What's new

[PICTURES/VIDEOS] What now for Babar Azam?

Babar is very lucky , he is playing for Pakistan in the era where all the batsman are katchra and its a comparison of who is the least of worth as Scrap.

Babar has competition with Suad KG Rizwan Shafiq Saim Imam Azam & Fakhar and the irony is that 5 out of 8 has to play which is keeping Babar afloat
 
YousafTheBeast said:
Not a fan of Babar in T20’s but him struggling in ODI’s now will be a huge blow for Pakistan imo. If he isn’t performing then we’re going to struggle batting the full 50 overs.
Click to expand...
LOL which wins has he helped Pak in his so called ODI peak?

Check his 100 vs Aus in Aus some years ago.
 
pakistani pride said:
LOL which wins has he helped Pak in his so called ODI peak?

Check his 100 vs Aus in Aus some years ago.
Click to expand...

He’s not a match winner and he never will be, but he can still contribute in ODI’s with his run a ball 50-60’s.

His best format is ODI’s and I’d stick with him in this format only until he no longer contributes on a consistent basis.
 
Babar looked much more confident yesterday. He got out the spinner once again but was in control most of the time before that. N

If Pakistan wants to play full quota of 50 overs then Babar is the key here.
 
BouncerGuy said:
Babar looked much more confident yesterday. He got out the spinner once again but was in control most of the time before that. N

If Pakistan wants to play full quota of 50 overs then Babar is the key here.
Click to expand...
He's still a bunny to spin. Looks good against pace
 
BouncerGuy said:
Yep. The struggle against Spin is real. He was class against pace easily. Hoping to see a better job from him in the 2nd ODI
Click to expand...
The good thing is you can clearly tell odi is his favourite format and he's playing positively and looking to score.

In tests he was getting out just for the lolz and in t20 he always seems nervous and frustrated.

In odi he's alot better and actually playing positively. Infact before zampa came on, he looked like he was ready to score a massive century, Cummins and starc weren't troubling him at all. Hardie was the only pacer who somewhat troubled him.

But this positivity means nothing if zampa gets him out in his first over
 
mominsaigol said:
The good thing is you can clearly tell odi is his favourite format and he's playing positively and looking to score.

In tests he was getting out just for the lolz and in t20 he always seems nervous and frustrated.

In odi he's alot better and actually playing positively. Infact before zampa came on, he looked like he was ready to score a massive century, Cummins and starc weren't troubling him at all. Hardie was the only pacer who somewhat troubled him.

But this positivity means nothing if zampa gets him out in his first over
Click to expand...
This is true. Very True. He needs to show a bit more intent against spin if he is struggling on the back foot every time. He needs to be positive and attack.
 
If I were him, I'd immediately quit the T20 format and put all my focus on Tests, with ODI's being a distant second. You don't leave a legacy with your T20 exploits. And since he's struggling right now, he'd be better off concentrating on the other 2 formats.

But easier said than done. I can say it because I don't have a stake, and I'm an 80's kid. Modern day players don't quit the T20 format for obvious reasons. And I can't really blame them because I'm not in their shoes.​
 
Hitman said:
If I were him, I'd immediately quit the T20 format and put all my focus on Tests, with ODI's being a distant second. You don't leave a legacy with your T20 exploits. And since he's struggling right now, he'd be better off concentrating on the other 2 formats.

But easier said than done. I can say it because I don't have a stake, and I'm an 80's kid. Modern day players don't quit the T20 format for obvious reasons. And I can't really blame them because I'm not in their shoes.​
Click to expand...
Test is his worst format brother. He isn't even interested in it. T20 is another format he isn't good at.

Why not just focus on odi? He only wants to play odi?
 
mominsaigol said:
Test is his worst format brother. He isn't even interested in it. T20 is another format he isn't good at.

Why not just focus on odi? He only wants to play odi?
Click to expand...
We don't really know which format he loves the most. So far with what we have seen so far, he has been at his best in the ODI format.
 
