[VIDEOS] Pakistan batters and their technical flaws

[mominsaigol]

No one made a thread on this but multiple threads being made talking about Pakistan's batting is terrible and not upto modern standards. I thought I should focus on explaining why.

1) Babar Azam

Babar Azam's technical flaw is his severe lack of Backfoot play. His backfoot is extremely extremely weak which leads to a no of problems.

The first problem being soft dismissals against spin via stump outs. A good example of this is last year's odi series against New Zealand where Babar azam got stumped out 3x in a row.

Another problem this creates is soft dismissals via lbw's, If a spinner pitches the ball on a good length, Babar usually gets put plumb lbw due to lack of a backlift, lacking the ability to play the ball late or simply lacking the ability to pull properly. Another good example of this would be last year's sri lanka test series.

Against pacers his lack of backfoot play gets his exposed if the ball is pitches on the 3rd offstump, He got put against India and USA in the exact same manner playing the exact same stroke. A lack of backfoot play also severely limits your ability to play lofted strokes as your pull shot is extremely weak.

2) Muhammad Rizwan

Lack of Offside strokes beyond your basic jabs and one inside out loft that he plays to the spinners. Extremely weak on the 3rd offatump line which pandya and bumrah have dismissed on multiple times.

3) Shan Masood

Cant play anything below Waist height, also struggles against spin and severe pace, Spin due to lack of a backfoot like babar, Pace due to lack of reactions.

4) Abdullah Shafiq

Gets caught napping on multiple occasions which delays his reactions. Its why he mistimes the pull shot, the drive or gets put plumb lbw due to slower reactions.

5) Saim Ayub

Has a solid defense but lacks timing and power. He also instinctively plays strokes that get him out and is unable to adjust or change/ adapt to different stroke play.

6) Fakhar Zaman

Awkward stance which makes his struggle against deliveries that angle away from him early on in the innings.

7) Iftikhar Ahmed

Doesnt know how to read wrist spin, Has reactions slower then a grandpa hence mistimes easy full tosses on occasion.

8) Imam ul Haq

Struggles against waist high deliveires or >, lack of lofted strokes also makes it difficult for him to aaccelerate innings.

9) Usman Khan

Extremely awkward stance that makes it extremely difficult for him to play pacers that angle the delivery into him. Has some mistiming problems against spinners as well.

10) Saud Shakeel

Loses concentration at times hence resulting in soft dismissals. Also struggles against chest height deliveries as he struggles to free his arms.

11) Agha Salman

Too straight of a stance, lacks flexible footwork movement.

12) Azam Khan

Not existent footwork and strokeplay, Tries to swing for the stands and that's about it, Can't play spin at all.

13) Muhammad Haris

Excellent timing but poor footwork, again just like agha, too straight a stance.

14) Shadab Khan

Holds the bat with a bottom hand and tries to bottom hand everything, essentially turning him into a blind slogger who cant play proepr cricketing strokes, it explains the fluke innings he plays once in every 20 games.

15) Mohammad Nawaz

Poor Front foot movement and lacks front foot play strokes.

16) Imad wasim

struggles on the offside due to lack of strokeplay, Entirely fixated on straight or legside strokes, lacks the ability to drive as well.

Let me know if I missed any batter.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

No one made a thread on this but multiple threads being made talking about Pakistan's batting is terrible and not upto modern standards. I thought I should focus on explaining why.

1) Babar Azam

Babar Azam's technical flaw is his severe lack of Backfoot play. His backfoot is extremely extremely weak which leads to a no of problems.

The first problem being soft dismissals against spin via stump outs. A good example of this is last year's odi series against New Zealand where Babar azam got stumped out 3x in a row.

Another problem this creates is soft dismissals via lbw's, If a spinner pitches the ball on a good length, Babar usually gets put plumb lbw due to lack of a backlift, lacking the ability to play the ball late or simply lacking the ability to pull properly. Another good example of this would be last year's sri lanka test series.

Against pacers his lack of backfoot play gets his exposed if the ball is pitches on the 3rd offstump, He got put against India and USA in the exact same manner playing the exact same stroke. A lack of backfoot play also severely limits your ability to play lofted strokes as your pull shot is extremely weak.

