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[VIDEOS] Is Babar Azam the best all format batter in the world currently?

So are we saying Babar is better than Tendulkar in ODIs given his average of 50+? Then surely Imam is better than Tendulkar. What wrong did Ten Doeschate commit not to be considered greater than Tendulkar?
 
i can understand if one or two pitches are bad & boring but this can't happen for so long. captain, coach definitely have a say on types of pitches for home tests.

asking for flat roads, leading team with a draw mindset, acting a fake aggressive declaration. reeks of selfishness & obsession for own stats, at the expense of team's test match reputation.
 
Front Foot Pull said:
i can understand if one or two pitches are bad & boring but this can't happen for so long. captain, coach definitely have a say on types of pitches for home tests.

asking for flat roads, leading team with a draw mindset, acting a fake aggressive declaration. reeks of selfishness & obsession for own stats, at the expense of team's test match reputation.
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Brian Lara received similar criticism during his heydays. 14% of Lara's runs came on one ground in far less Tests. Antigua recreation ground, St Johns.That looks pale in comparison with some of the other guys. Similarly 45% of Mahela's 11k runs came on two grounds. SSC and Galle. 35% of Babar's runs came on 2 grounds. 31% of Kane's runs came on two grounds. These are all home venues.
 
He is a great player for Pakistani batting standards but batsmen like Babar can be found in every corner of India.

They have an army of Babar clones. The 20th best batsman in India will be superstar in Pakistan.
 
Mamoon said:
He is a great player for Pakistani batting standards but batsmen like Babar can be found in every corner of India.

They have an army of Babar clones. The 20th best batsman in India will be superstar in Pakistan.
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No Indian is ranked in the top 5 today in Tests. Many Indian fans have become very sour as a result towards arguably the best all format batsman in the world and their insecurity speaks volumes. Babar is underrated, he plays in a terrible line up with no support or supreme batting culture in his nation. You expected him to score runs during the schedule of the last 12 months and he has done that to prove himself, why are there so many people still moaning?
 
Simon Doull openly called on air "Does Babar ask for such flat tracks to improve his stats? Lol
 
Devadwal said:
Simon Doull openly called on air "Does Babar ask for such flat tracks to improve his stats? Lol
Click to expand...

Well, he has below 40 avg when playing away & 70 plus when playing in Pakistan. Why won't he ask to have these flat roads? Reminds me of Mahela , who used to score heavily at home.

Cashing in big time even though not made many match changing contributions in 2022.
 
Buffet said:
Well, he has below 40 avg when playing away & 70 plus when playing in Pakistan. Why won't he ask to have these flat roads? Reminds me of Mahela , who used to score heavily at home.

Cashing in big time even though not made many match changing contributions in 2022.
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You are a guy who use to get the Kleenex out when it came to ICC rankings, what happened now Lord insect ?
 
James said:
I heard that too!
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We don’t know if it is true but regardless, it’s like saying hey why is Jimmy asking for greentops. If a pitch has juice in it for a bowler or if a pitch is a road for a batter, does that mean we can show up and do well to?
 
Buffet said:
Well, he has below 40 avg when playing away & 70 plus when playing in Pakistan. Why won't he ask to have these flat roads? Reminds me of Mahela , who used to score heavily at home.

Cashing in big time even though not made many match changing contributions in 2022.
Click to expand...

Kohli also averages 41 when batting away.
 
shamaan said:
Kohli also averages 41 when batting away.
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He does not average 70-80 while batting at home. Commentators will surely ask the same question if Indians were making flat roads and Kohli was averaging 70-80 at home.
 
Buffet said:
He does not average 70-80 while batting at home. Commentators will surely ask the same question if Indians were making flat roads and Kohli was averaging 70-80 at home.
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He averages 60 which is still pretty good.
Labuschagne averages 70 at home
 
Time to show it tmrw with a century and a win for pakistan
 
Buffet said:
Well, he has below 40 avg when playing away & 70 plus when playing in Pakistan. Why won't he ask to have these flat roads? Reminds me of Mahela , who used to score heavily at home.

Cashing in big time even though not made many match changing contributions in 2022.
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Mahela was a big match player and performed in pressure situation. Lets see if Babar can finally deliver because his team is looking for their first home test win in last 9 matches.
 
Babar Azam c Latham b Bracewell 27 (41b 5x4 0x6 ) SR: 65.85

This guy is the biggest choker Pakistan has produced since Yousuf.
 