Out of all the batters yesterday, Babar Azam looked like a million-dollar player. He faced tougher bowlers compared to Smith and Inglis, yet he appeared balanced and composed, playing his shots with remarkable ease. For a moment, it seemed he was on track to score big. His struggles against spin seem to be more mental than technical. The delivery from Zampa that dismissed him was a good ball, it skidded through and stayed low, which is something Zampa is capable of doing. However, at the end of the day, Babar missed a ball that he should have played off the front foot.

These issues can become mental, especially when a player experiences a few failures against spin; the media and fans discuss it incessantly, and players inevitably hear the noise. Babar needs to learn to block out this external noise, perhaps by deleting his online accounts or distancing himself from social media altogether.

As for Smith and Inglis, our bowlers particularly Rauf and Hasnain bowled poorly, consistently delivering short and wide balls. It should be considered a crime for an international bowler to struggle with maintaining line and length. These days, our bowlers often start at around 128 kph and gradually increase to about 135 kph(talking about Naseem and Shaheen). Instead of warming up properly before the match, they seem to prefer to find their rhythm during the game, which suggests they are overly cautious about injuries.
 
Regardless, Saeed Anwar remains the best Pakistani batmsan I've seen. But my opinion is based on how he mostly performed against us throughout the 90's. Most Pakistani fans speak of their bowling attack in the 90's, but me as an Indian fan was most intimidated by a batsman in that team, and that was him.​
 
Hitman said:
Regardless, Saeed Anwar remains the best Pakistani batmsan I've seen. But my opinion is based on how he mostly performed against us throughout the 90's. Most Pakistani fans speak of their bowling attack in the 90's, but me as an Indian fan was most intimidated by a batsman in that team, and that was him.​
Click to expand...

Inzamam?
 
Varun said:
Inzamam played a voluminous number of games (tests and ODIs) compared to Anwar though.

Even somebody like Hafeez has played as many tests as Anwar.
Click to expand...
And? Since when does a higher volume of games equate to being a better player?

By this logic shahid Afridi is top 5 greatest odi cricketers of all time?
 
Varun said:
Nope, quality over a long career also counts.

Inzamam > Anwar >>> Afridi
Click to expand...
Whatever you say bud.

Saeed Anwar was genuinely unmatched (ampung pakistani batters) and still is unmatched.

His daughters death made him lose interest in cricket which is why he retired early and why straight after his daughters death his form took a massive hit.

Depression got to him. It's not like Kohli who genuinely became rubbish over time especially in test cricket despite having no excuse to.

I don't consider saeed anwar's performance post his daughters death as a valuable metric to judge him on.

His golden years are unmatched and frankly his golden years lasted from debut till he became a berated parent.
 
mominsaigol said:
Whatever you say bud.

Saeed Anwar was genuinely unmatched (ampung pakistani batters) and still is unmatched.

His daughters death made him lose interest in cricket which is why he retired early and why straight after his daughters death his form took a massive hit.

Depression got to him. It's not like Kohli who genuinely became rubbish over time especially in test cricket despite having no excuse to.

I don't consider saeed anwar's performance post his daughters death as a valuable metric to judge him on.

His golden years are unmatched and frankly his golden years lasted from debut till he became a berated parent.
Click to expand...

The crazy thing to fathom is that Saeed Anwar's SR in ODI's was 81 (at that time). Whereas Amir Sohail was thought of being an aggressive batter when his SR was just 65 loll

Babar's sr is 89 all those years later....

Shows how ahead of his time Anwar was and how slow Babar is
 
Asad T said:
The crazy thing to fathom is that Saeed Anwar's SR in ODI's was 81 (at that time). Whereas Amir Sohail was thought of being an aggressive batter when his SR was just 65 loll

Babar's sr is 89 all those years later....

Shows how ahead of his time Anwar was and how slow Babar is
Click to expand...
Anwar is a heavily underrated batsmen mainly because Indians downplay him alot and many people use his performance post his daughters death against him.

The truth is In his prime, He's one of the best left handed batsmen of all time. At peak he's a far superior batter to Travis, Ganguly, Gayle, Sanga etc. (ODI only, Sanga is obviously > In tests)

I put him in the same class as Warner, Gilchrist, Jaysuria etc.

He's one of the classiest batters of all time and had he played in this era he'd be top 3 batters in the world atm.

People have no clue how ahead of his time he truly was, and just look at stat sheets or maybe his overseas statistics to downplay him.

