieved?
 
The second Innings dismisal was beyond pathetic and he literally brought South Africa back in to the game.
 
Babar was never an exceptional talent. He had good form which he exploited against weak opposition. He started failing when he started believing in his own hype that he was second coming of Lara. Now that he has been brought down to earth and lost influence on the team, he needs to work on his confidence and conditioning to play long and composed innings. Test cricket is not for players that lose concentration easily after spending time on the field. Someone like Younis Khan should work with him to develop that attitude in him.
 
Babar has an average of 43.5 in test cricket. That doesn't make him a great player in his own country, let alone in the world, at least in test matches.

His best claim could have been as a game changer - with impactful knocks. But sadly, there aren't many to count.

Screenshot 2024-12-28 at 21.33.26.png
 
Hellion said:
Sneaky extrapolation. He is a #3 batter. There is no evidence he is better than other batters either.
Click to expand...
A batter who is only 1 of 2 batters to reach a 50 is labeled a “failure”. That itself shows how highly he’s rated.
If anyone else scored a 50, there would be threads on singing praises.
 
Corridor of Uncertainty said:
Babar has an average of 43.5 in test cricket. That doesn't make him a great player in his own country, let alone in the world, at least in test matches.

His best claim could have been as a game changer - with impactful knocks. But sadly, there aren't many to count.

View attachment 149034
Click to expand...
Average of 43.5 after 56 tests are very very good numbers. Not elite but still very good.
He is already in company of S Malik, Mohammed brothers, and Zaheer Abbas, who are regarded as great players of their time.

Your data is off btw. Can you put minimum cutoff of 1000 runs because you have Zulqarnain Haider in the list as a tailender.
 
Farabi said:
Average of 43.5 after 56 tests are very very good numbers. Not elite but still very good.
He is already in company of S Malik, Mohammed brothers, and Zaheer Abbas, who are regarded as great players of their time.

Your data is off btw. Can you put minimum cutoff of 1000 runs because you have Zulqarnain Haider in the list as a tailender.
Click to expand...
Average of 43.5 is poor for someone who is meant to be an elite batsman. Average of 43.5 puts Babar at least 2-3 tiers below elite level. He is just an okay test batsman.
 
Farabi said:
Average of 43.5 after 56 tests are very very good numbers. Not elite but still very good.
He is already in company of S Malik, Mohammed brothers, and Zaheer Abbas, who are regarded as great players of their time.

Your data is off btw. Can you put minimum cutoff of 1000 runs because you have Zulqarnain Haider in the list as a tailender.
Click to expand...
It puts him on Ian Bell, Azhar Ali, level of players.
 
The_KING said:
Average of 43.5 is poor for someone who is meant to be an elite batsman. Average of 43.5 puts Babar at least 2-3 tiers below elite level. He is just an okay test batsman.
Click to expand...
You didn’t understand. What does this mean “poor for someone who is meant to be elite”.

For middle order:
50+ GOAT
45-50 Elite
40-45 Very Good
 
Farabi said:
And they were pretty good test players.
Click to expand...
Yeh he's at that level for now and falling fast. Pretty good level is fair assessment. Not very good, not great, and far from elite. Bell probs played on less phattas to boost his average too.

It's a shame to see how far he has fallen.

From fab 4 successor to Azhar Ali successor.

Next tier is Asad Shafiq :(
 
DeadlyVenom said:
Yeh he's at that level for now and falling fast. Pretty good level is fair assessment. Not very good, not great, and far from elite. Bell probs played on less phattas to boost his average too.

It's a shame to see how far he has fallen.

From fab 4 successor to Azhar Ali successor.

Next tier is Asad Shafiq :(
Click to expand...
I don’t know what world you live in, but playing 50 tests in itself is usually an achievement. It’s a very hard level. Azhar Ali and Ian Bell were solid test batters. Top teams maybe have 2-3 of that quality.

We can comment on what’s in front of us, it can drop even more to “Asad Shafique” level or it can go up further and get to “Elite” level. He’s 30 and maybe there is another peak there? A lot of players maxed out later.

Where Babar does have a leg up on so called “Fab 4” is that none of them bar Kohli had meaningful ODI careers. It’s in this format, Babar shines.
 
Farabi said:
I don’t know what world you live in, but playing 50 tests in itself is usually an achievement. It’s a very hard level. Azhar Ali and Ian Bell were solid test batters. Top teams maybe have 2-3 of that quality.

We can comment on what’s in front of us, it can drop even more to “Asad Shafique” level or it can go up further and get to “Elite” level. He’s 30 and maybe there is another peak there? A lot of players maxed out later.