2) Muhammad Rizwan

Lack of Offside strokes beyond your basic jabs and one inside out loft that he plays to the spinners. Extremely weak on the 3rd offatump line which pandya and bumrah have dismissed on multiple times.

3) Shan Masood

Cant play anything below Waist height, also struggles against spin and severe pace, Spin due to lack of a backfoot like babar, Pace due to lack of reactions.

4) Abdullah Shafiq

Gets caught napping on multiple occasions which delays his reactions. Its why he mistimes the pull shot, the drive or gets put plumb lbw due to slower reactions.

5) Saim Ayub

Has a solid defense but lacks timing and power. He also instinctively plays strokes that get him out and is unable to adjust or change/ adapt to different stroke play.

6) Fakhar Zaman

Awkward stance which makes his struggle against deliveries that angle away from him early on in the innings.

7) Iftikhar Ahmed

Doesnt know how to read wrist spin, Has reactions slower then a grandpa hence mistimes easy full tosses on occasion.

8) Imam ul Haq

Struggles against waist high deliveires or >, lack of lofted strokes also makes it difficult for him to aaccelerate innings.

9) Usman Khan

Extremely awkward stance that makes it extremely difficult for him to play pacers that angle the delivery into him. Has some mistiming problems against spinners as well.

10) Saud Shakeel

Loses concentration at times hence resulting in soft dismissals. Also struggles against chest height deliveries as he struggles to free his arms.

11) Agha Salman

Too straight of a stance, lacks flexible footwork movement.

12) Azam Khan

Not existent footwork and strokeplay, Tries to swing for the stands and that's about it, Can't play spin at all.

13) Muhammad Haris

Excellent timing but poor footwork, again just like agha, too straight a stance.

14) Shadab Khan

Holds the bat with a bottom hand and tries to bottom hand everything, essentially turning him into a blind slogger who cant play proepr cricketing strokes, it explains the fluke innings he plays once in every 20 games.

15) Mohammad Nawaz

Poor Front foot movement and lacks front foot play strokes.

16) Imad wasim

struggles on the offside due to lack of strokeplay, Entirely fixated on straight or legside strokes, lacks the ability to drive as well.

Let me know if I missed any batter.

Nice @mominsaigol. Shan one is my pick

 

[mominsaigol]

Nice @mominsaigol. Shan one is my pick

If it wasn't for Azam Khan outshining Shan here, Shan easily has the most no of technical flaws.

He's a pure front foot batter who's backfoot play is non existent. Babar has a weak backfoot but Shan doesn't have one period, meaning he can't play off-spin. To top it off he has chacha level reactions against pacers lol.

 

[Asad T]

Good Analysis:

Babar: If I was a bowler I'd bowl in cutters and keep a leg gully / leg slip. Look what Board / Anderson had to say about him (0:30)

 

[mominsaigol]

Good Analysis:

Babar: If I was a bowler I'd bowl in cutters and keep a leg gully / leg slip. Look what Board / Anderson had to say about him (0:30)

Spot on, just like I said. Bowl top of offstump and it's game over, Dude can't play it, usa and India figured it out. Actually pandya figured out bobby back in 2023.

 

[Asad T]

Spot on, just like I said. Bowl top of offstump and it's game over, Dude can't play it, usa and India figured it out. Actually pandya figured out bobby back in 2023.

And if that doesn't work, get an spinner to bowl 5 decent balls, and then a half-tracker. Babar will hit it to mid-wicket.

 

[ads101]

Does Abdullah not have more faults? That's surely a pretty easy thing to fix.

 

[mominsaigol]

And if that doesn't work, get an spinner to bowl 5 decent balls, and then a half-tracker. Babar will hit it to mid-wicket.

The half tracker thing is because he's out of form and has sucked since 2022.

Before that he could okay them just fine. But yeah get the spinner to bowl the good length, go hasaranga on bobby full throttle and you got him stumped, caught in slips or plumb LBW.

Fraud King. That's the difference between good players and this lot. Good players don't have technical issues. Sure every player will play a bad shot, lose concentration, make errors in footwork and judgement here and their, Even bradman made an error in his final game,

But only crapola players and conmen have such crap weaknesses that have never been improved on.

Seriously 2012 kohli: Lack of footwork means he cannot play inswing.

