[VIDEO] "I said to Babar Azam at times you are afraid to get out": Simon Doull

[Savak]

Babar has stopped taking risks of late, he relies too much on conventional shots, he doesn't play cross bat shots and put bowlers under pressure anymore.

 

[zarak]

Babar has stopped taking risks of late, he relies too much on conventional shots, he doesn't play cross bat shots and put bowlers under pressure anymore.

I think he is developing a few more shots. Down the track to the pacers and get inside the line and pull. He will be alright. The pressure will make him evolve.

 

[Rana]

Babar has stopped taking risks of late, he relies too much on conventional shots, he doesn't play cross bat shots and put bowlers under pressure anymore.

When did he ever take risks in the first place?

 

[zarak]

Babar Azam is the captain and as a result will bat where he reckons is best served in the team interests and he reckons thats opening

Posters can think what they like but are there really better options at the top than him? I dont think so

What he needs to ensure is he bats with intent from ball one and goes hard at the bowlers which with his skill hes well capable of

Second this. His best position is opening in T20is. He needs to replicate PSL batting in internationals, and we are okay.

 

[shamaan]

Second this. His best position is opening in T20is. He needs to replicate PSL batting in internationals, and we are okay.

But he can produce the stats or close to the stats he currently has at 3 instead.

 

[Zaz]

But he can produce the stats or close to the stats he currently has at 3 instead.

Why would he move down when him and rizwan area a great pairing, they work well together and have a good understanding and partnership

 

[aqeelPK]

Viv Richards & AB Devilliers would also be afraid to get out with the middle order we have.

 

[Rana]

Viv Richards & AB Devilliers would also be afraid to get out with the middle order we have.

Yes. No wonder Babar watched the entire T20 World Cup from the dressing room and wasn’t out there to gaurd our middle order

 

[Zaz]

Yes. No wonder Babar watched the entire T20 World Cup from the dressing room and wasn’t out there to gaurd our middle order

He was busy strategising and leading the team to a world cup final

 

[Rana]

He was busy strategising and leading the team to a world cup final

Ah yes. Great work relaying plans to Netherlands

 

[zarak]

But he can produce the stats or close to the stats he currently has at 3 instead.

Don't think he can

 

[adi_62941]

Babar is not a lone warrior and never will be because of his lack of power in bottom hand like kohli.
He performs well when he is supported by batting partner at the other end.
Harris sohail can support him in ODIs

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

Babar is not a lone warrior and never will be because of his lack of power in bottom hand like kohli.
He performs well when he is supported by batting partner at the other end.
Harris sohail can support him in ODIs

Kohli was always supported by good batsmen like Dhawan, Rohit, Dhoni etc. When you have a stable batting line up you can start taking risks. Pakistan's batting lineup is a joke. Even Deepak Hooda is a better batsman than the ones who played against Afghanistan recently.

 

[Ab Fan]

Viv Richards & AB Devilliers would also be afraid to get out with the middle order we have.

Yes, I was shocked to see AB average 50 at strike rate of 130 in one season for Lahore Qalandar..Never would I imagine de Villiers strike at 130 when he is maintaining an average of 50 in a given season.

 

[Ab Fan]

Kohli was always supported by good batsmen like Dhawan, Rohit, Dhoni etc. When you have a stable batting line up you can start taking risks. Pakistan's batting lineup is a joke. Even Deepak Hooda is a better batsman than the ones who played against Afghanistan recently.

It is not that easy to be worse than Deepak Hooda tbh.

 

[Bilal Ahmad15]

I don't think Babar is scared of getting out. I guess Simon Doull and others think this because he doesn't play many big shots/ go for sixes. Rather, I think that at he moment, Babar Azam doesn't really posses the six-hitting ability and the ability to accelerate that the likes of Kohli, Rohit, Butler, Roy, Warner and other similar T20 openers possessed. And so I do believe he is playing to the best of his abilities and strengths.

