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Selfish batting of Babar Azam will not let him fulfill his potential

Mesozoic said:
:))

Kohli turned 26 on the day you're talking about. Babar is currently 26y and 5m old. If you apply that to Kohli, then he'll have 7 Sena hundreds and a much higher average and there goes all your efforts in vein.

Anyways what even is there to compare?

Please name me one breakthrough innings from Babar apart from the one against NZ in the world cup.

By Babar's current age, Kohli had atleast 10 of them. Hobart, 183 against Pak, two hundreds chasing 350+ against Australia, a Test hundred at the Wanderers against peak Steyn, Morkel, Philander....4 hundreds in Australia, Test hundred in NZ, Hundred in a high pressure Indo-Pak WC game, Man of the tournament in the T20 WC, Top scorer in the CT final...

Meanwhile , Babar Azam has scored 13 out of 17 of his int'l hundreds against SL, Ban, WI and Zim.

I'll just leave it at that.
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Even that wc hundred against Newzealand was a poor one as he was dropped twice earlier and was overshadowed by Haris Sohail. Anyway a 100 off 140 balls in an odi game is always poor.
 
Oxfordchamp said:
What is foolish is comparing Babar to Kohli. Babar has scored only 3 ODI centuries so far against top 5 teams which are england india australia south africa and new zealand and still 2 of them were in losing causes. And Not to forget ODI is supposed to be his strongest format. i am not even talking about his test and T20 records which are much worse..
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His T20 record is worse based upon what?
 
shamaan said:
His T20 record is worse based upon what?
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In comparison to Kohli's record.
Babar's strike rate of 130 is poor for a top order batsman and in T20s, it's the strike rate that matters. Look at other top T20 batsmen like kohli, rohit, Warner, finch, rahul, bairstow etc, they all have a superior strike rate closer to 140. Babar won't be able to match them and that will be costly in the world cup.
 
[MENTION=93712]MenInG[/MENTION]
The Shaheen-Babar incident

<iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/x4ogau?loop=0" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Babar needs to get going soon vs PZ - balls going by

Just 33* off 27 so far.
 
Watching Babar trying to slog and swipe and not connect time after time is not fun. Every second ball he's screaming at himself, and follows up with an ugly hoick for a single. He just isn't built for this situation, and it's something he desperately has to improve on
 
Firebat said:
Watching Babar trying to slog and swipe and not connect time after time is not fun. Every second ball he's screaming at himself, and follows up with an ugly hoick for a single. He just isn't built for this situation, and it's something he desperately has to improve on
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Indeed.

Should have waited till the end of his innings before posting this.
 
Muddaser said:
Indeed.

Should have waited till the end of his innings before posting this.
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As a Karachi fan I’ve never been happier to eat my words :)

First 28 balls: 33
Next 19 balls: 44

Magnificent change of gear from Babar and I really hope he can execute such acceleration more consistently from now on. Unreal batting. :salute
 
Firebat said:
As a Karachi fan I’ve never been happier to eat my words :)

First 28 balls: 33
Next 19 balls: 44

Magnificent change of gear from Babar and I really hope he can execute such acceleration more consistently from now on. Unreal batting. :salute
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I'm surprised people still doubt Babars abilities as a T20 batsmen.
 
Muddaser said:
I'm surprised people still doubt Babars abilities as a T20 batsmen.
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All I doubt about him is his ability to hit 44 from 19 when it’s needed like he did today on a consistent basis. Being able to finish games and drag his team over the line in a chase like this more often (and learn from what he did wrong against Zimbabwe last year, for example) is what will take him to the next stratosphere.

I love Babar, and no doubt he is the best batsman in this country by far and one of the very best in the world. Doesn’t mean he’s perfect and doesn’t mean I don’t want him to get even better.
 
Firebat said:
All I doubt about him is his ability to hit 44 from 19 when it’s needed like he did today on a consistent basis. Being able to finish games and drag his team over the line in a chase like this more often (and learn from what he did wrong against Zimbabwe last year, for example) is what will take him to the next stratosphere.

I love Babar, and no doubt he is the best batsman in this country by far and one of the very best in the world. Doesn’t mean he’s perfect and doesn’t mean I don’t want him to get even better.
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I don't think many batsmen are capable of doing that on a consistent basis.
 
Starting to become bit worried about Babar Azam. He's not a young player anymore and by this time a lot of the legends had started doing ground breaking stuff.