Proper classy batter, and a genuine atg. For me he's the guy who virtually invented Aggressive left handed opening batting considering in his era, Aggressive batters were seen as slow for today's time.
 
Asad T said:
The crazy thing to fathom is that Saeed Anwar's SR in ODI's was 81 (at that time). Whereas Amir Sohail was thought of being an aggressive batter when his SR was just 65 loll

Babar's sr is 89 all those years later....

Shows how ahead of his time Anwar was and how slow Babar is
Click to expand...
Babar's sr is 89 all those years later....

Babar's SR drops to 70 the moment he faces good bowling. Saeed Anwar didn't have the pleasure of playing C string sri lanka series in 2018, C string aus series on pindi roads in 2019, Nepal on a curated batting paradise in 2023, a series against Zimbabwe in 2020, C string New Zealand in 2023 etc etc.

Theirs a reason why Babar has a terrible record against India, It's because India is the only team Babar has never had the luxury of playing b to C string against as India and pakistan only meet in acc or icc tournaments.

And he's that 197 against lyon is an exception. Abdullah and Imam were batting like bradman on a day 5 test pitch that day.




 
Basit Ali speaking on his YouTube Channel:

“Babar Azam looked in good form today. His way of playing was top-class. Unfortunately, he played Adam Zampa off the back foot on a ball that he should have played on the front foot. His foot movement and how hungry he was for runs were good signs."

"Our people won't be happy with 37 runs, they want Babar to score 137. Similarly, the Indian fans aren't satisfied with Virat Kohli's 70-run knock, they want 170 from him. So, this is the case with a big player that there's no value if he scores a 50."
 
BouncerGuy said:
Basit Ali speaking on his YouTube Channel:

“Babar Azam looked in good form today. His way of playing was top-class. Unfortunately, he played Adam Zampa off the back foot on a ball that he should have played on the front foot. His foot movement and how hungry he was for runs were good signs."

"Our people won't be happy with 37 runs, they want Babar to score 137. Similarly, the Indian fans aren't satisfied with Virat Kohli's 70-run knock, they want 170 from him. So, this is the case with a big player that there's no value if he scores a 50."
Click to expand...
None of that matters.

Steve smith also looked in good form. Infact he looked in terrific form against England and in terrific form against pakistan.

However none of that matters if he keeps throwing his wicket away on stupid shots and your score card ends up looking like

32 of 27, 44 of 41 etc etc.

Babar's innings is no different from Smith's innings, in that he played shots, looked good and then got out for no reason. And this is not a one off. This has been happening for 2 years.

The difference is that smith is 36 and at the end of his rope, It's highly doubtful the guy is making it past 2025 ct. His t20 career is 100% finished and odi career is finished by 2025. Only in test he'll probs continue to 2026-2027 max.

Smith in his prime has won 2 cups for his country, and given India more L's then they can count, which includes seni final in 2015 and a 62 ball 100 drubbing in 2020 which included a peak Indian bowling attack with bumrah as the main star.

Babar Azam is 30 and should be entering int9 his prime years, but instead looks like a skinny fat washed up has been and unlike smith, He hasn't won a single cup for pakistan, nor has he achieved smith level dominance. Infact Smith's favourite opposition which is India, is the very same opposition that causes Babar Azam to reflect Umar Akmal level statistics against them.
 
Saeed Anwar was a walking wicket in Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. Babar is a technically superior batsman.

I say this as someone who loved watching Saeed and also love watching Babar, but facts are facts.
 
Classy and ODI ATG Saeed Anwar averaged 24 in 71 ODIs vs Australia, South Africa and West Indies, the three best fast bowling units of his era.

He made a career out of bashing mediocre Indian, English and New Zealand attacks on flat wickets because he was also terrible on seaming New Zealand pitches against some pretty substandard bowlers who didn’t leave a name in history.

He would have been a walking against the quality of Indian bowling (Bumrah, Shami) that Babar has faced. Babar would also have dominated the Indian trundlers that Saeed Anwar dominated.

There is absolutely no way he was a better batsman than Babar. You have to be a complete helmet to argue otherwise.

