Rate Babar Azam's captaincy in white-ball cricket

[FearlessRoar]

Babar Azam has resigned as Pakistan's white-ball captain. His leadership saw highs and lows, but what's your verdict?

 

[Rana]

0/10

 

[Cricket Warrior]

His tenure as captain was just average even i would say below average but more importantly it damaged him as a player.

 

[Snowflake]

He’s just not a leader. Supremely talented batsman but that’s it with Babar - you don’t get ANYTHING more from him.

When have we ever heard or seen anything tactical or insightful from Babar?

He’s a very basic individual. Probably below average IQ. You can hear him in his interviews where he never comes up with anything clever, witty, or even original.

Babar just repeats the standard template in everything and anything. Ask him any cricket related question and he’ll give the same answer as any armchair fan would. That’s because he’s not a student of the game. He does not understand the intricacies of the sport. He’s meant to bat and bat only.

I would rate him as the worst captain Pakistan has ever had. Maybe Yousaf gives him a tough competition?

 

[Cricket Warrior]

I would rate him as the worst captain Pakistan has ever had. Maybe Yousaf gives him a tough competition?

not the worst i would say after watching Shan Masood tbh

 

[Rana]

not the worst i would say after watching Shan Masood tbh

Shan Masood hasn’t inflicted 1% of the damage Babar has to Pakistan cricket. Babar has set cricket back 30 years in Pakistan, and it wasn’t because he sincerely wanted to win something for the country. The guy was on a massive paid holiday doing whatever the hell he wanted for 5 years. One day, he should be put to trial and everything about his central contracts, NOC’s and dealings through his agent when it came to team selections need to be investigated.

 

[W63L35]

2nd highest Win/Loss ratio among all Pakistani ODI captains (min: 10 ODIs as captain):

 

[W63L35]

3rd highest Win/Loss ratio among all ODI captains from major Teams (min: 15 ODIs as captain) since 1/1/2020:

 

[Major]

Probably the worst captain we ever had. Worst than Yousuf as well

 

[W63L35]

Pakistani ODI captains vs Aus/Eng/South Africa/New Zealand (min: 10 ODIs as captain):

 

[Major]

damn, Waqar Younis was a better captain that Babar Azam.

 

[Vikram1989]

We should consider only tournaments for babar captaincy check.series are mostly with c/d teams where he even lost quite a few games.

 

[Major]

We should consider only tournaments for babar captaincy check.series are mostly with c/d teams where he even lost quite a few games.

you cant go by stats, as stats dont show the decision making. Like one match that i will never forget in my life was when Nawaz was bowling the last over against India and Babar at one time asked him to bowl pace.

Many of us identified Babar as poor captain back in 2021 when we lost the semi final, but at that time, the whole nation was high on the Babar fanism

The one phrase that i really hate in Pakistan cricket is, oh give him a chance, he will improve. Not once have a played or captain improved. They are what they are after you see them in the first 5 games.

 

[Vikram1989]

you cant go by stats, as stats dont show the decision making. Like one match that i will never forget in my life was when Nawaz was bowling the last over against India and Babar at one time asked him to bowl pace.


The one phrase that i really hate in Pakistan cricket is, oh give him a chance, he will improve. Not once have a played or captain improved. They are what they are after you see them in the first 5 games.

Now a days it's easy to hype a propaganda with stats (filtered ones) .so if babar is one of the best with above stats,he can outlive every one in his team and can comeback as captain. That's more damaging. As u saw in othe rporsr,kirsten wanted another one as t20 captain so babar is quitting in protest.he does not care about team and he thinks he should still hangon to his captaincy.

Nawaj after 22 asia cup is a complete misjudgement and friendship pro at max.

 

[BouncerGuy]

Babar's overall stats look better due to the bilateral series. He was specifically bad in ICC tournaments. That is the only downfall he had in his captaincy career that he failed to win an ICC or ACC event in 4-5 years.

