The problem is that a lot of Pakistanis become very sensitive on posts critical of Babar. Pakistani cricket fans are far more harsh on their batting and bowling coaches and a lot more delicate with their players. I've been to Indian forums and trust me, Indian fans are far more harsh and unforgiving on the performance of their own players and coaches too, but mainly on the players first because they're the ones who impact the game on the field. I mean, the common nickname for Kohli in Indian forums is a name that rhymes with Brett Lee, and it's fully deserved because of the times he has disappointed in knockout matches of ICC tournaments. No one's spared including Bumrah.
My criticism of Babar is not borne out of hatred. I'm far more critical of Kohli given he plays for and sadly captains the team I support. The fact that Babar is one of the best batsmen in world cricket isn't up for debate. I consider him as by far the most elegant batsman in world cricket too, but that's beyond the topic of discussion. The thing is, while Babar is undoubtedly in the top 5 ODI batsmen in world cricket, he has never managed to influence a match when faced with a big target. I follow international cricket and I've never quite remembered a match when Babar chased down a big total. So I went to cricinfo statsguru to check whether my preconceived notions on Babar were right or not. And this is what I found..
He has never managed to chase down a total beyond 290 in ODI cricket and 200 in T20 cricket. These are common qualities you expect from a star batsman, which he is. And when he did manage to chase down a 200+ target the only time in T20 cricket, the attack he faced was largely a second string one with the first choice players having left for the IPL.
In ODIs in successful chases, he averages 75.84, but in chases of above 290+ targets, his average drops down to 37.75 with no big score in a successful chase.
It's the same with T20 cricket in chases above 200, except for the T20 in South Africa when he faced an attack of Magala, Hendricks, Lizaad Williams, etc.
This is a very legitimate criticism and the distinct deficiency of successful chases of big targets is quite glaring for a star batsman like Babar in international cricket. Kohli managed to make his name in ODI cricket while chasing a 330 target under 37 overs vs Malinga and the Asia cup match when he chased down another 330 score vs Pakistan. AB similarly did so in a few ODIs vs Australia. I remember Rohit chasing down a 360 target with Kohli vs Australia.
Kohli has 7 centuries in successful chases of 300+ targets in ODIs.
AB, Rohit, De Kock, Bairstow all have around 2-3 tons in 300+ run successful chases.
Jason Roy (who I think is terribly underrated) incredibly has 5 tons in successful chases of 300+ targets, all at a mind numbingly aggressive strike rate.
Babar has zero tons in 300+ successful chases. It's not just that he has no centuries, but his overall output drops down when chasing big scores. I think I found Sarfaraz with a bigger score while chasing a big target in one of the scorecards. This is not to say that Babar can never chase a big target, it's just that he has never managed to do so till now and I don't think it's hating on Babar to put forward a legitimate criticism of his cv.
