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"This is batting of the highest quality, it could be Kohli or it could be ABdV" : Mark Nicholas

Fantastic knock, looked very good yesterday. He is the reason, Pakistan is still in this contest.
 
Was delighted to see babars back foot game and quality of stroke play. Was put off by how clueless he looked in NZ but this was an eye catching.

More depressing is the fact that this is what was expected of Umar Akmal given what he showed in 2009-2010
 
Read an article today how this is the age of Babar. He proved that with a dominating performance. Coming of age innings from him and should convince Arthur to move him up the order. This will give him a lot of confidence on a tough pitch.
 
Put Babar at no.5 second innings and Asad at 6, he is better at batting with the tail and farming the strike
 
I feel very very lucky having seen such an innings live on my smartphone. This was an innings that you would expect only AB to play. Such was the quality. He looks such a fantastic player when he's attacking. AB has been his favourite since he started cricket at U16 levels. I hope he follows his path, how he goes on about things on field.
 
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Btw I felt for Dale Steyn too. The look on his face was sympathy evoking. He's been my favourite bowler. The man who would terrorise the batsmen, he couldn't believe the thrashing he was receiving at the hands of Babar.
 
Babar is playing good when others are falling apart around him like he did in the loosing cause against NZ. Though it was a top class knock here, he needs to do it on a consistent basis inthis series to be compared with Kohli
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mark Nicholas "I've got so much admiration for Hasan Ali" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SAvPAK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SAvPAK</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1084086614069006336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Why does Mark Nicholas have so much admiration for Hasan Ali ??

Well done to Babar though.He has been one bright light in this dark tour apart from Shan Masood.Just needs to start converting those 50s to 100s and i have faith in him.
 
Babar is playing good when others are falling apart around him like he did in the loosing cause against NZ. Though it was a top class knock here, he needs to do it on a consistent basis inthis series to be compared with Kohli

There is lot of space between the best batsman and Babar. No need to to be compared with Kohli at all. Babar just need to score few big tons and it will help him and his team a lot.
 
Why the admiration for Hassan Ali?

Why does Mark Nicholas have so much admiration for Hasan Ali ??

Well done to Babar though.He has been one bright light in this dark tour apart from Shan Masood.Just needs to start converting those 50s to 100s and i have faith in him.

Don't know why this is part of this thread but from what I heard Mark was impressed by Hassan running in with speed and trying to bring Pakistan back into the game after the batting display. His Bowling today was quite amazing as well with him constantly causing problems, Amla was rapped on the pads for a few lbw shouts and was even given once and he continuously beat the outside edge. I think Mark admires Hassan's spirit most of all especially after his exploits in the Champions Trophy.
 
Only a matter of time before he is moved up to 3 or 4 in the batting order.

He batted superbly today. Poor shot to get out though.
 
Same question was asked about Inzamam. 40% of his innings were either at 5 or 6.

At least it was slightly justifiable for Inzimam because he had class acts like Mohammad Yousuf and Younus Khan in the middle order. There is no reason for Babar to bat so low when the batting lineup consists of Shafiq and Azhar Ali...
 
Only a matter of time before he is moved up to 3 or 4 in the batting order.

He batted superbly today. Poor shot to get out though.

The experiment of playing him at no 3 failed in the past. Maybe he feels more comfortable down the order
 
The experiment of playing him at no 3 failed in the past. Maybe he feels more comfortable down the order

He was thrust in at number 3 as a total rookie. Now things are different, he has gained some experience and has gained confidence after some good performances. 3 is too high though, he should be number 4.
 
Don't know why this is part of this thread but from what I heard Mark was impressed by Hassan running in with speed and trying to bring Pakistan back into the game after the batting display. His Bowling today was quite amazing as well with him constantly causing problems, Amla was rapped on the pads for a few lbw shouts and was even given once and he continuously beat the outside edge. I think Mark admires Hassan's spirit most of all especially after his exploits in the Champions Trophy.

Oh ok thanks for clarifying.
 
I like Assad Shafiq too honestly, issue is we have Sarfaraz coming at 6, so I don’t see any formidable partnership there. I would have Ali open, Shafiq at 3 and Babar at 4, Fakhar can come at 5 for the cameo.
 
I like Assad Shafiq too honestly, issue is we have Sarfaraz coming at 6, so I don’t see any formidable partnership there. I would have Ali open, Shafiq at 3 and Babar at 4, Fakhar can come at 5 for the cameo.

Azhar was actually quite successful in the opening slot, they shouldt have moved him.

They tried playing shafiq up the order, but he didnt do great iirc.

Same with Babar, who did much better down the order.

However, Babar was a new entry into test cricket, they should try him again up the order when he gets more experience.

And Fakhar isnt really a test player, I would rather have someone like Haris sohail or Fawad Alam especially for a brittle batting order like Pakistan. We dont need quick runs down the order, we just need runs.
 
We dont need quick runs down the order, we just need runs.
Correct. As proved yet again by Pujara. In fact greats like Waugh & Ponting were criticizing Pujara's approach. But in the end, Pujara had the last laugh.
 
Need to learn to convert these little gems into substantial ones. I am sure it's a matter of time before he does that.

Pakistan would do well to make him open in both ODIs and Tests. This will allow him to play his natural game (going over top) like Sehwag used to play. And just let him be. One of the most exciting players to come out of Pakistan in recent times.

5 years from now I would say he would have done well to average in mid 40s in tests and ODIs. It will be a bonus if he averages in 50s.
 
Need to learn to convert these little gems into substantial ones. I am sure it's a matter of time before he does that.

Pakistan would do well to make him open in both ODIs and Tests. This will allow him to play his natural game (going over top) like Sehwag used to play. And just let him be. One of the most exciting players to come out of Pakistan in recent times.

5 years from now I would say he would have done well to average in mid 40s in tests and ODIs. It will be a bonus if he averages in 50s.

His natural game is not going over the top. He is a player who relies on finding gaps. He should open nevertheless, Masood can bat at 3.
 
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