The reason as to why I think this is because over the past few years specifically, and also in his career overall, there are two somewhat more common ways I have noticed Babar getting out;

1 - Getting out to spinners

2 - Getting out when trying to play. big shot. Some recent examples in matches are;
- 2021 T20WC Semi Final vs Australia
- 2022 T20WC GS vs South Africa

So I have realised and expected that I wont be seeing Babar scoring a blazing 100 of 40 or 80 of 30 or 50 20 - 25. And I don't think this is a problem, and so the team has to work around this reality.

We can see that everyday, there is constant arguments with the Rizwan-Babar. It needs to be understand firstly that Babar Azam is by far the best batsman Pakistan has, and the way Pakistan cricket is going meaning becoming a T20 society, there probably wont be an upcoming Pakistan batter like him.

That doesn't mean "its a sin to criticise him" though.

He suits best as number 3 imo.

The problem that needs to be solved is that the Babar-Rizwan Partnership is too slow for T20. Babar Azam is fine for the T20 Team, but Muhammad Rizwan, although being an extremely hard working player (maybe even the hardest worker from Pakistan of all-time), he doesn't have very good batting ability, technique, and to me its quite evident that he is now past his peak of his career, which was in late 2019 - around late 2021. He also struggles more frequently with the "anchor" role in T20. He also just plays too many reliance on leg side, its quite obvious for the opposition to counter him.

For me, you cant have Both Muhammad Rizwan and Babar Azam in the team. Looking back, its ridiculously lucky that Pakistan managed to make the recent T20 WC Final with a top order of Babar Azam, Muhammad Rizwan and Shan Masood.

So although Rizwan, once again has amazing fitness and wicket-keeping ability and also a good leader, Im more inclined towards having Babar Azam as the one anchor player in the team. But at times, I debate this, simply because Rizwan looks like the best captain in the country to me.

But overall, Im not a fan of the Babar-Rizwan partnership simply because neither of them possesses the ability to accelerate and be able to hit sixes.

 

[topspin]

This guy needs to stay away from our cricketers and PCB needs to step in here.

This kind of reaction doesn't help Pakistan cricket. If our players reacted like this every time they received constructive criticism, how do you expect our players to improve?

This guys own countryman, Kane Williamson, has a lower strike rate than Babar. IF he is that much concern maybe go talk to Williamson first. Babar has a better strike rate than Williamson in both t20 and odi.

Babar is the ICC cricketer of the year, and this guy thinks that out of all the cricketers in the world, the cricket of the year is the guy who is afraid to get out....

Maybe all other batsman should also follow lead and become afraid to get out to even come near Babar than.

Kane Williamson doesn't play most of the irrelevant bilateral T20Is. If he did, he would be feasting on B/C grade and minnow bowling attacks like Babar has done. This is why you need to stop giving so much importance to the ICC awards. It's a bit like Pakistan's bogus ICC no.1 T20I ranking during the Sarfraz Ahmed era.

 

[Rana]

Good stats

Now can you provide the stats regarding 4's please? As my understanding is that its not only 6ers that count as runs?

Do note that I agree that Babar at times does not hit the big shots but if he's hitting 4's, its not a bad thing. Lower Risk I suppose but still reward. Some may call it smart
Summary - Babar SR needs to improve

Jee sir,

Babar Azam: 355x 4s in 2625 balls faced@ 7.39 balls per 4

Rohit Sharma: 348x 4s in 2767 balls faced @7.95 balls per 4.

So Babar takes -0.5 balls to hit a boundary quicker than Rohit.

Yet Rohit has a +12 sr than Babar, and a -37 balls per six hit ratio than Babar does.

However, according to Babar fans he is a better T20 opener than Rohit Sharma

 

[Rana]

Jee sir,

Babar Azam: 355x 4s in 2625 balls faced@ 7.39 balls per 4

Rohit Sharma: 348x 4s in 2767 balls faced @7.95 balls per 4.

So Babar takes -0.5 balls to hit a boundary quicker than Rohit.