Where Babar does have a leg up on so called “Fab 4” is that none of them bar Kohli had meaningful ODI careers. It’s in this format, Babar shines.
Click to expand...
Azhar and Ian will become mere footnotes in the history of cricket. It is a good level I agree but bar appeared like he would stand amongst the greats and to see this decline is disheartening as a Pak fan who wanted to see him rise to the top.

His ODI career is ok bro he needs a major tournament under his belt where he really shines. He has flopped this so far. Hopefully he can deliver a champions trophy at home.
 
DeadlyVenom said:
Azhar and Ian will become mere footnotes in the history of cricket. It is a good level I agree but bar appeared like he would stand amongst the greats and to see this decline is disheartening as a Pak fan who wanted to see him rise to the top.

His ODI career is ok bro he needs a major tournament under his belt where he really shines. He has flopped this so far. Hopefully he can deliver a champions trophy at home.
Click to expand...
I agree. I thought he’d be peaking now and his average would remain over 50. The fall is alarming.

But hey he’s only 30. If he gets out of this rut, there is no stopping him from here. Bookmark it. Save it. If he gets going again, he’s going to end his career at a high.

And I think he will. The output is shanty but skill is there. The technique is there. He will come good.

All great players have had bad patches. Inzi often quips about his 2003 WC performance when he made less than runs than the weight he lost. He was dropped and he seemed to be losing the edge. Then suddenly in 2004 he turned it around again and we saw a second peak.

Cricket is funny game. Sit back and watch.
 
Farabi said:
You didn’t understand. What does this mean “poor for someone who is meant to be elite”.

For middle order:
50+ GOAT
45-50 Elite
40-45 Very Good
Click to expand...
In this era, where most pitches don't have much for the bowlers, batsman have advantage of bigger bats and boundary sizes are typically small, an average of 43.5 isn't good enough for someone who is meant to be some elite level batsman, according to some delusional fans. If Babar was as good as some of his fans make him out to be, he would have a test average of at least 47.
 
The_KING said:
In this era, where most pitches don't have much for the bowlers, batsman have advantage of bigger bats and boundary sizes are typically small, an average of 43.5 isn't good enough for someone who is meant to be some elite level batsman, according to some delusional fans. If Babar was as good as some of his fans make him out to be, he would have a test average of at least 47.
Click to expand...
Do you have any data that shows test averages have inflated? The data repeatedly shows that test batting numbers have been lower than before.
You seem to be confusing formats. White ball cricket has messed up red ball batting techniques royally
 
DeadlyVenom said:
Yeh he's at that level for now and falling fast. Pretty good level is fair assessment. Not very good, not great, and far from elite. Bell probs played on less phattas to boost his average too.

It's a shame to see how far he has fallen.

From fab 4 successor to Azhar Ali successor.

Next tier is Asad Shafiq :(
Click to expand...
Azhar Ali has 19 test centuries including a triple century + double century in aus.

He's played far more crucial knocks then Babar has in his test career. Azhar is well ahead of Babar atm.
 
Average of 43.5 is fine in it's own right but the trend with Babar is very concerning. For example: The mighty Kallis was averaging 41 after 50 tests but that was due to a horrid start. He was on an upward curve and kept getting better.

Babar has regressed. He does not grit it out like Younis or Chanderpaul. Flashy and little substance. He is 30 and time is running away fast.
 
Babar has 4k runs at 43.
There are 33 batsmen with 8000 runs at 44+.
Another 28 between 5k-8k runs at 44+

As of today, he would struggle to make it to the list of top 75 test batsmen. That is terrible for a man who was once tipped to be the best of a generation.
 
Farabi said:
Average of 43.5 after 56 tests are very very good numbers. Not elite but still very good.
He is already in company of S Malik, Mohammed brothers, and Zaheer Abbas, who are regarded as great players of their time.

Your data is off btw. Can you put minimum cutoff of 1000 runs because you have Zulqarnain Haider in the list as a tailender.
Click to expand...
LOL at very good numbers.
DTrump said:
Average of 43.5 is fine in it's own right but the trend with Babar is very concerning. For example: The mighty Kallis was averaging 41 after 50 tests but that was due to a horrid start. He was on an upward curve and kept getting better.

Babar has regressed. He does not grit it out like Younis or Chanderpaul. Flashy and little substance. He is 30 and time is running away fast.
Click to expand...
43 is really nothing special in the current era. Also his average is going south very quick.