2013 Kohli: One of the best players of inswing in the world.

Meanwhile 2018 Imam: Cant play short ball

2023 Imam: Cant okay short ball.

What a joke

 

[mominsaigol]

Does Abdullah not have more faults? That's surely a pretty easy thing to fix.

That's why I backed Abdullah but the issue is, Pakistani players can't ever fix their issues.

2012 kohli couldnt play inswing for the life of him, but in 2013 he developed that front footwork on stepping ahead of the crease which made him the best player of inswing in the world, It's why when shaheen kept getting rohit out, he cpuldnt get kohli out with that inswing.

Imam in 2018 can't loft or play short ball and in 2023, he can't play loft and short ball.

So while Abdullah gets caught napping which is why he mistimes drives, pulls or gets plumb lbw frequently, it doesn't matter. His techinque does not matter because pakistani players just can't ever improve and go beyond stage 1.

Otherwise technically he's sound, he lacks innovative shots though which tbf all our players lacks besides saud but he's fine technique wise, however knowing pakistani players he ain't fixing his napping problems.

He hasn't sorted this out since he made his t20 debut and got put on a duck 4x in a row. It's been 2 years.

 

[mominsaigol]

Oh I forgot Sarfraz, Forgot he's still playing.

Sarfi issue is that his reactions are hella slow now, He can maybe play in pakistan but age has caught up to him. He failed in Australia cause those pitched and their uneven bounce means you need strong reactions to adjust.

But in his prime his issue was he lacks a solid backfoot, Even against chest high deliveries he would try to use his front foot and loft it over the keepers head rather then pulling it.

Similarly he would often come down the pitch against pacers and try to sweep them to avoid the short ball.

He's good on the front foot, and is excellent at coming down the wicket and lofting the spinners on the legside but his lack of backfoot play meant he struggled as well.

Although in suprised to see that sarfi's backfoot is not nearly as bad as Babar's lol, and they call him king. If sarfi learned some backfoot strokes like playing it late or cutting it, He could have become a gun batsmen for pakistan .

However that's besides the point. You know things are bad when a keeper who at one point was a tailender and had to improve his batting to make his way into the team in 2014 has a better backfoot play then a king who's a specialist no 3 and is compared to virat kohli

 

[gibsyhesperis]

Interesting thread — a long-standing problem — we’ve had great bowlers over the years but a handful (if that) great batsman.

Interesting contrast with India who have the most technically correct batsman — a legacy throughout their history from Hazare (and before) through Gavaskar, to Tendulkar and now players like Jaiswal.
Wonderful documentary on Sky by Nasser Hussain about Bombay/Mumbai batting.

Kamran Abassi wrote about this in his book on Pakistani cricket — unorthodoxy can work well for bowlers but there are very few, if any, great unorthodox batsman throughout history.

I guess the problem is phenomena of a lack of coaching at an early age and no decent first class structure.

 

[mominsaigol]

Interesting thread — a long-standing problem — we’ve had great bowlers over the years but a handful (if that) great batsman.

Interesting contrast with India who have the most technically correct batsman — a legacy throughout their history from Hazare (and before) through Gavaskar, to Tendulkar and now players like Jaiswal.
Wonderful documentary on Sky by Nasser Hussain about Bombay/Mumbai batting.

Kamran Abassi wrote about this in his book on Pakistani cricket — unorthodoxy can work well for bowlers but there are very few, if any, great unorthodox batsman throughout history.

I guess the problem is phenomena of a lack of coaching at an early age and no decent first class structure.

Pakistan has technically correct batters in the past.

Most batsmen don't have technical problems, Like quinton de kock, Warner, kohli don't have any technical problems.

Even sehwag or ijaz Ahmed etc, they have a style that's unique to them but it isn't a technical fault.

Every batter even bradman in his final innings made a mistake, A bad shot, A mistime, bad footwork, Slow reactions etc happen to everyone during games, it happens.

However current pakistan are having ongoing technical issues that just have not been fixed.

Imam ul haq shpuld not be having the same short ball problem for 6+ years now, Similarly Rizwan and babar after 10+ years should have improved his Offside and putaide offstump and backfoot game.

The whole technical issue was not a problem for pakistan until recently where the entire team has persistent flaws that just have not been sorted.