 

[Cover Drive Six]

Lost to minnows left and right in tournaments and were humiliated in a home Test series. Nothing worth remembering, except for one fluke win against India in the T20 World Cup

 

[msb314]

Babar's overall stats look better due to the bilateral series. He was specifically bad in ICC tournaments. That is the only downfall he had in his captaincy career that he failed to win an ICC or ACC event in 4-5 years.

Don’t understand this logic…

Does that mean then Ganguly, Sanga, Dravid, Lara, Fleming, Nasser Husain, Cronje were all bad captains too?

 

[BouncerGuy]

Don’t understand this logic…

Does that mean then Ganguly, Sanga, Dravid, Lara, Fleming, Nasser Husain, Cronje were all bad captains too?

People generally rate a good captain based on his overall performance, especially in big events. Nobody wants to rate a captain high who is beating teams like Zimbabwe or C-teams of New Zealand or west indies etc.

 

[msb314]

People generally rate a good captain based on his overall performance, especially in big events. Nobody wants to rate a captain high who is beating teams like Zimbabwe or C-teams of New Zealand or west indies etc.

I agree that winning tournaments gives you a lot of mileage - especially in South Asia..

But I have always said that a captain is only as good as his players.. It makes Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Dhoni look better as captains then they really are..

 

[mominsaigol]

Don’t understand this logic…

Does that mean then Ganguly, Sanga, Dravid, Lara, Fleming, Nasser Husain, Cronje were all bad captains too?

None of those guys had the luxury of playing Nz C team, Aus C team, England 2021 C team in their own home pindi den.

Babar doesn't have a single victory besides afghansitan against a full strength team in bi laterals.

The time he faced a full strength NZ he lost 3-2 in an odi series, Lost the test series with sarfi special leading to one draw and lost the t20 series.

Every other series against full strength like south africa, he lost.

His biggest achievement is that he managed to beat Afghanistan 3-0 while Afghanistan was playing at full strength in all 3 games and that's a massive achievement.

But in 2020 he led the t20 side in a rut along with misbah, Infact losing to Zimbabwe 2-1 was unforgivable.

The captains you're mentioning won series at a time bi laterals were taken 100x more seriously and at full strength as well as multiple wins in foreign dens and not in their own pindi den

 

[mominsaigol]

I agree that winning tournaments gives you a lot of mileage - especially in South Asia..

But I have always said that a captain is only as good as his players.. It makes Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Dhoni look better as captains then they really are..

That is untrue.

Fir example had Babar captained India with the same Indian players in wc 2024, He'd have lost the sa game, lost the aus game and lost the pakistan game.

And that's because if a side plays even a bit of good cricket, Babar loses it because he can't account for a team fighting back, it's why 2022 India and 2021 aus beat him from difficult positions.

Against sa he'd have in typical fashion waited for bumrah to bowl the final over meaning he'd lose since klaseen would have finished the game before the 19th.

Dhoni has won games from stupidly difficult positions taking insanely risky picks, for example picking ishant sharma to bowl in ct 2013 at the end stages despite being the most expensive bowler. Beating Bangladesh from a 2-2 with inform batters at the crease, etc etc.

Pointing had set up next to perfect fields for each batter. Wih the exception of mcgrath who was his own thing, Every batter had a next to perfect field set for them, For players like sehwag it was at the back, for accumulators it was restricting singles and forcing them to loft etc etc.

Pointing, Dhoni, Waugh wouldn't have lost 2022 game against India or 2021 gake against australia from any angle, For starters nawaz for sure as heck wouldn't be bowling the final over lol

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

The bar for Pakistan captains is pretty low. And Babar would rank pretty low still.

His best chance to be remembered for something was the 2021 T20 World Cup. That tournament was ours for the taking. And his batting and captaincy had a big role in us losing that match.

