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[VIDEOS] Pakistan drop Babar Azam, Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi for second and third Tests against England [Update at Post#99]

Have the selectors made the right decision in dropping Babar Azam,Naseem Shah & Shaheen Shah Afridi?

  • Total voters
    56
Babar and Sarfaraz both told to report to Lahore

He won’t play the second Test either
 
Time for Babar to take a break and work on his fitness and few technical issues. Should do him good. He needs to realize that everyone in Pakistan wants him to be the best version of himself.. and sometimes dropping/taking a break is the best way to come back refreshed.
 
Look at these figures and tell me whether you still think Babar deserves to be retained.

If the likes of Inzamam or Younis can be dropped in their careers, who the heck is Babar ?

This is professional sport and there has to be accountability. Only in Pakistan do we hear this emotional dramabaazi about iconic players, experience etc etc.

The only mistake was not dropping him before the series. With the Presidents Trophy ongoing - now is the best time to drop him so he can get some much needed domestic red ball cricket under his belt.

stats.espncricinfo.com

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

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1000024243.jpg
 
Markhor said:
Look at these figures and tell me whether you still think Babar deserves to be retained.

If the likes of Inzamam or Younis can be dropped in their careers, who the heck is Babar ?

This is professional sport and there has to be accountability. Only in Pakistan do we hear this emotional dramabaazi about iconic players, experience etc etc.

The only mistake was not dropping him before the series. With the Presidents Trophy ongoing - now is the best time to drop him so he can get some much needed domestic red ball cricket under his belt.

stats.espncricinfo.com

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com stats.espncricinfo.com

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Agreed. Dravid was on verge of being dropped due to poor performances. He was demoted to 6 in that Kolkata Test.
Babar Azam is not bigger than Pakistan Cricket.
 
kumjsr said:
Seems like reaction from social media trolling.

Babar Azam has failed for just 9 matches. A player of his class should get full series.

Just before that he had scored big daddy century v NZ. Just 1 year back he was scoring in all formats.

Since there is no other FC cricket to play, it would be huge loss for PCT if Babar is dropped.

You need player of his calibre who can lift his game anytime. Team would also benefit from his experience.
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There is a domestic tournament ongoing called the President's Trophy.

I'm not saying it's 90s Sheffield Shield quality and it involves the departments which I detest, but it's red ball cricket nonetheless.
 
Markhor said:
There is a domestic tournament ongoing called the President's Trophy.

I'm not saying it's 90s Sheffield Shield quality and it involves the departments which I detest, but it's red ball cricket nonetheless.
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He won’t play it.

If he fails in that, he will lose his credibility to return. This is the reason why Rizwan didn’t play any red ball cricket either during his ousting
 
Good decision, about time players are given the message perform, justify your price tags or get lost.

Babar in the spare time needs to do some serious gym work with a strength conditioning coach and get in better shape. He should also hire a dietician and get on a body fat loss but strength increasing nutrition program.

He needs to revisit his past batting videos from 2016 to 2021 and then see his videos off late and identify his technical faults.

He has the money and facilities to do all of the above. The question is does he have the will and desire?
 
I feel sorry for the folks still backing Babar. He is the main figure during the worst time ever for Pak cricket.
 
Markhor said:
Look at these figures and tell me whether you still think Babar deserves to be retained.

If the likes of Inzamam or Younis can be dropped in their careers, who the heck is Babar ?

This is professional sport and there has to be accountability. Only in Pakistan do we hear this emotional dramabaazi about iconic players, experience etc etc.

The only mistake was not dropping him before the series. With the Presidents Trophy ongoing - now is the best time to drop him so he can get some much needed domestic red ball cricket under his belt.

stats.espncricinfo.com

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com stats.espncricinfo.com

View attachment 146771
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These stats actually reflect an emerging truism in modern day cricket - Genuine multi format batters are rarer than ever before.

It was in this 2022/23 season , that Babar tried to increase his intent in T20 cricket after much criticism and started reaching for the ball and meeting the ball early with attacking intent

He used to play the ball a fair bit later than he does now.

It has destroyed his Test match batting.

ODI #3/ Test#4 type batters can no longer survive in T20.

Root/Smith/KW all have struggled to make an impact in all formats and Babar is the same.