Stats look good till a point, but if there is not a right balance of stats and memorable cricketing moments then you risk joining the class of Jaq Kallis, Sangakkara, Cook, Amla etc i.e., players with exceptional statistics but no genuine iconic highlights to refer their greatness to.

So far, only thing worth noting that's come from Babar Azam is his genuine take down of Dale Styen but that's a couple of 50s. The world cup century could be memorable for Pakistani fans but to the neutrals it's just another good hundred, so we're the fee knocks in Australia.

If he wants to be remembered as a great, a legend, he has to start delivering big time as a game changing batsman.

I wish him well because he does have some class and a Tendulkaresque punch in his drives that gets me excited.
 
pillionrider said:
[MENTION=93712]MenInG[/MENTION]
The Shaheen-Babar incident

<iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/x4ogau?loop=0" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Wow!! How does one even play that ball at that pace. The best of the best would probably be LBW instead of getting bowled
 
We a know he will hit the peak patch soon. The only question is how far he can go in his career? I think he will reach the levels of Root and Williamson but whether he can go beyond that and match the likes of Kohli, Sangakkara and Kallis is a big question.
 
Babar is not a selfish batsmen. However, he is a limited batsmen who lacks striking ability similar to Fakhar Zaman or even Hasan Ali.
 
Can't blame Babar..he typically excels in the power play and bats at roughly 100-110 SR after that..today we lost 2 wickets in the powerplay..he definetly needs to work on his power hitting game though..today it was clear he was anchoring for all the batsman around him
 
Concerned said:
Babar is not a selfish batsmen. However, he is a limited batsmen who lacks striking ability similar to Fakhar Zaman or even Hasan Ali.
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It is selfish. He's probably selfish without being aware of it. The guy looks like he just enjoys batting at his own pace and not the pace that is required
 
Not a Misbah supporter but, just imagine if it was him who had scored 50 off 50 today against a weak SA team, there would be effigies of him.
 
It is not selfishness; it is lack of talent and skill.

Babar is an Amla type player – he is not capable of playing like Kohli and Rohit, and people should lower their expectations.
 
TheNightWatchman said:
It is selfish. He's probably selfish without being aware of it. The guy looks like he just enjoys batting at his own pace and not the pace that is required
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It's not that he is selfish. He is just limited in his ability to an accumulator. He's an Amla, not AB or Virat who can play dual roles of accumulating and cashing in at the death.
 
Mamoon said:
It is not selfishness; it is lack of talent and skill.

Babar is an Amla type player – he is not capable of playing like Kohli and Rohit, and people should lower their expectations.
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Atleast Amla was not a selfish.
 
Has babar even hit two 6s in a row. I can’t recall that ever happening?

Anyways Babars 6 hitting ability is the main obstacle in him genuinely being perceived as a great batsmen amongst today’s era of batsmen. At the moment he isn’t the match winner Pakistan need and want him to be.

He has every shot in the book when it’s comes to scoring on the ground but he never looks comfortable playing aerial that’s for sure.
 
Babar can only be regarded as selfish if previously he has shown power hitting ability in the past. However, there is nothing to date. He could not even hit free hits properly.

Expectations should be decreased. As I’ve said, he is just a improved version of Imam .
 
Concerned said:
Babar can only be regarded as selfish if previously he has shown power hitting ability in the past. However, there is nothing to date. He could not even hit free hits properly.

Expectations should be decreased. As I’ve said, he is just a improved version of Imam .
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Babar is 4 times the batsman Imam is.
 
A pretty terrible innings but since it did more good to the team than harm you cant call it selfish. Imagine babar scoring 35 of 15 and getting out. This place would have been all the more praise for him but the actual innings score would be 130 or 135 all out
 
He has limitations. Expecting him to play like Jayasurya is the problem. There is a ceiling for every player. At this point, his ceiling is less than that of Umar Akmal in terms of gears.
 
MHN1293 said:
A pretty terrible innings but since it did more good to the team than harm you cant call it selfish. Imagine babar scoring 35 of 15 and getting out. This place would have been all the more praise for him but the actual innings score would be 130 or 135 all out
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Never seen Pakistan score consistently 150+ before babar azam
 
YousafTheBeast said:
Tbf, he mostly came in the first 15 overs (ODI’s) when Pakistan would be 33-3
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And yet it never occured to him to come one down himself and stop that happening in the first place. 33-3 suited him well so he could tuktuk his way to an easy score and claim to be the saviour of Pakistan cricket. No comparison between a coward like him and someone like Babar who always bats in the top 3.
 