Forget the numbers, talk about impact. Well over 50 Tests and which big series/matches has he won for Pak?
 
pakistani pride said:
LOL at very good numbers.

43 is really nothing special in the current era. Also his average is going south very quick.

Forget the numbers, talk about impact. Well over 50 Tests and which big series/matches has he won for Pak?
Click to expand...
Yeah. Team game and all that but he has very few standout performances. That Sri Lanka 100 is probably his finest hour.

As things stand, he is just a run of the mill batsman.
 
pakistani pride said:
LOL at very good numbers.

43 is really nothing special in the current era. Also his average is going south very quick.

Forget the numbers, talk about impact. Well over 50 Tests and which big series/matches has he won for Pak?
Click to expand...
What do you mean “current era”. Have any data?
 
This is a pitch that has been a nightmare for both sides.
Babar’s 50 and Saud’s 80 are Supermen efforts here. Yes they could have been centuries, but SA should not be 99/7 either right. It’s their home ground and they are a table top team. Cricket is not a 1 dimensional sport.
 
Farabi said:
Do you have any data that shows test averages have inflated? The data repeatedly shows that test batting numbers have been lower than before.
You seem to be confusing formats. White ball cricket has messed up red ball batting techniques royally
Click to expand...
There are still plenty of batsmen that are averaging 45+.

Babar’s average of 43.5 is poor for someone who is meant to be the premier batsman of his team. The worst part is that Babar’s average is declining. He is on course to have an average of less than 40 in test cricket.

Yes, white ball cricket has messed up red ball batting techniques, but that is Babar’s fault, for becoming a T20 mercenary and letting his technique deteriorate.
 
The_KING said:
There are still plenty of batsmen that are averaging 45+.

Babar’s average of 43.5 is poor for someone who is meant to be the premier batsman of his team. The worst part is that Babar’s average is declining. He is on course to have an average of less than 40 in test cricket.

Yes, white ball cricket has messed up red ball batting techniques, but that is Babar’s fault, for becoming a T20 mercenary and letting his technique deteriorate.
Click to expand...
You didn’t explain or provide what you mean by “current era”? Do you have data
 
Farabi said:
A batter who is only 1 of 2 batters to reach a 50 is labeled a “failure”. That itself shows how highly he’s rated.
If anyone else scored a 50, there would be threads on singing praises.
Click to expand...
That is Test cricket. Nothing to do with his ODI credentials.
 
Farabi said:
I am talking about 50 in the ongoing
test. It was a top innings on a very tricky pitch even for Saffers
Click to expand...
That's what I said. I was talking about ODI cricket . A case can be made for him as the 2nd best ODI #3 since debut.

That doesn't make him better than ODI batters who bat in other positions
 
Hellion said:
That's what I said. I was talking about ODI cricket . A case can be made for him as the 2nd best ODI #3 since debut.

That doesn't make him better than ODI batters who bat in other positions
Click to expand...
data makes the case. And data is pretty clear that he’s the second best #3 going around.
 
Farabi said:
I am talking about 50 in the ongoing
test. It was a top innings on a very tricky pitch even for Saffers
Click to expand...
You are talking as if 50 was a 100.

The fact of that matter is Babar getting out at the stage of the innings was a big reason why the lead wasn’t 200 plus, which ultimately ended up being the reason that Pakistan lost the match.

The wicket may have been tricky but the way Babar got out was unacceptable.
 
mominsaigol said:
Yes, not even joking, actually yes lol
Click to expand...
Well, I can imagine posing this question to David Gower right now and he will respond to it by saying:

“Well I suppose the best way to make Babar a match-winner for Pakistan is….by simply not playing him in the side” :ROFLMAO:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

BouncerGuy
“I do not think Babar Azam or Mohammad Rizwan can be ruled out completely”: Salman Butt
Replies
18
Views
1K
RedwoodOriginal
RedwoodOriginal
Savak
  • Poll Poll
Who is a more mentally tough and resilient cricketer? Babar Azam or Mohammad Rizwan?
Replies
62
Views
3K
Greenstorm
Greenstorm
M
[VIDEO] PakPassion Exclusive Documentary: Babar Azam - A Decade of Promise, Sacrifice and Unfulfilled Dreams
Replies
9
Views
643
RidiculousMan
RidiculousMan
Cricket Warrior
Why is Salman Ali Agha considered a modern T20 hero compared to Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan?
2 3
Replies
187
Views
2K
Rafale Nidhal
R
emranabbas
Shadab Khan urges fans not to call Babar Azam 'King' on national TV
Replies
27
Views
2K
RizwanT20Champ
R
Back
Top