There are so many nostalgia driven myths, exaggerations and fake narratives surrounding some of the former Pakistani players it is not even funny.

Players like Babar and Rizwan are amongst the very best in their respective positions that Pakistan has ever produced but ignorant fans will keep criticizing them as if they have only been producing ATGs.
 
In ODIs, Anwar was rubbish against bowlers like McGrath, Donald, Pollock, Ambrose, Walsh etc.

In the mid to late 90’s, Pakistan cricket revolved around World Cups and Sharjah Cups vs India.

This is where Saeed made his mark. He was extremely good against weak attacks, and if you perform vs India you are always a hero.

Babar Azam with the same skill set would have been even better against the mediocre bowling that made a legend out of Anwar, and there is no way he would have been any worse against the top bowlers than Anwar was.

Stories become myths, myths become legends and legends become the ultimate source of truth that cannot be challenged.

Babar is a better batsman than Saeed Anwar on a level-playing field.
 
Mamoon said:
In ODIs, Anwar was rubbish against bowlers like McGrath, Donald, Pollock, Ambrose, Walsh etc.

In the mid to late 90’s, Pakistan cricket revolved around World Cups and Sharjah Cups vs India.

This is where Saeed made his mark. He was extremely good against weak attacks, and if you perform vs India you are always a hero.

Babar Azam with the same skill set would have been even better against the mediocre bowling that made a legend out of Anwar, and there is no way he would have been any worse against the top bowlers than Anwar was.

Stories become myths, myths become legends and legends become the ultimate source of truth that cannot be challenged.

Babar is a better batsman than Saeed Anwar on a level-playing field.
Click to expand...
The guys you mentioned are some of the best bowlers of all time?

Babar is rubbish against netravalkar and Zampa? Infact when has Babar ever dominated medicore bowling? Besides Nepal on a pindi road and Lyon on a pitch where Abdullah and Imam were batting like bradman on a day 5 pitch,

If you wanna talk about level playing fields, then sorry to say this, I don't think saeed Anwar is getting dismissed by the same sri Lankan bowlers of which even Abdullah scored an odi century against and scored a double century in test against.
 
mominsaigol said:
The guys you mentioned are some of the best bowlers of all time?

Babar is rubbish against netravalkar and Zampa? Infact when has Babar ever dominated medicore bowling? Besides Nepal on a pindi road and Lyon on a pitch where Abdullah and Imam were batting like bradman on a day 5 pitch,

If you wanna talk about level playing fields, then sorry to say this, I don't think saeed Anwar is getting dismissed by the same sri Lankan bowlers of which even Abdullah scored an odi century against and scored a double century in test against.
Click to expand...
Saeed is a lot better than Abdullah and Imam. He isn’t better than Babar.
 
Hitman said:
If I were him, I'd immediately quit the T20 format and put all my focus on Tests, with ODI's being a distant second. You don't leave a legacy with your T20 exploits. And since he's struggling right now, he'd be better off concentrating on the other 2 formats.

But easier said than done. I can say it because I don't have a stake, and I'm an 80's kid. Modern day players don't quit the T20 format for obvious reasons. And I can't really blame them because I'm not in their shoes.​
Click to expand...

Money is in T20, he will continue playing that format till he’s 40 or gets thrown off.
 
Mamoon said:
Saeed is a lot better than Abdullah and Imam. He isn’t better than Babar.
Click to expand...
Even if you watch highlights, you'd realise their play against spin and pace is night and day.

Saeed anwar's wristwork and footwork is 100× superior to babar's wristwork and footwork.

Infact I'd like to see babar even attempt a late cut against spin.

The only time I've seen babar punish bowlers is either against Nepal, or against rubbish bowlers in t20 or on those batting paradise test pitches.

It's a good thing Babar didn't play the 2nd or 3rd test. We might have won the 3rd test, but the 2nd test would have been a forgone conclusion since unlike KG, Babar wouldn't have scored a 100.

He couldn't score on pitches where 556 and 800+ scores were being tonked. Those spin galore pitches? Not a chance in hell.

And prime 2019-2021 Babar ain't special
 
Mamoon said:
In ODIs, Anwar was rubbish against bowlers like McGrath, Donald, Pollock, Ambrose, Walsh etc.