 

[Hellion]

Pakistani ODI captains vs Aus/Eng/South Africa/New Zealand (min: 10 ODIs as captain):

View attachment 146523

Misbah literally the worst white ball captain PAK ever had. Babar was miles better than this guy at least.

 

[W63L35]

The bar for Pakistan captains is pretty low. And Babar would rank pretty low still.

His best chance to be remembered for something was the 2021 T20 World Cup. That tournament was ours for the taking. And his batting and captaincy had a big role in us losing that match.

Wasim Akram in 1999 WC final... same situation. Nobody points fingers to his captaincy.

 

[W63L35]

We should consider only tournaments for babar captaincy check. series are mostly with c/d teams where he even lost quite a few games.

Are you saying C/D teams don't play in ICC tournaments............ or you are saying wins against teams like Aus/Eng etc don't matter in bilateral series?

 

[Rana]

Wasim Akram in 1999 WC final... same situation. Nobody points fingers to his captaincy.

Well, a close study shows Akram lost to SA, Bangladesh, India and Australia in that tournament

I think Pakistan realistically were a firm 3rd best in that tournament

 

[Hellion]

Well, a close study shows Akram lost to SA, Bangladesh, India and Australia in that tournament

I think Pakistan realistically were a firm 3rd best in that tournament

Agreed. OZ and SA were the better sides.

 

[Vikram1989]

Are you saying C/D teams don't play in ICC tournaments............ or you are saying wins against teams like Aus/Eng etc don't matter in bilateral series?

Can u point out which major teams have sent their c/d teams to an icc tournament?.Minnows have only one team not c/d teams.Any win against a c/d team of a major opponent doesn't matter. If so ,pak should be the winner of 23 odi wc as they are the number 1 team before the wc

 

[Asif321]

I haven’t seen such worst captain for more than two decades . Azhar Ali might come little close

 

[msb314]

That is untrue.

Fir example had Babar captained India with the same Indian players in wc 2024, He'd have lost the sa game, lost the aus game and lost the pakistan game.

And that's because if a side plays even a bit of good cricket, Babar loses it because he can't account for a team fighting back, it's why 2022 India and 2021 aus beat him from difficult positions.

Against sa he'd have in typical fashion waited for bumrah to bowl the final over meaning he'd lose since klaseen would have finished the game before the 19th.

Dhoni has won games from stupidly difficult positions taking insanely risky picks, for example picking ishant sharma to bowl in ct 2013 at the end stages despite being the most expensive bowler. Beating Bangladesh from a 2-2 with inform batters at the crease, etc etc.

Pointing had set up next to perfect fields for each batter. Wih the exception of mcgrath who was his own thing, Every batter had a next to perfect field set for them, For players like sehwag it was at the back, for accumulators it was restricting singles and forcing them to loft etc etc.

Pointing, Dhoni, Waugh wouldn't have lost 2022 game against India or 2021 gake against australia from any angle, For starters nawaz for sure as heck wouldn't be bowling the final over lol

I respect your opinion but don’t necessarily agree.

2021 WC - Shaheen lost the plot against M. Wade of all people. Had them at 98-5 and still lost. Hassan Ali also to blame for dropped catch. Agree batting was slow but still winnable.

2022 Asia Cup Final - Had SL at 58-5 but again Shaheen and Hassan Ali getting hammered at the death. Agree Babar and Rizwan to blame for slow chase but Babar got out early.. others had plenty of time at the crease to step up but failed..

2022 T20 India - Shaheen lost the plot by conceding 17 runs in the 18th over and those two sixes against Rauf still haunt me.. wish that went differently. Nawaz also deserves 100% blame for no ball and wide in last over and failing to defend 16.

2023 WC SAF and Afg - Again bowlers to blame… did not take a Afg wicket until they were 140 and SAF on brink with Maharaj batting. Should have taken his wicket but again Nawaz bowled on leg side and he hit the winning four..