Hence proved Babar Azam cant deliver in pressure situation. He is only good for 1st innings when there is no pressure. This was best chance for him to prove haters wrong, but he bottles it when team needed the most.
 
These guys need to be sent back and get their physical, mental and spiritual fitness checked out.
 
Disappointing end for Babar

<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/wnadyf" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%" allowfullscreen style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>
 
Babar Azam went from: is he the best batsmen to, has he turned into a Barber Balan...
 
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can you pause this Thread and resume it when babar really turn into best all format batter in the world
 
He’s on a disappointing run of 2nd innings dismissals. Needs to sort this out.
 
Only on statistics. Otherwise his average of 50 is equivalent to 45 from any of the batsman of top 6 teams in the world currently.
 
Hate to say this, but he scores a lot of soft runs. Never around when things are on the line. When the team needs to win or save a match. Especially in Tests.
 
Fake King fails again.. When his team needed him the most.!!
Looks like [MENTION=43051]Mobashir[/MENTION] will be busy for few more days.
 
What has he even done in his career except accumulating stats against minnows or on flattest tracks? Is Ashwin level batsman outside home.
 
Ab Fan said:
Only on statistics. Otherwise his average of 50 is equivalent to 45 from any of the batsman of top 6 teams in the world currently.
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He never averaged 50 in test cricket. He played back to back 3 series at home on flat pitches and averages 48.6 now.

That's best he can get. High 40s avg in purple patch, favorable conditions.

Like I said some time back, I will be surprised if he averages over 50.

He is and will remain mid 40s batsman in test cricket. A great batsman for Pakistan.
 
Should settle the debate now and lay to rest the comparisons with kohli. Babar azam, I reiterate, scores soft runs. This guy has played 46 tests, is 28 years old. It’s almost middle phase of his career, can’t expect to turn around things drastically.
 
Babar keeps disappointing when it matters. 4th innings runs under pressure define an elite batsman and apart from one or two innings in a large sample, Babar has not shown he has what it takes.

That’s fine. We will still take him. Soft runs also matter. But to consider him elite in tests, no.
 
Softie chokes again. He should've saved at least 1 Test from the 5 vs ENG and NZ.

His career is a prime example of why it's not always helpful to only look at a player's raw averages. Impact must be assessed too and Babar too often goes missing at decisive moments.
 
kumjsr said:
He never averaged 50 in test cricket. He played back to back 3 series at home on flat pitches and averages 48.6 now.

That's best he can get. High 40s avg in purple patch, favorable conditions.

Like I said some time back, I will be surprised if he averages over 50.

He is and will remain mid 40s batsman in test cricket. A great batsman for Pakistan.
Click to expand...

Yes, he simply doesn't have it in him to become a elite level great test batsman. :inti
 
shaz619 said:
No Indian is ranked in the top 5 today in Tests. Many Indian fans have become very sour as a result towards arguably the best all format batsman in the world and their insecurity speaks volumes. Babar is underrated, he plays in a terrible line up with no support or supreme batting culture in his nation. You expected him to score runs during the schedule of the last 12 months and he has done that to prove himself, why are there so many people still moaning?
Click to expand...

Babar is a very good player, but he is not the best all format batsman in the world. Not even close. That is the delusion of his supporters.

As I keep saying, the problem is not Babar. He is doing his best. The problem is that he is not as good as his fans think.

He has been endlessly compared to players like Kohli & Smith even though he is clearly several notches below them in terms of talent, skill & game awareness.

Pakistan has zero talent as far as batsmen are concerned. It was very easy for someone like Babar to standout when his competition was players like Hafeez, Malik, Umar Akmal, Shehzad, Maqsood etc. He was immediately branded as the golden boy of Pakistan cricket & given a free ride.

He did not have players like Kohli, Smith, Root, Williamson, Pujara, Rohit, Warner etc. to compete with. If he did, he would have played less than 50% of the games he has played for Pakistan so far.

Pakistani fans should appreciate Babar for what he is. A fine batsman but there are dozens of batsmen of his level all over the world & probably more than a dozen in India alone.

A good batsman by international standards is an amazing batsman for Pakistani standards. We should be grateful that we have Babar because considering our usual standards, we could do a lot worse.