The more explosive stand and deliver batters tend to navigate multiformat batting a bit better because they don't need to create a lot of momentum to do their powerhitting.
 
Update:

Taking into consideration the current form and fitness of key players and looking ahead to Pakistan’s future assignments in the 2024-25 international cricket season, the selectors have decided to give rest to Babar Azam, Naseem Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Shaheen Shah Afridi. Abrar Ahmed (who is recovering from dengue fever) was unavailable for selection.
 
They tried Aamir Yamin first, and people responded to it by saying “who are you though”

Now they have used Fakhar Zaman.

This agency is the Antichrist of Pakistan cricket
 
BouncerGuy said:
Update:

Taking into consideration the current form and fitness of key players and looking ahead to Pakistan’s future assignments in the 2024-25 international cricket season, the selectors have decided to give rest to Babar Azam, Naseem Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Shaheen Shah Afridi. Abrar Ahmed (who is recovering from dengue fever) was unavailable for selection.
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Resting the big names against teams like England is the right decision. By doing this, they will remain fresh for the all important challenge against Zimbabwe.
 
Rana said:
Trust me bro, I’ve been dealing with this for the past 5 years trying to call out this nonsense. These people can hate me all they want. I will continue to try and expose the truth for these gullible Pakistan fans.
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this agency is hell bent and one of multiple reasons for destruction of Pakistan Cricket. Mickey also has hinted of that now.
 
hoshiarpurexpress said:
Is this real Fakhar Zaman's handle? Is Zaman having same agent ? Who the hell are the current players to decide Selection of Cricket team. Selectors decide who plays for Pakistan team or any international team. The players, especially currently centrally contracted ones should shut there trap on selection issues. Ex-players can give whatever opinions. Not these active ones.
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Rest or dropped? Who gives rest to key players during a series when they are losing left right?
 
pakistani pride said:
LOL what?!?
He really posted this? With all the numbers form Kohli as well.

Kohli is 1000 times better, yet for some weird reasons they keep comparing them.

Imagine Kohli seeing this tweet. Wow these guys are really pathetic.
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Did he say Boobsy was probably the best batsmen Pakistan has produced? Hold my Lassi for Miandad, Saeed Anwar, Mohammed Yusuf, Inzy, Younis Khan and Zaheer Abbas
 
Markhor said:
Look at these figures and tell me whether you still think Babar deserves to be retained.

If the likes of Inzamam or Younis can be dropped in their careers, who the heck is Babar ?

This is professional sport and there has to be accountability. Only in Pakistan do we hear this emotional dramabaazi about iconic players, experience etc etc.

The only mistake was not dropping him before the series. With the Presidents Trophy ongoing - now is the best time to drop him so he can get some much needed domestic red ball cricket under his belt.

stats.espncricinfo.com

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com stats.espncricinfo.com

View attachment 146771
Click to expand...
Considering who is top of this list, there's going to be a few very unhappy people on this forum....
 
Markhor said:
Look at these figures and tell me whether you still think Babar deserves to be retained.

If the likes of Inzamam or Younis can be dropped in their careers, who the heck is Babar ?

This is professional sport and there has to be accountability. Only in Pakistan do we hear this emotional dramabaazi about iconic players, experience etc etc.

The only mistake was not dropping him before the series. With the Presidents Trophy ongoing - now is the best time to drop him so he can get some much needed domestic red ball cricket under his belt.

stats.espncricinfo.com

Batting records | Test matches | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com

stats.espncricinfo.com stats.espncricinfo.com

View attachment 146771
Click to expand...
Yeah, Azam should be dropped, even before his lean patch he didn’t do anything to warrant a star status in test cricket.

This also shows Rizwan despite being the keeper is Pakistans best batsman.
 
Our BABAR, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give RIZWAN this day your daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

Yours truly,

The Covid Bacha Party.
 
cricketjoshila said:
Is it right for a current player, contracted to PCB??? To talk about selection?
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Of course not. From what I understand, this group of players are using the guy who doesn’t have much left in international cricket to speak against the management.
 
hahaha from being compared to Bradman and better than Kohli to being dropped. What a story.