2024 uSA - why Rizwan, Fakhar struggled against USA bowlers. Should have scored 200 plus and closed out game.. uSA needed 12 from 3 balls against Rauf and still won

2024 India - Babar as batsman deserves criticism but again Fakhar flopped in important game. Usman struggled and Chachu missed three full tosses before getting out. Imad could not hit the ball to save his life.

My point is many players choked in crucial games whilst Bumrah, Ashwin, Cummins etc are all mentally stronger players who succeed regardless of captaincy..

Our players deserve blame just as much as Babar if not more..

 

[Vikram1989]

I respect your opinion but don’t necessarily agree.


Our players deserve blame just as much as Babar if not more..

One more problem is everyone is as idiotic as babar.in cricinfo, someone earlier pointed out that babar did the same mistake against sl in Asia cup 23 and usa 24 by placing mid off instead of long off and allowed the boundary. Same thing with Nawaz against India in 22.He just don't learn. Same case with ifti too.kirsten pointed out all the time ifti hits the ball in one direction in the nets

 

[msb314]

One more problem is everyone is as idiotic as babar.in cricinfo, someone earlier pointed out that babar did the same mistake against sl in Asia cup 23 and usa 24 by placing mid off instead of long off and allowed the boundary. Same thing with Nawaz against India in 22.He just don't learn. Same case with ifti too.kirsten pointed out all the time ifti hits the ball in one direction in the nets

Why doesn’t the bowler ask to change the field if he is not happy with it?

Surely the bowler must take some blame for field settings since only him knows where he is going to bowl..

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Good for Babar that he left the captaincy. Will save him from the burden of future fiascos

 

[Vikram1989]

Surely the bowler must take some blame for field settings since only him knows where he is going to bowl..

As we are talking about Harris rauf,nawaz,shaheen in the death overs I am very sure they too don't have any idea of where they are pitching

 

[W63L35]

Well, a close study shows Akram lost to SA, Bangladesh, India and Australia in that tournament

I think Pakistan realistically were a firm 3rd best in that tournament

Well, a much closer glance shows;
Pakistan ended up topping Group B.
Pakistan had the same record as the top team from Group A...meaning joint best record among 12 teams.
Pakistan topped the Super Sixes stage.

Realistically more people were surprised at Pakistan not winning the 1999 final than the number of people not getting surprised.

 

[Rana]

Well, a much closer glance shows;
Pakistan ended up topping Group B.
Pakistan had the same record as the top team from Group A...meaning joint best record among 12 teams.
Pakistan topped the Super Sixes stage.

Realistically more people were surprised at Pakistan not winning the 1999 final than the number of people not getting surprised.

View attachment 146544

IMO, Pakistan would have lost to either Australia or South Africa in the Semi Final had they faced up. I guess we will never know because that wasn’t to be.

 

[W63L35]

IMO, Pakistan would have lost to either Australia or South Africa in the Semi Final had they faced up. I guess we will never know because that wasn’t to be.

I know, most of the discussion here are about "personal opinions".... that's why most posters here hate screen shots from Cricinfo.

Simple example is ... a couple of posters here .... who used to worship Misbah's ODI captaincy (8-21 W/L against SENA) but they won't stop criticizing Babar who has W/L records of 10-11 vs the same top team. Ironic ... isn't it?

 

[Rana]

I know, most of the discussion here are about "personal opinions".... that's why most posters here hate screen shots from Cricinfo.

Simple example is ... a couple of posters here .... who used to worship Misbah's ODI captaincy (8-21 W/L against SENA) but they won't stop criticizing Babar who has W/L records of 10-11 vs the same top team. Ironic ... isn't it?

But screenshots from Cricinfo mean nothing.

Pakistan were runners up in 2022 for the T20 World Cup. They were definitely the 5th/6th best team in the competition in reality.

Mohammad Rizwan averages the same as Brian Lara in ODI cricket, you can provide a cricinfo screenshot for that. So are they the same?

 

[W63L35]

But screenshots from Cricinfo mean Jack all.

Thanks for proving my point.