The problem with overrating Babar is that it leads to unnecessary criticism. It is not his fault that he is not as good as Kohli, Smith etc.
 
I don't blame him for 2nd innings failures. He is a good batsman. But he still has a lot to prove. Fan girl like Arooj put him on a pedestal way early in his career. Smith is considered next to Bradman in Tests. Somehow he is being compared with Babar. Also in ODIs Kohli is a certified ATG. Root is one of the most versatile player going around playing well in different conditions. Genuine match winner.
 
Mamoon said:
Babar is a very good player, but he is not the best all format batsman in the world. Not even close. That is the delusion of his supporters.

As I keep saying, the problem is not Babar. He is doing his best. The problem is that he is not as good as his fans think.

He has been endlessly compared to players like Kohli & Smith even though he is clearly several notches below them in terms of talent, skill & game awareness.

Pakistan has zero talent as far as batsmen are concerned. It was very easy for someone like Babar to standout when his competition was players like Hafeez, Malik, Umar Akmal, Shehzad, Maqsood etc. He was immediately branded as the golden boy of Pakistan cricket & given a free ride.

He did not have players like Kohli, Smith, Root, Williamson, Pujara, Rohit, Warner etc. to compete with. If he did, he would have played less than 50% of the games he has played for Pakistan so far.

Pakistani fans should appreciate Babar for what he is. A fine batsman but there are dozens of batsmen of his level all over the world & probably more than a dozen in India alone.

A good batsman by international standards is an amazing batsman for Pakistani standards. We should be grateful that we have Babar because considering our usual standards, we could do a lot worse.

The problem with overrating Babar is that it leads to unnecessary criticism. It is not his fault that he is not as good as Kohli, Smith etc.
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Babar does have an issue of being a bit of a softie in Tests n not playing many match saving or winning knocks but saying there's a dozen batsman in India who can bat like him is extreme.

Likes of Pujara n Rahane have been dropped. Babar may not be the level of Root Williamson Smith prime Kohli in Tests but he's the best of the rest.

In current form Babar is defo top 5 in the world in Tests and ODIs
 
Mamoon said:
Babar is a very good player, but he is not the best all format batsman in the world. Not even close. That is the delusion of his supporters.

As I keep saying, the problem is not Babar. He is doing his best. The problem is that he is not as good as his fans think.

He has been endlessly compared to players like Kohli & Smith even though he is clearly several notches below them in terms of talent, skill & game awareness.

Pakistan has zero talent as far as batsmen are concerned. It was very easy for someone like Babar to standout when his competition was players like Hafeez, Malik, Umar Akmal, Shehzad, Maqsood etc. He was immediately branded as the golden boy of Pakistan cricket & given a free ride.

He did not have players like Kohli, Smith, Root, Williamson, Pujara, Rohit, Warner etc. to compete with. If he did, he would have played less than 50% of the games he has played for Pakistan so far.

Pakistani fans should appreciate Babar for what he is. A fine batsman but there are dozens of batsmen of his level all over the world & probably more than a dozen in India alone.

A good batsman by international standards is an amazing batsman for Pakistani standards. We should be grateful that we have Babar because considering our usual standards, we could do a lot worse.

The problem with overrating Babar is that it leads to unnecessary criticism. It is not his fault that he is not as good as Kohli, Smith etc.
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Bar Smith lot of the Aussies are HTBs. England just now have found some half decent bats bar Root . India best batter in Tests is Rishabh Pant. Pujara Rahane Kohli all on the decline.
 
Adil_94 said:
Babar does have an issue of being a bit of a softie in Tests n not playing many match saving or winning knocks but saying there's a dozen batsman in India who can bat like him is extreme.

Likes of Pujara n Rahane have been dropped. Babar may not be the level of Root Williamson Smith prime Kohli in Tests but he's the best of the rest.

In current form Babar is defo top 5 in the world in Tests and ODIs
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ODIs yes.

Tests no.
 
dravidthewall said:
Hence proved Babar Azam cant deliver in pressure situation. He is only good for 1st innings when there is no pressure. This was best chance for him to prove haters wrong, but he bottles it when team needed the most.
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That's the difference between Younis and other Pakistani batters.
 
He is still by far the best all format batter in good batting conditions...

Tests over thankfully, mickey mouse cricket coming up...get ready for big daddy 100s from him now...

:inti
 
Master Blaster said:
He is still by far the best all format batter in good batting conditions...