This too shall pass,Babar ;)
 
Correct decision
I didn't think they'd have the guts to drop him during the series tbh
Ghulam has been deserving for a while now. I'm not saying the improvement will be immediate but it's a step in the right direction
 
Bookmark this post if you like but he will be back as captain in all 3 formats a couple of years from now and people will say how matured he has become in his 3rd stint.

Having said that, gotta empathize the amount of toxicity he receives.

A break might help his batting. Even though never thought he was Kohli or Fab 4 level, he was still a very good batsman.
 
YousafTheBeast said:
This agent is an absolute FOB. No other players agent tweets the way he does that too from another players account, someone need to pull him up. A little coward rat that can’t tweet from his own handle.
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If he gets pulled up, it will also put Rizwan (who is one of his partners) in big trouble
 
What a downfall...

Hardik Pandya will be remembered as the guy who pushed the first Domino with that booming inswinger in Colombo , that ended up putting curtains on Babar Azam's con show as the so called best in the world.
 
Doesn’t have anyone but himself to blame. The greed for captaincy was blatantly obvious and I believe he has mentally shot himself now.

I don’t see him coming back. Well done to Zaka Ashraf too, his vision has been realized.
 
Mesozoic said:
What a downfall...

Hardik Pandya will be remembered as the guy who pushed the first Domino with that booming inswinger in Colombo , that ended up putting curtains on Babar Azam's con show as the so called best in the world.
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Must feel nice to stay in a bubble, yeah?

Zaka Ashraf will be remembered for dismantling this team so clinically when an agency tried to go against him and his son.

Rizwan will be the last casualty and his job will have been done.
 
RyanRyan10 said:
Babar isn't among top 10 Pakistan test batters
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Salim Malik, Azhar Ali, Haneef Muhammad, Shoaib Muhammad

Arguably mudassar Nazar and ijaz Ahmed

All of them had better and more impactful test performances than Babar

In odis though babar is one of the best Pakistan produced q
 
Say whatever but this nothing to celebrate. It’s a sad day for world cricket and one of the saddest days in Pakistan cricket. People don’t realise that although dropping is part of a cricketer’s career, for a premier & iconic cricketer like Babar to be dropped around which they created the entire brand of Pakistan cricket in modern era is a huge blow and the toughest decision the selectors could have taken. I genuinely have teary eyes today reading about this whole thing. Deserved or not, it’s a heart breaker.

I hope and pray that Babar Azam with his hard work, honesty, determination gets back all that was taken away from him by conspirators and the real enemies of PCT.
 
Honestly when you're conceding 800+ and losing by an innings with almost a day to spare, there are not alot of ways to defend a purge of senior players who are lacking in form and fitness.

Pakistan are stuck in a bad, bad place right now. I honestly don't know how they will get out of it because there is no hiding in test cricket. Your skill-level and fitness get exposed like no other format. At this point Pakistan are basically throwing things at the wall and hoping something will stick.
 
Bhaijaan said:
Say whatever but this nothing to celebrate. It’s a sad day for world cricket and one of the saddest days in Pakistan cricket. People don’t realise that although dropping is part of a cricketer’s career, for a premier & iconic cricketer like Babar to be dropped around which they created the entire brand of Pakistan cricket in modern era is a huge blow and the toughest decision the selectors could have taken. I genuinely have teary eyes today reading about this whole thing. Deserved or not, it’s a heart breaker.

I hope and pray that Babar Azam with his hard work, honesty, determination gets back all that was taken away from him by conspirators and the real enemies of PCT.
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There's no denying that this is a sad day for Pakistan cricket. You could argue about whether the selectors were right to do this or not. But it's the most stark reminder of how far a batter of Babar Azam's caliber has fallen in the past year. Only time will tell if he can bounce back.
 
Der kar di meherbaan aate aate.

Zimbabar should have been dropped ages ago. Pakistan lost tests and he was one of the main reasons behind it.

Hopefully they don't just select him for next series.
He should earn his way back.
 
This is an excellent decision, well done Masood/Gillespie/Naqvi.

It is so important to protect Babar right now. All he needs is to refresh his mind by sitting out a few matches and he will be back with a bang and be ready to dominate for the next 5-6 years.

It is important to protect his mental health right now and from the toxic fans who clearly don’t want him to succeed.
 