 

[Hitman]

Mohammad Rizwan averages the same as Brian Lara in ODI cricket, you can provide a cricinfo screenshot for that. So are they the same?

Different eras. Averaging 40 odd in the 2 new ball era is sub par, while it was fantastic before the 2 new ball era. Rizwan is a good batsman though.

 

[Hitman]

Different eras. Averaging 40 odd in the 2 new ball era is sub par, while it was fantastic before the 2 new ball era. Rizwan is a good batsman though.

Much like Lara's SR of 79 odd was fantastic before the 2 new ball era, while it is sub par in the 2 new ball era.

 

[mominsaigol]

Different eras. Averaging 40 odd in the 2 new ball era is sub par, while it was fantastic before the 2 new ball era. Rizwan is a good batsman though.

I respectfully disagree.

For me stats don't matter and will never matter, You need to actually see a player bat to determine how good they are.

Simply looking at only averages and strike rates doesn't tell much irrespective of eras.

In this era, Travis Head averages 44 and sr of 104, looking at his stats and considering in this era rvery Tom dick and Harry can avg 40 and Strike at over a 100, The 2019 England team with the likes of bairstow at one point was doing it at a 50 avg and 100+ SR.

But one has to actually see the context, such as Travis scoring 137 in a final against the best bowling attack in the world on the same pitch where everyone including kohli, Rahul and labu struggled life and limb to score.

The grounds they've scored in, the oppositions, the context? All that matters.

Rizwan's greatest achievement is India 2021 and his sri lanka game in wc group stage 131. No excuses their, they are good innings, Same with his 2019 aus innings even though they were c side aus.

However his 2021 semi final innings was horrible, Asia Cup 2022 innings was a meme, same with 2022 final or any must win situation such as the sa 2023 game or india 2024 game where pakistan desprately requires his services.

What this tells me is that this is a guy who can score soft runs and win games in non pressure stages but turns into a Misbah ul Haq during pressure stages or any stage where pakistan actually need him for survivability despite the fact that he literally occupies no 4 and opening, 2 roles which are where hes required to be that guy for the team.

But you wouldn't know that unless you saw him perform live in said era.

 

[Aang_The_last_airbender]

3rd highest Win/Loss ratio among all ODI captains from major Teams (min: 15 ODIs as captain) since 1/1/2020:

View attachment 146522

Learn to use proper filters bhai. This is highly incorrect data

 

[Hitman]

I respectfully disagree.

For me stats don't matter and will never matter, You need to actually see a player bat to determine how good they are.

Simply looking at only averages and strike rates doesn't tell much irrespective of eras.

In this era, Travis Head averages 44 and sr of 104, looking at his stats and considering in this era rvery Tom dick and Harry can avg 40 and Strike at over a 100, The 2019 England team with the likes of bairstow at one point was doing it at a 50 avg and 100+ SR.

But one has to actually see the context, such as Travis scoring 137 in a final against the best bowling attack in the world on the same pitch where everyone including kohli, Rahul and labu struggled life and limb to score.

The grounds they've scored in, the oppositions, the context? All that matters.

Rizwan's greatest achievement is India 2021 and his sri lanka game in wc group stage 131. No excuses their, they are good innings, Same with his 2019 aus innings even though they were c side aus.

However his 2021 semi final innings was horrible, Asia Cup 2022 innings was a meme, same with 2022 final or any must win situation such as the sa 2023 game or india 2024 game where pakistan desprately requires his services.

What this tells me is that this is a guy who can score soft runs and win games in non pressure stages but turns into a Misbah ul Haq during pressure stages or any stage where pakistan actually need him for survivability despite the fact that he literally occupies no 4 and opening, 2 roles which are where hes required to be that guy for the team.

But you wouldn't know that unless you saw him perform live in said era.

Don't you think you'd bet on Rizwan to come good under pressure more than Babar?