Indian players don't have technical flaws because when they do like kohli having bad footwork against inswing in 2012, the issue gets fixed very quickly, because kohli developed the shot.

This is not the first time, Rohit struggled tooth and nail against shaheen, However by 2023 he figured him out, just come out of the crease and loft it over his head, problem solved.

It's only pakistani players that gave cronic technique problems, Otherwise I can't think of any other team that has this many ongoing issues.

 

[mominsaigol]

Guys let me try to make it clear. The main question I'm asking in this thread is why the current lot has these technical issues that just have not been fixed.

Every batter that has a technical flaw just fixes themselves. You no longer see someone like rohit struggle with inswing.

Every batter that I've witnessed has massively improved from their debut till now.

Common Examples being kohli, Warner, Butler, Travis, Quinton etc etc.

Yet pakistani batters are stuck on ground zero. Same shot played, same method of dismissal.

Example: saim ayub no look shot outs or legside flick out.

Imam getting dismissed for the 100th on the short ball

Babar: Getting stumped out a million times etc etc.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

And if that doesn't work, get an spinner to bowl 5 decent balls, and then a half-tracker. Babar will hit it to mid-wicket.

Or simply put on the most useless bowler and ask him to bowl senseless deliveries down the leg side. Babar will just glance it into the hands of the keeper.

 

[gibsyhesperis]

Pakistan has technically correct batters in the past.

Most batsmen don't have technical problems, Like quinton de kock, Warner, kohli don't have any technical problems.

Even sehwag or ijaz Ahmed etc, they have a style that's unique to them but it isn't a technical fault.

Every batter even bradman in his final innings made a mistake, A bad shot, A mistime, bad footwork, Slow reactions etc happen to everyone during games, it happens.

However current pakistan are having ongoing technical issues that just have not been fixed.

Imam ul haq shpuld not be having the same short ball problem for 6+ years now, Similarly Rizwan and babar after 10+ years should have improved his Offside and putaide offstump and backfoot game.

The whole technical issue was not a problem for pakistan until recently where the entire team has persistent flaws that just have not been sorted.

Indian players don't have technical flaws because when they do like kohli having bad footwork against inswing in 2012, the issue gets fixed very quickly, because kohli developed the shot.

This is not the first time, Rohit struggled tooth and nail against shaheen, However by 2023 he figured him out, just come out of the crease and loft it over his head, problem solved.

It's only pakistani players that gave cronic technique problems, Otherwise I can't think of any other team that has this many ongoing issues.

“Most batsmen don't have technical problems, Like quinton de kock, Warner, kohli don't have any technical problems.”

This premise is simply not true.

Throughout his career Warner had a technical flaw he was unable to correct — bowlers came around the wicket to him and you could drive a bus through the gap between his bat and pad.
Broad got him out fifteen times across Ashes series — nine of them in single figures and often in the same way.
Warner was quite simply his bunny

Kohli was, and still is, susceptible to the ball that is bowled about six inches outside off and moves away — the dismissal Anderson used against him.
But he worked on correcting this

So, even the greats (though Warner is not a great) have technical weaknesses but they learn to work around them — Kohli scored over 300 runs against teams with Anderson in the line up at an average over 40.

Modern players do not have the techniques of those in the past, but score much more freely — and punish good balls which players seldom did back in the past.

The most technically correct batsman I have seen is Sunil Gavaskar who really had very few weaknesses.
Other greats had weaknesses eg Viv Richards would play across the line to mid wicket a lot — brought him a lot of runs but he was liable to lbw and being bowled, Lara was susceptible to the ball bowled across him (as most left handers are)

Pakistani players don’t work hard enough — quite simple.
Listen to interviews from Kohli talking about the hard yards he puts in on his technique, even now.
Root is the same — constantly working and adapting.

Pakistani batsmen like instant gratification, fed by a diet of T20 cricket where a bright and breezy 40 of 30 balls in the PSL is a “great” (sic) knock

 

[The Bald Eagle]

I think Abdul Razzak was much better technically then our current lot of players.

 

[gibsyhesperis]

I think Abdul Razzak was much better technically then our current lot of players.