Tests over thankfully, mickey mouse cricket coming up...get ready for big daddy 100s from him now...

:inti
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Also, better than Tendulkar as per some folks over here in ODIs already. :91:
 
He plays a captivating and seductive innings until he gets out on a ball that most elite batters should be able to handle.

The reason for his dismissals is, unfortunately, his mental and technical issues when it comes to Test batting. Therefore, he should give up the captaincy and work on improving these aspects.

He can reach elite status if he concentrates exclusively on his batting. He can become an outstanding batsman with more practice, but I doubt he has the same potential with his captaincy.
 
Adil_94 said:
Which 5 in Tests would u take over him on current form.

Not their historical performances
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Smith, Root, Williamson, Labuschagne, Pant, Bairstow would be rated higher in tests.

In ODIs, he is at least top 3, if not #1.

In T20s, he won't be in top 20.
 
shamaan said:
He averages 60 which is still pretty good.
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Not sure what point you are arguing here?

Kohli average of 60 came on turning tracks where 9-10 batsmen are not scoring runs for fun. It came on pitches where visiting teams are not scoring runs for fun. Kohli has plenty of dominating away series with multiple tons against good bowling units. Not the case with Babar.

There is a good reason no one even speculated that Kohli ordered flat pitches in India to boost his average. It may not be true, but commentators and fans are asking this questions from Babar based on something. Labuschagne is not a captain and irrelevant here.
 
shamaan said:
Is that Babar fault he's past his peak blame the selectors.
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You didn't get it.

What I meant above was that Kohli is way past his peak for years now and even then his away average is 41 while Babar who is probably at peak of his powers, is averaging less than 40 or whatever it is.

Not sure if Kohli will play another away test though.
 
cricketjoshila said:
Smith
Labuschagne
Williamson
Warner
Pant
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Travis Head. In the last one year 3 man of the matches 1 man of the series awards. Highest by any. All in winning causes. Babar in his entire career 1 man of the match (in a drawn test) 0 man of the series awards.
 
cricketjoshila said:
Smith
Labuschagne
Williamson
Warner
Pant
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Smith is fair but the other Aussie bats are also HTBs who average 60 and 70 at home but are just okay outside Aus generally.

Just that Aus has one of the best pace attacks in home conditions so they'll naturally contribute to more wins esp at home.
 
The thing with Babar Azam is that he was, is and would always be good.

But he is supposed to be better.
 
Highest average amongst Asian batters in the history of ODIs (minimum 20 innings)

Babar Azam 59.87
Virat Kohli 57.47
Imam-ul-Haq 51.81
MS Dhoni 50.57
 
jnaveen1980 said:
Travis Head. In the last one year 3 man of the matches 1 man of the series awards. Highest by any. All in winning causes. Babar in his entire career 1 man of the match (in a drawn test) 0 man of the series awards.
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Shahrukh Khan has 8 filmfare awards, add that too.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
Bad example of an anology
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Just trying to tell you how useless such awards are. Consistency matters in sports. All the goats, be it Jordan, Djokovic, Messi or Hamilton. They are not famous for their awards but due to their unreal consistency of performing day in day out. So does Babar and the likes of Kohli, De Villiers, Tendulkar, Richards have done it in the past.
 
heddie19 said:
Just trying to tell you how useless such awards are. Consistency matters in sports. All the goats, be it Jordan, Djokovic, Messi or Hamilton. They are not famous for their awards but due to their unreal consistency of performing day in day out. So does Babar and the likes of Kohli, De Villiers, Tendulkar, Richards have done it in the past.
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Not useless. It gives a measure of your contribution. May have flaws. It gives a decent idea. Australia won the first test because of his invaluable counter attacking innings on a lively pitch. His 50 there is far more valubale than a 150 on a road.
 
Babar scores in his last 4 ODIs, including today's one:

74
57
91
66

Considering three of those ODIs were against Netherlands and the one today was at home in favourable conditions, he should have scored two centuries, at least. To miss out on a century in four consecutive innings is poor, especially when you consider that ODI is his best format.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
Not useless. It gives a measure of your contribution. May have flaws. It gives a decent idea. Australia won the first test because of his invaluable counter attacking innings on a lively pitch. His 50 there is far more valubale than a 150 on a road.
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Yes becouse certain players ask for roads.
 
heddie19 said:
Just trying to tell you how useless such awards are. Consistency matters in sports. All the goats, be it Jordan, Djokovic, Messi or Hamilton. They are not famous for their awards but due to their unreal consistency of performing day in day out. So does Babar and the likes of Kohli, De Villiers, Tendulkar, Richards have done it in the past.
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Messi and Ronaldo are not goats for thier awards lol.
 