Yet Rohit has a +12 sr than Babar, and a -37 balls per six hit ratio than Babar does.

However, according to Babar fans he is a better T20 opener than Rohit Sharma

According to this, this will be the scores (from boundaries 4s/6s only) in small sample sizes of the two players:

8 balls:

Babar= 4
Rohit=4

16 balls

Babar=8
Rohit=14

24 balls

Babar=12
Rohit=18

32 balls

Babar=16
Rohit=28

 

[Farabi]

Jee sir,

Babar Azam: 355x 4s in 2625 balls faced@ 7.39 balls per 4

Rohit Sharma: 348x 4s in 2767 balls faced @7.95 balls per 4.

So Babar takes -0.5 balls to hit a boundary quicker than Rohit.

Yet Rohit has a +12 sr than Babar, and a -37 balls per six hit ratio than Babar does.

However, according to Babar fans he is a better T20 opener than Rohit Sharma

The stats are skewed due to the grounds both players most play in. You need to retrieve the context to understand it. Can you recreate this view excluding UAE from the analysis?
In UAE, SRs are lower, as evidenced by the stroke play seen in PSL 9 vs earlier editions.
Rohit Sharma plays in India on flat phattas for the most part.
Additionally, Rohit plays a different role due to the presence of other batters in team India.
We saw the level of batting available to Pakistan in recently concluded Aghan series and over reliance on Babar to help play 20 overs.

 

[Saj]

For those who say Doull only picks on Babar Azam:

On commentary today, Doull suggested that Kohli slowed down as he was “concerned about a milestone”.

“Kohli started off like a train, he was going hammer and tongs, playing a lot of shots,” Doull said on commentary. “From 42 to 50 he took 10 balls.”

“Concerned about a milestone. I don’t think there’s room for that in this game anymore. You’ve just got to keep going especially with wickets in hand at that stage. You’ve got to keep going.”

 

[topspin]

For those who say Doull only picks on Babar Azam:

On commentary today, Doull suggested that Kohli slowed down as he was “concerned about a milestone”.

“Kohli started off like a train, he was going hammer and tongs, playing a lot of shots,” Doull said on commentary. “From 42 to 50 he took 10 balls.”

“Concerned about a milestone. I don’t think there’s room for that in this game anymore. You’ve just got to keep going especially with wickets in hand at that stage. You’ve got to keep going.”

[MENTION=2501]Savak[/MENTION] - take note of this as you seemed so sure that Doull only goes after Pakistanis.

 

[gazza619]

Doull is not the type of boss i would want to work for…

But he is totally the boss Pakistan team needs.

Saying it again.

What an honest guy Simon Doull!!! Hard to find men like him these days.

 

[volcyz]

For those who say Doull only picks on Babar Azam:

On commentary today, Doull suggested that Kohli slowed down as he was “concerned about a milestone”.

“Kohli started off like a train, he was going hammer and tongs, playing a lot of shots,” Doull said on commentary. “From 42 to 50 he took 10 balls.”

“Concerned about a milestone. I don’t think there’s room for that in this game anymore. You’ve just got to keep going especially with wickets in hand at that stage. You’ve got to keep going.”

Love the non biased commentary from Simon Doull,
calls a spade a spade, without sugar coating and scratching peoples backs

 

[MenInG]

Looks like Doull picking up new friends in India too...


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">How come no one pointing out strike rate of David Warner?? He is been playing with low strike for quite sometime now…</p>— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) <a href="https://twitter.com/IrfanPathan/status/1645813058483400708?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 11, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Saj]

Love the non biased commentary from Simon Doull,
calls a spade a spade, without sugar coating and scratching peoples backs

Absolutely.

Nobody is safe and to criticise Kohli whilst in India takes guts.

Most commentators wouldn't have the bottle to dare say a word against Kohli.

 

[Firebat]

Doull said that Babar was more aggressive in the following matches. Let's see how he approaches these upcoming NZ games.