Markhor said:
This is shocking stuff. Obviously players kicking off on social media about selection decisions is nothing new.

But I don't know of any other cricketing nation where agents are publicly lambasting the Board via their player's social media accounts. It's obvious Fakhar didn't write this tweet himself.

This agency must be blacklisted and players told to cease all contacts.
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I don’t feel like the tweet reflects Fakhar’s personal opinion (I hope), but he needs to take some personal responsibility with this.

It goes to show the influence these agents have behind the scenes which some posters have been very vocal about, it’s even worse that they are using Fakhar as their messenger, when his chances of becoming the limited overs captain are not too terrible.
 
How can an active player tweet that? No professionalism. 10 match ban or a year ban should be handed.
 
Mamoon said:
This is an excellent decision, well done Masood/Gillespie/Naqvi.

It is so important to protect Babar right now. All he needs is to refresh his mind by sitting out a few matches and he will be back with a bang and be ready to dominate for the next 5-6 years.

It is important to protect his mental health right now and from the toxic fans who clearly don’t want him to succeed.
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Babar Azam doesn’t have the right attitude to turn it around, he wont work harder or play red ball cricket. The cult worship will only add to his inflated ego, they’ve already taken action which proves this. The first step to improving yourself, is recognising that you need to put in the work and are not as big as you think you are; this is the biggest difference between him and players like Kohli. Behaviourally, Babar has regressed as well, throwing his team mates under the buss and what not, it’s going to be very challenging to come back from it all because a complete transformation is needed, and I doubt he’s capable of that.
 
YousafTheBeast said:
This agent is an absolute FOB. No other players agent tweets the way he does that too from another players account, someone need to pull him up. A little coward rat that can’t tweet from his own handle.
Click to expand...
Spot on. If you have a problem, put up a statement on your own account.

Don't bring Fakhar or anyone else into it. It's obvious the guy has access to all their login details on social media.

I have no sympathy for this PCB administration but this guy is completely overstepping his bounds as an agent.
 
shaz619 said:
Babar Azam doesn’t have the right attitude to turn it around, he wont work harder or play red ball cricket. The cult worship will only add to his inflated ego, they’ve already taken action which proves this. The first step to improving yourself, is recognising that you need to put in the work and are not as big as you think you are; this is the biggest difference between him and players like Kohli. Behaviourally, Babar has regressed as well, throwing his team mates under the buss and what not, it’s going to be very challenging to come back from it all because a complete transformation is needed, and I doubt he’s capable of that.
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This is all conjecture that you can’t prove. you can’t make blanket statements about someone attitude unless you’re part of the dressing room
 
Mamoon said:
This is all conjecture that you can’t prove. you can’t make blanket statements about someone attitude unless you’re part of the dressing room
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Taking the captaincy back, getting so and so to do his bidding about what a tragedy it was that he is dropped doesn’t tell you anything about the kind of guy he is just to name a few things there. In any case, how can you prove he is going to deliver now for 6 years lol
 
Mamoon said:
It is important to protect his mental health right now and from the toxic fans who clearly don’t want him to succeed.
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It is important to protect him from the road pitches where his failures expose his actual ability against good sides
 
shaz619 said:
Taking the captaincy back, getting so and so to do his bidding about what a tragedy it was that he is dropped doesn’t tell you anything about the kind of guy he is just to name a few things there. In any case, how can you prove he is going to deliver now for 6 years lol
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He is not selfish like Amir and Imad. He don’t put himself above the team. If PCB asked him to take over as captain again, he obliged as the dutiful servant of PCB that he is.
 
Had Pakistan been winning Test matches, they could have persisted with Babar Azam, but given his dismal average - the lowest among Pakistani batters since 2023 - dropping him was the logical call.

92EdrNo.png
 
Rana said:
It is important to protect him from the road pitches where his failures expose his actual ability against good sides
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It is important to protect him from toxic clowns who would have downplayed his runs in this series because of flat pitches and no Wood just like they are now targeting him for not scoring on flat pitches. So scoring/not scoring in this series was a lose lose situation for him.
 
Come on Pakistan, this is embarrassing. Out of all the issues you should be emotional about in your country, this what you are having a hissy fit over. It’s so pathetic beyond belief. It’s like the selectors killed his dog or something.
 