In the mid to late 90’s, Pakistan cricket revolved around World Cups and Sharjah Cups vs India.

This is where Saeed made his mark. He was extremely good against weak attacks, and if you perform vs India you are always a hero.

Babar Azam with the same skill set would have been even better against the mediocre bowling that made a legend out of Anwar, and there is no way he would have been any worse against the top bowlers than Anwar was.

Stories become myths, myths become legends and legends become the ultimate source of truth that cannot be challenged.

Babar is a better batsman than Saeed Anwar on a level-playing field.
Click to expand...

In ODI, on PP, Anwar is the most overrated cricket to ever play the game.

People confuse his test exploits and stylish gameplay along with him being a left handed and portray him as one of the best in ODI’s.

He is like Sehwag in ODI’s, though Sehwag was more hit or miss albeit at a better win conversation rate due to higher strike rate/impact.
 
mominsaigol said:
Even if you watch highlights, you'd realise their play against spin and pace is night and day.

Saeed anwar's wristwork and footwork is 100× superior to babar's wristwork and footwork.

Infact I'd like to see babar even attempt a late cut against spin.

The only time I've seen babar punish bowlers is either against Nepal, or against rubbish bowlers in t20 or on those batting paradise test pitches.

It's a good thing Babar didn't play the 2nd or 3rd test. We might have won the 3rd test, but the 2nd test would have been a forgone conclusion since unlike KG, Babar wouldn't have scored a 100.

He couldn't score on pitches where 556 and 800+ scores were being tonked. Those spin galore pitches? Not a chance in hell.

And prime 2019-2021 Babar ain't special
Click to expand...
I don’t need to watch highlights because I watched him live. Saeed had no awareness of his off-stump and he was second only to Mark Waugh in terms of finding ways to get out casually, such as giving catch practice to slips or having his leg stump uprooted by walking across.

Both Saeed and Mark Waugh were so good to watch because of their timing but they were also really frustrating to watch because they would be so casual at times.

Aesthetics and performance don’t always go hand in hand. Damien Martyn was far more aesthetically pleasing than Smith but not half the batsman.

I would pay to watch Saeed over Babar but I will not have him over Babar in my team in a level playing field. Babar is technically superior. In fact, he plays pure pace better than him. I would definitely give Saeed advantage over spin. He played the likes of Murali and Kumble better than Babar would have.
 
big_gamer007 said:
In ODI, on PP, Anwar is the most overrated cricket to ever play the game.

People confuse his test exploits and stylish gameplay along with him being a left handed and portray him as one of the best in ODI’s.

He is like Sehwag in ODI’s, though Sehwag was more hit or miss albeit at a better win conversation rate due to higher strike rate/impact.
Click to expand...
One of the biggest myths on PP is that Saeed was better than Ganguly. In reality, he was nowhere near.

Ganguly dominated far better bowlers than Saeed faced, for example, Pakistani bowlers. Also, few batsmen tamed South African pace attack of the 90’s better than Ganguly did and Saeed certainly wasn’t one of them.

Ganguly the ODI batsman is extremely underrated even amongst Indian fans. A phenomenal player.
 
Mamoon said:
I don’t need to watch highlights because I watched him live. Saeed had no awareness of his off-stump and he was second only to Mark Waugh in terms of finding ways to get out casually, such as giving catch practice to slips or having his leg stump uprooted by walking across.

Both Saeed and Mark Waugh were so good to watch because of their timing but they were also really frustrating to watch because they would be so casual at times.

Aesthetics and performance don’t always go hand in hand. Damien Martyn was far more aesthetically pleasing than Smith but not half the batsman.

I would pay to watch Saeed over Babar but I will not have him over Babar in my team in a level playing field. Babar is technically superior. In fact, he plays pure pace better than him. I would definitely give Saeed advantage over spin. He played the likes of Murali and Kumble better than Babar would have.
Click to expand...
Babar has been useless against pace for years now. He's also been useless against Indian pacers throughout his entire life.
 
Mamoon said:
One of the biggest myths on PP is that Saeed was better than Ganguly. In reality, he was nowhere near.