Babar is not best at any format if he can’t play spin. He needs to go back to the drawing board and work on that
 
Iceland Cricket has Babar as 12th man in Pak All Time ODI XI:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Today we announce our Pakistani ODI team of all time: <br><br>S Anwar<br>Z Abbas<br>I Ul Haq<br>J Miandad<br>M Yousuf<br>I Khan (c)<br>S Afridi<br>M Khan (WK)<br>W Akram<br>W Younas<br>S Mushtaq<br><br>Drinks boys: B Azam, M Hafeez and Shoaib Malik</p>— Iceland Cricket (@icelandcricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/icelandcricket/status/1612113259988926467?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
ex-q-zit said:
Iceland Cricket has Babar as 12th man in Pak All Time ODI XI:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Today we announce our Pakistani ODI team of all time: <br><br>S Anwar<br>Z Abbas<br>I Ul Haq<br>J Miandad<br>M Yousuf<br>I Khan (c)<br>S Afridi<br>M Khan (WK)<br>W Akram<br>W Younas<br>S Mushtaq<br><br>Drinks boys: B Azam, M Hafeez and Shoaib Malik</p>— Iceland Cricket (@icelandcricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/icelandcricket/status/1612113259988926467?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Solid team tbf
 
ex-q-zit said:
Iceland Cricket has Babar as 12th man in Pak All Time ODI XI:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Today we announce our Pakistani ODI team of all time: <br><br>S Anwar<br>Z Abbas<br>I Ul Haq<br>J Miandad<br>M Yousuf<br>I Khan (c)<br>S Afridi<br>M Khan (WK)<br>W Akram<br>W Younas<br>S Mushtaq<br><br>Drinks boys: B Azam, M Hafeez and Shoaib Malik</p>— Iceland Cricket (@icelandcricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/icelandcricket/status/1612113259988926467?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Shoaib Akhtar should be atleast in the squad
He has 200+ ODI wickets too so sample is pretty good and average too.

Anwar
Z Abbas
Babar
Miandad
Inzy
Imran(c)
Razzaq( I think he is better than Afridi in ODIs)
Moin(wkt)
Wasim
Saqlain
Waqar

Shoaib
Babar
Yousuf
Afridi

That's best 15 of all-time for Pakistan.
 
Babar Azam's last 11 innings (most recent first) since some people can only remember as far back as August or the last time we played a minnow team:

66, 91, 57, 74, 1, 77, 103, 105*, 114, 57, 158.

One failure, 6 fifties and 4 hundreds. Two hundreds against Australia, one against England and one against West Indies.

Best ODI batter in the world by a country mile.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
Babar Azam's last 11 innings (most recent first) since some people can only remember as far back as August or the last time we played a minnow team:

66, 91, 57, 74, 1, 77, 103, 105*, 114, 57, 158.

One failure, 6 fifties and 4 hundreds. Two hundreds against Australia, one against England and one against West Indies.

Best ODI batter in the world by a country mile.
Click to expand...

Country mile? :) That is a stretch. Anyway snapshot of bowlers he faced during this massive 11 innings phase which happened mostly at home over a period of 18 months

bowlerssss.jpg
 
shamaan said:
that's babars fault which bowlers are bowling at him.
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That was in response to his claim "He is "miles better" than others". No he is not. Imam ul haq has performed equally well with better strike rate. We have to take these 'bilaterals' against under-strength teams with a pinch of salt not using them to make tall claims.
 
shamaan said:
that's babars fault which bowlers are bowling at him.
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It's never a fault of batsman if batsman only gets to play at home or only on roads or only against poor bowling units, but cricket fans are going to judge performance based on context and won't hype performance if it's not deserved.

Babar is a top class ODI batsman, but not due to the last 11 innings.
 
We're in very lean on batting if Babar in his current state is the best in all formats.

Hindrance in T20s, quality accumulator in ODIs and decent in Tests.

Tbf not many stand out bats across multiple formats.

Think Conway and Latham would be up there given the lack of stand outs.
 
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