 

[Aang_The_last_airbender]

Learn to use proper filters bhai. This is highly incorrect data

Here is the more accurate filter:
Babar Azam has W/L ratio of 1 against the recognized teams and we dont have a filter for playing with B or C teams.

 

[Aang_The_last_airbender]

Here is Mr. Azam as Kaptaan in supposedly the dominant format of Pakistan:

 

[mominsaigol]

Don't you think you'd bet on Rizwan to come good under pressure more than Babar?

Yes but how is Babar relevant?

That like saying don't you think you'd bet on Misbah ul haq to come good under pressure more then Chacha?

In recent times, Pakistan has proved that under pressure situations, It's literally fakhar Zaman or Bust. They use to have haros sohail and hafeez who despite their faults and them being medicore to slightly above average could come good under pressure, but now they don't have those 2.

Fakhar's century in cr 2017 and against NZ is what won ct and kept Pakistan in the World Cup for a little longer before England. Granted Pakistan were mostly put because of SA and the fact that the team didn't play fakhar againat SA when it was needed.

 

[Aang_The_last_airbender]

No contest who was the better T20 Captain of Pakistan for last 10 years:

 

[Aang_The_last_airbender]

Feasting on Minnows and being king of soft runs has been trademark of Babar Azam's reign

 

[Aang_The_last_airbender]

Pakistani ODI captains vs Aus/Eng/South Africa/New Zealand (min: 10 ODIs as captain):

View attachment 146523

A better stat:

 

[Snowflake]

not the worst i would say after watching Shan Masood tbh

I don't think Shan has been captain long enough for him to surpass Babar in either way; better or worse.

 

[W63L35]

Learn to use proper filters bhai. This is highly incorrect data

Keep posting "better & correct" stats, and I will learn from you! BTW, "Proper" is another subjective terms!

While I stand by my screen shots, I will not argue one bit with your screen shots because you and I differ from perspective. you can not deny my stats and I can not deny your stats.

Perspectives can be different... but when some arm-chair cricket experts totally refute stats in favor of their subjective/biased opinions, it does make me laugh at their personal grudges and biases!

These arm-chairs cricket-experts either do not know or do not realize that almost all national and professional cricket teams employ full time data analysts and statisticians to help team management out. American Pro sports leagues hire more than one data analysts to be with their teams. Their salaries are $100K. Are those team owners/managers idiots who spend this this much to look at the statistical side of the sports??

 

[W63L35]

A better stat:

View attachment 146555

As I said in my previous post, just a different perspective.... will not argue with it.. because these number can not and should not be put above one's biased opinions and personal grudges.

As side note in this screen shot, Imran Khan and Miandad's record includes India and Sri Lanka.... those are the days when India and Sri Lanka were worse then a local club team... but you can not exclude today's India team. This is why I did not exclude any team. I m not objecting on your list. I am only explaining why I did not exclude any team.

 

[YousafTheBeast]

but more importantly it damaged him as a player.

It damaged us as fans too. I’m going through PTSD ever since Babar took captaincy.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Don't worry bro, nightmare over now

It damaged us as fans too. I’m going through PTSD ever since Babar took captaincy.

 

[pratiktc]

Babar was an average captain. I dont think he enjoyed captaincy and he didn't seem have the instinct for pushing game forward that many great captains have.

That being said, he was a steady presence and in his batting peak he did inspire team to an extent especially in ODI game where he developed a powerful record till gremlins crept into his technique.

I respect the way he tried to back Shadab and Nawaz because both of them did have the ingredients to be quality cricketers. Even though the persistence miserably failed in the end, it is commendable that a captain is willing to push for his players with board/selectors.

His tenure had a few high points (2021 and 2022 WT20 campaigns) and some forgettable losses.

However the worst failure from Babar-Mickey tenure is the way fitness standards fell by the wayside. It is ok to have bad results, all teams go through phases where talent shortage exists but basic process efficiency and standards are set by the leaders and they failed terribly at this.