Not really — when he signed for Middlesex in the early 2000s he had a miserable time against the moving ball but he did put in some useful performances with the ball

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Not really — when he signed for Middlesex in the early 2000s he had a miserable time against the moving ball but he did put in some useful performances with the ball

I still remember his remarkable last man stand against South Africa in UAE, that was great. Faced all sort of deliveries and still delivered

 

[gibsyhesperis]

I still remember his remarkable last man stand against South Africa in UAE, that was great. Faced all sort of deliveries and still delivered

To be fair a UAE wicket against a country not known for its spin resources (South Africa) is not the toughest test of technique, though the innings did demonstrate much character.

 

[Asad T]

That's why I backed Abdullah but the issue is, Pakistani players can't ever fix their issues.

2012 kohli couldnt play inswing for the life of him, but in 2013 he developed that front footwork on stepping ahead of the crease which made him the best player of inswing in the world, It's why when shaheen kept getting rohit out, he cpuldnt get kohli out with that inswing.

Imam in 2018 can't loft or play short ball and in 2023, he can't play loft and short ball.

So while Abdullah gets caught napping which is why he mistimes drives, pulls or gets plumb lbw frequently, it doesn't matter. His techinque does not matter because pakistani players just can't ever improve and go beyond stage 1.

Otherwise technically he's sound, he lacks innovative shots though which tbf all our players lacks besides saud but he's fine technique wise, however knowing pakistani players he ain't fixing his napping problems.

He hasn't sorted this out since he made his t20 debut and got put on a duck 4x in a row. It's been 2 years.

It was the same with with Mohammad Yusuf. He used to have a horrid time against the inswinging delivery. I remember Irfan Pathan used to get him out ALL the time trapped LBW.

But guess what, he worked on his technique with the late Bob Woolmer and became a batting machine.

So you compare MoYo's attitude of self-improvement with Babar, who, according to some reports, does not like to work with batting coaches. And this is what you get. Babar could have been another MoYo but I think the fame has gotten to his head, so much so, that he's unwilling to really work on himself.

 

[mominsaigol]

It was the same with with Mohammad Yusuf. He used to have a horrid time against the inswinging delivery. I remember Irfan Pathan used to get him out ALL the time trapped LBW.

But guess what, he worked on his technique with the late Bob Woolmer and became a batting machine.

So you compare MoYo's attitude of self-improvement with Babar, who, according to some reports, does not like to work with batting coaches. And this is what you get. Babar could have been another MoYo but I think the fame has gotten to his head, so much so, that he's unwilling to really work on himself.

Yousaf scored 15 odi centuries. 14 of them pakistan won and in 10 of them he remained not out and was the one to take pakistan over the line. Man was the definition of an underrated match winner. He stuck till the end.

Babar on the other hand has only scored a century 5x against full strength teams (2 against England, once against australia in 2017, one against NZ in 2019 and one againat sa)

And pakistan lost 3 games to England and Australia. The sa game was one by tail enders as wickets were falling amd Babar sahib departed when the team needed him. Pakistan won on the very last ball no thanks to bobby.

It's just the one NZ game really.

Yousaf was in a class of his own and it's insulting that people think Babar is better then Yousaf lol

 

[FearlessRoar]

I think our batters need to fix their technique to play better. They need to move their feet and head to hit the ball well. They should play close to their body and wait for the ball to come to them. Babar Azam does this well, but Azhar Ali used to struggle with his head position, it was often stuck in front of the wicket. When facing fast bowlers, our batters need to defend better. They should hold their bat correctly and use soft hands. Mohammad Rizwan does this well, but Asad Shafiq's bat angle was too open, making him edge the ball. And Fakhar Zaman's impatience is a problem, he needs to learn to rotate the strike.

 

[giri26]

Every batter has a technical flaw when they come in or develop one when playing international cricket. The point is what you do with it. Virat after his struggles in 2014 tour to England, called up Sachin for advise and worked on his batting. It is not perfect as he still manages to get out that way, his technique is more tighter now. Sachin himself had issues with incoming deliveries for a brief time in the 90's which Donald and other bowlers exploited. Sachin worked on it with the help of the coaches and with Gavaskar I think to rectify or improve. Steve Waugh wasn't the greatest against short ball but he found a way to work around it to become one of the greats.

No batter is perfect, so what matters is how they work on it or find an effective way of working around that flaw like Waugh did. When the batter gets lazy or does not want to listen or ask for help is when he cannot move forward.