Ganguly dominated far better bowlers than Saeed faced, for example, Pakistani bowlers. Also, few batsmen tamed South African pace attack of the 90’s better than Ganguly did and Saeed certainly wasn’t one of them.

Ganguly the ODI batsman is extremely underrated even amongst Indian fans. A phenomenal player.
Click to expand...

Ganguly for a 5-6 year period had a legit case of being the best ODI batsmen in the world.

People haven’t watched him in early part of his year so they go by his record and compare it with modern batsmen and think he was just OK.

He was called “God of off side” for his impeccable timing and he was the best 6 hitter to off spinners before Sehwag took over.

The problem with Ganguly was his game/form declined too rapidly to such a state he had to be dropped.
 
big_gamer007 said:
In ODI, on PP, Anwar is the most overrated cricket to ever play the game.

People confuse his test exploits and stylish gameplay along with him being a left handed and portray him as one of the best in ODI’s.

He is like Sehwag in ODI’s, though Sehwag was more hit or miss albeit at a better win conversation rate due to higher strike rate/impact.
Click to expand...
Calling Anwar overrated is one thing.

Claiming Babar > Anwar with a straight face is another.
 
mominsaigol said:
Calling Anwar overrated is one thing.

Claiming Babar > Anwar with a straight face is another.
Click to expand...

I don’t follow cricket apart from the big events so can’t comment on Babar.


From the little I have seen of him he looks good, but his records seem to indicate he isn’t performing against big teams on big occasions.
 
big_gamer007 said:
I don’t follow cricket apart from the big events so can’t comment on Babar.


From the little I have seen of him he looks good, but his records seem to indicate he isn’t performing against big teams on big occasions.
Click to expand...
5 of Bobby's centuries are against wi when they had club bowling and their bowling was rubbish.

As soon as WI got a good English seaming surface for their medium trundlers, they bowled pakistan out for 103.

He has a few centuries against Zimbabwe, C string sri lanka, c string NZ where all their big players were playing IPL, Nepal etc.

To top it off most of them were on curated pindi roads under ramiz era, same pitches where England were timing 800+ scores in test and teams could have easily scored 400+ had they played full strength here.

His best innings in odi is 101 against nz in 2019 which while good, isn't anything special and required hand holding from haris sohail.

Similarly that 197 in test was achieved on a pitch where Imam and Abdullah were batting like bradman on a 5th day test pitch.

The only time I've seen Babar vat well is NZ 2019, Eng 158 and in t20 against India in 2021.

He is a massively overrated batter and theirs a reason he avg 33 against India, it's because India is the one team Babar has never played on pindi home soil nor has he had the luxury of playing c string India as India and pak only meet in icc events and india never bothers coming to pak.
 
babar is very overrated even in odis which is his best format. He has scored tons of runs against mighty west indies and his favorite Zimbabwe.

He failed in 2023 world cup badly and in 2019 world cup he was decent other than that he has done nothing in his best format.

He should be kicked out from t20is obviously and he is a terrible test batsman but he should play in odis. He can perform now and then in odis.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
followed said:
babar is very overrated even in odis which is his best format. He has scored tons of runs against mighty west indies and his favorite Zimbabwe.

He failed in 2023 world cup badly and in 2019 world cup he was decent other than that he has done nothing in his best format.

He should be kicked out from t20is obviously and he is a terrible test batsman but he should play in odis. He can perform now and then in odis.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your advice.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

FearlessRoar
[VIDEOS] Sharoon Siraj: Batting all-rounder from Sahiwal
Replies
6
Views
237
FearlessRoar
FearlessRoar
mominsaigol
Should Babar Azam be an all-format opener?
Replies
20
Views
668
mominsaigol
mominsaigol
BouncerGuy
  • Poll
[VIDEOS] Pakistan drop Babar Azam, Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi for second and third Tests against England [Update at Post#99]
4 5 6
Replies
444
Views
14K
BouncerGuy
BouncerGuy
FearlessRoar
[PICTURES/VIDEOS] Nahid Rana: Express speedster from Bangladesh
Replies
42
Views
1K
FearlessRoar
FearlessRoar
T
[VIDEOS] What now for Mohammad Rizwan?
Replies
78
Views
2K
mominsaigol
mominsaigol
Back
Top