Babar is in the mound of guys like Amla, Rahane etc. He has got compact technique and thinks a lot while batting. Players like him are usually very consistent and accumulate runs. Babar is not someone who can chase 350 in odi or 220 in T20 even on his best days. He is not meant for roles posters over here expect from him. There are 5 more batsman in Pak team. It’s better if everyone start expecting more from the rest of the batsman.
 
MHN1293 said:
A pretty terrible innings but since it did more good to the team than harm you cant call it selfish. Imagine babar scoring 35 of 15 and getting out. This place would have been all the more praise for him but the actual innings score would be 130 or 135 all out
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130 all out and 140 all out are same in this case. He didnt need to score a 15 ball 35, just a 50 ball 70, any good batsman can score at that rate without taking risks after settling down for 30 balls.
 
have been saying this for years. He needs to be kicked out of the team and should be forced to go back and learn the basics of modern era cricket.

Unless you can hit 6s at your own will, there is no place for you in the team.
 
badsha001 said:
have been saying this for years. He needs to be kicked out of the team and should be forced to go back and learn the basics of modern era cricket.

Unless you can hit 6s at your own will, there is no place for you in the team.
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That's dumb because by that logic, the entire team needs to be kicked out.
 
Cric_lover4487 said:
Babar is in the mound of guys like Amla, Rahane etc. He has got compact technique and thinks a lot while batting. Players like him are usually very consistent and accumulate runs. Babar is not someone who can chase 350 in odi or 220 in T20 even on his best days. He is not meant for roles posters over here expect from him. There are 5 more batsman in Pak team. It’s better if everyone start expecting more from the rest of the batsman.
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Amla actually had the ability to score at good sr in t20s
 
Maybe his role needs to be redefined. England has made the role of sheet anchors irrelevant. I know it's tough to follow England in ODIs but there is no option in T20Is. I'm sure Babar can adapt. To beat the best, you gotto adapt. That's the only way.
 
MHN1293 said:
A pretty terrible innings but since it did more good to the team than harm you cant call it selfish. Imagine babar scoring 35 of 15 and getting out. This place would have been all the more praise for him but the actual innings score would be 130 or 135 all out
Click to expand...

It is this thinking that just gets my blood boiling. This is along the same lines of logic where people used to say "if Misbah hadn't that 60 off 100 balls, we wouldn't have even reached 230!".

1) 130 or 140, doesn't make jack of a difference because you are losing in both cases

2) You do not play to avoid losing, you play to win. So, we do not want him scoring 35 off 15 but 80 of 50!

3) Even if he scores 35 of 15, someone else can consumer those remaining 35 deliveries and score at a better rate

Cannot believe people still use this logic when it was clearly shown how flawed it was once Misbah retired.
 
Snowflake said:
It is this thinking that just gets my blood boiling. This is along the same lines of logic where people used to say "if Misbah hadn't that 60 off 100 balls, we wouldn't have even reached 230!".

1) 130 or 140, doesn't make jack of a difference because you are losing in both cases

2) You do not play to avoid losing, you play to win. So, we do not want him scoring 35 off 15 but 80 of 50!

3) Even if he scores 35 of 15, someone else can consumer those remaining 35 deliveries and score at a better rate

Cannot believe people still use this logic when it was clearly shown how flawed it was once Misbah retired.
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Whos saying it was a good innings by any stretch. Im just saying instead of shifting all the blame on one batsmen who did one part right, score runs but failed to accelerate. When u have other duds who failed to do both. If babar got out who would play the 35 balls, shaheen kallis and hasnain sobers? We all saw what shaheen did in the 7 balls he faced. You are right about one thing here, even a 50 ball 70 would make jack of a difference if south africa c team can easily score at 10 an over against our bowlers.
 
Congratulations to Babar made a new record 2nd Slowest Fifty in T20I for Pakistan, First is Shoaib Khan of 53 balls and now Babar 50 ball not much difference 3 balls i bet Pujara would score faster than this.
 
badsha001 said:
have been saying this for years. He needs to be kicked out of the team and should be forced to go back and learn the basics of modern era cricket.