Man James Anderson should have used the same agents these guys use, at least the meltdown on social media would be somewhat justified @James
 
Mamoon said:
So scoring/not scoring in this series was a lose lose situation for him.
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That’s the situation anyways for this guy.

Top scorer in leagues whilst his team always falling well short. Uninspiring useless, selfish player.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
There's no denying that this is a sad day for Pakistan cricket. You could argue about whether the selectors were right to do this or not. But it's the most stark reminder of how far a batter of Babar Azam's caliber has fallen in the past year. Only time will tell if he can bounce back.
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I am 100% confident he will bounce back very soon. Hopefully he will be able to use these upcoming months to work on his technique, temperament etc. But the only issue i see is that nowadays we play 3 formats, so he’s been dropped from one format but he will continue to be touring with the limited overs team and be taking part in T20 leagues. So exactly when is he going to be working on his test cricket technique and when is he going to be playing longer format domestic cricket in Pakistan or England?

When we dropped Ganguly, he got a proper break from international duties, got back to domestic cricket, travelled to some ordinary cities in Bharat with domestic cricketers. Grinder his way back to the team and i when i saw him back in South Africa as part of our test team I thought his technique looked so much better and compact.
 
TheSultan said:
What’s India got to do with this? And why are you guys so interested. Honestly. If my country was doing as well as India is now, I would not spend time analysing some next team!

It’s time to evict the squatters living in your head!
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Guys, can’t you get sarcasm? And can’t you connect the dots? Obviously I know that India has nothing to do with this, but I was referring to Mamoon’s earlier troll/deflection thread on how Joe Root will be threatened in India once he surpasses SRT’s record.
 
shaz619 said:
Taking the captaincy back, getting so and so to do his bidding about what a tragedy it was that he is dropped doesn’t tell you anything about the kind of guy he is just to name a few things there. In any case, how can you prove he is going to deliver now for 6 years lol
Click to expand...

Unfortunate part about this whole fiasco. This is a time when Babar Azam needs to show some real character as a man. Something he’s not shown a lot as you mentioned rightly. Sometimes you just accept failure as a man and understand it’s time to grind like you did once. Eve ru cricketer who made it to international cricket went through the process in the beginning.
Few have the courage to relive it again.
 
shaz619 said:
Babar taking it back though was like making a move on his best mates wife :ssa , his batting from around then and behaviour was seflish. The only person he is a dutiful servant towards is Mr. Rizwan.
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I would blame PCB for that. It was pathetic to sack Shaheen after 1 series.
 
Ultimately no player can expect to be continually picked when they are not performing.
The cult of the “senior” and experienced player is such a south Asian curse — it’s if they are Teflon protected against being dropped.
Even a player of the calibre (and guts) of Steve Waugh was dropped when he didn’t perform.

Babar had the capability of being one of Pakistan’s finest players, but is horribly out of form and appears mentally shot.
If he were an English player, he would return to the county scene, play some games, get his confidence/technique back and then return.

Not sure in Pakistan where he goes, amd where he plays, to try to regain his form.
 
Mamoon said:
I would blame PCB for that. It was pathetic to sack Shaheen after 1 series.
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I’ll just leave this here. 🤡

Mamoon said:
Naqvi is a total failure. He did the right thing by reappointing Babar as captain but bringing Imad and Amir back and persisting with Masood as Test captain shows he has has no idea what he is doing. His selection committee is pathetic as well.
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shaz619 said:
Babar Azam doesn’t have the right attitude to turn it around, he wont work harder or play red ball cricket. The cult worship will only add to his inflated ego, they’ve already taken action which proves this. The first step to improving yourself, is recognising that you need to put in the work and are not as big as you think you are; this is the biggest difference between him and players like Kohli. Behaviourally, Babar has regressed as well, throwing his team mates under the buss and what not, it’s going to be very challenging to come back from it all because a complete transformation is needed, and I doubt he’s capable of that.
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From what we hear he does too much netting. The problem with more and more netting is that you can create more anxiety if your timing is off. I think he is a little overweight- not excessively so, and that has slowed him down( a tiny bit) because his muscle memory isn't synched with his slightly overweight body. These are tiny margins and that's all it takes.
 
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