Unless you can hit 6s at your own will, there is no place for you in the team.
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And replace him with whom? Give names and not generic answers
 
MHN1293 said:
Whos saying it was a good innings by any stretch. Im just saying instead of shifting all the blame on one batsmen who did one part right, score runs but failed to accelerate. When u have other duds who failed to do both. If babar got out who would play the 35 balls, shaheen kallis and hasnain sobers? We all saw what shaheen did in the 7 balls he faced. You are right about one thing here, even a 50 ball 70 would make jack of a difference if south africa c team can easily score at 10 an over against our bowlers.
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Please understand that Babar came in when we were 1 down, not 5 down! So, he had the full license to take the game by its scruff and score at a brisk pace. Also, If Babar got out, the rest of the middle order and tailenders have more room to breath and build their innings instead of always looking to up the ante e.g what Hassan was trying to do.

Babar did not do one part right as he consumed ~42% of the deliveries to only score 50 runs.

You do not blame Afridi or Umar Akmal for Mohali. You blame Misbah and Younis Khan. Same logic.
 
His innings was slow even for a 50 over game by todays standards.
 
He should only open otherwise he is not good enough as a middle order batsmen
 
He almost opened even today as he came out to the crease at 0-1 in 0.1 overs and batted till 18th over Yet only made 50 off 50 which is a very very poor performance in T20s. It's not ODIs where you have to hold one end and bat out the entire overs.
 
PerfectionPersonified said:
these type of innings show that we can never compare Kohli with Babar. Babar lacks big hitting which is essential for t20s
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Similar situations ,Kohli made 77*(46) and carried India to a respectable total of 157 in the 3rd t20 in recent series against England when the top order collapsed that too against the best team in the world at full strength.
 
Last edited:
The problem is this must play an anchor role where wicket preservation is key.

Wrong mindset.
 
Raja111 said:
He almost opened even today as he came out to the crease at 0-1 in 0.1 overs and batted till 18th over Yet only made 50 off 50 which is a very very poor performance in T20s. It's not ODIs where you have to hold one end and bat out the entire overs.
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To be fair he had no company at all. Plus when you have Faheem Klusener strolling in way too high at 6 Babar's wicket became much more valuable.

Idiot team selection stifled him as much as his own batting style did.
 
hitthestump said:
To be fair he had no company at all. Plus when you have Faheem Klusener strolling in way too high at 6 Babar's wicket became much more valuable.

Idiot team selection stifled him as much as his own batting style did.
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Faheem won the game for pakistan first t20
 
Bobby will score a 25 ball 40 in the next T20 and everything will be forgotten and forgiven
 
Another issue is that he's probably looked at that batting line-up especially the middle-order and thought "oh man, I had better not get out, we've got Haider at 5, Faheem at 6, Hassan at 7, Nawaz at 8. If I'm out we won't even get 120"
 
Mamoon said:
It is not selfishness; it is lack of talent and skill.

Babar is an Amla type player – he is not capable of playing like Kohli and Rohit, and people should lower their expectations.
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What is your definition of talent and skill?
 
In 78 ODI innings Babar has only managed to hit 38 sixes. In 47 T20i innings he’s only hit 24 sixes. Basically he hits one 6 every other innings something he can definitely improve on.
 
gazza619 said:
What is your definition of talent and skill?
Click to expand...

The gap between Kohli/Rohit and Babar is the talent and skill gap.

Babar is a very orthodox player but he lacks the flair that both those batsmen possess, and Rohit posses an extra gear that even Kohli doesn’t.

They have the capacity to influence the game and take control of the situation that Babar cannot.

For example, Kohli’s 183 against Pakistan, the 130 in 70 odd balls vs Sri Lanka, the knock against Australia in the WT20, that partnership with Rohit against Australia where they chased 360 in 42 overs, the way Rohit dominated the last World Cup, the 3 double-centuries that he has scored etc.

Babar is simply not capable of playing those types of innings. He is very much in the mould of someone like Amla, and thus it is futile to compare him to magical players like Kohli and Rohit.
 
Saj said:
Another issue is that he's probably looked at that batting line-up especially the middle-order and thought "oh man, I had better not get out, we've got Haider at 5, Faheem at 6, Hassan at 7, Nawaz at 8. If I'm out we won't even get 120"
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Which is such a loser-ish approach! If you are playing with that kind of mindset, you're better off not even stepping on the field.
 
hitthestump said:
To be fair he had no company at all. Plus when you have Faheem Klusener strolling in way too high at 6 Babar's wicket became much more valuable.

Idiot team selection stifled him as much as his own batting style did.
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Batting, especially in a T20, is not a dance party where you need company to score runs. You have to play at a high scoring rate regardless of what is happening on the other end. It is only 120 deliveries *fs! There is no need to anchor!!
 
Mamoon said:
The gap between Kohli/Rohit and Babar is the talent and skill gap.

Babar is a very orthodox player but he lacks the flair that both those batsmen possess, and Rohit posses an extra gear that even Kohli doesn’t.

They have the capacity to influence the game and take control of the situation that Babar cannot.

For example, Kohli’s 183 against Pakistan, the 130 in 70 odd balls vs Sri Lanka, the knock against Australia in the WT20, that partnership with Rohit against Australia where they chased 360 in 42 overs, the way Rohit dominated the last World Cup, the 3 double-centuries that he has scored etc.

Babar is simply not capable of playing those types of innings. He is very much in the mould of someone like Amla, and thus it is futile to compare him to magical players like Kohli and Rohit.
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You are comparing Babar who is no doubt a class player with a once in a lifetime player like Rohit Sharma. I mean even India has never produced anyone like Rohit Sharma who is even ahead of Sehwag it seems. There is no international player in world cricket who can hit at the same gear as Rohit Sharma so singling out Babar Azam is simply not fair.

Babar vs Kohli is a more fair comparison, yes Kohli is a level ahead of Babar, but only one level ahead. Babar can work harder on his game and if he can add more meat on his tiny bones then who knows he might catch up with Kohli.
 
I think selfish is too strong a word to use.

He's not batting in a line-up that has Buttlers, Rohits, Kohlis, Finch or Williamson is he.

He knows that at the moment it's Babar or Rizwan or bust. If these 2 fail then Pakistan fails.
 
gazza619 said:
You are comparing Babar who is no doubt a class player with a once in a lifetime player like Rohit Sharma. I mean even India has never produced anyone like Rohit Sharma who is even ahead of Sehwag it seems. There is no international player in world cricket who can hit at the same gear as Rohit Sharma so singling out Babar Azam is simply not fair.

Babar vs Kohli is a more fair comparison, yes Kohli is a level ahead of Babar, but only one level ahead. Babar can work harder on his game and if he can add more meat on his tiny bones then who knows he might catch up with Kohli.
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It is not just the meat on bones. The difference between Babar and Kohli is not simply the difference between how much Kohli can lift in the gym compared to Babar.

He has not been his usual-self over the last couple of years, but we are talking about peak Kohli here.

His concentration and intensity on the pitch, his ability to dominate, the way he chased down massive totals, the 7 double-tons that he scored in Tests, the iconic knocks that he played across formats.

Kohli has the same type of aura and star power that the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan etc. had or have in their respective sports.

From Pakistan, only Imran Khan and Wasim Akram had that type of allure. The gap between Babar and Kohli is not just one level but several levels, and it is not just statistical superiority only.

Unless Babar goes on an absolute crazy run of form across formats over the next few years and produces some amazing match-winning performances against the top bowling attacks, he has virtually no chance at all of catching up with Kohli.
 
Snowflake said:
Which is such a loser-ish approach! If you are playing with that kind of mindset, you're better off not even stepping on the field.
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Yes but he's obviously thinking if they are 40/3 and he plays a wild shot, he will get in the neck even more.
 
What is his potential?

Unrealistic expectations shouldn't be confused with potential.

Babar should have a fine career.
 
* Lack of power hitting ability (too much orthodox)
*Play for averages instead of strike rate.. ( in t20s your average doesn't matter)
*No front foot game (hardly seen him coming out of the crease )
*Can't play spin to save his life ( correct me if im wrong he play like an tailender whenever he tries to hit a boundary against a spinner just a mad slog sweep he tries every now n then)

To summarise only one of rizwan and babar should be there it's horrible if one of these play half of 20 over 9 out of 10 times pak will loose .. even in 1st t20 thanks to faheem,haider & hassan who bailed rizwan out of misery and those juicy fulltosses from saffers newbies.
 
Halkay ajao! Babar daddy Azam had a rare off day hahaha he’s human not super man

Babar Azam pace of scoring in two days points:
2019: average 42 at SR 137 (10 games)
2020: average 55 at SR 145 (8 games)

Those are very strong numbers
 
I agreed with Babar’s approach up until the final 4-5 overs. He did not have much support and had he got out at that time, we would not have crossed 100 runs. However the second part of his innings left much to be desired. He should have slogged through that time. He should have understood that the score they would get if he keeps anchoring the innings at this rate would never help win so should have tried to get his team closer to 180. Just very disappointed that it was a weird innings where he lacked any sort of fluency. Hoping for better things from him in the next few games.
 
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