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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
Bewal Express said:
That is the difficult part. Our Domestic scene has all the competitive elements of the Derbyshire League division 2 championship. These clowns wrecked a system which could have allowed real competition as it evolved.
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That’s a slight on Derbyshire league division two, have you seen some of the teams and their ground setup better than some of Pakistan domestic teams
 
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 needs rest mentally and physically.
 
The x factors are out not that they helped ticket sales
Shahid afridi was dropped himself every time pakistan got knocked out of a tournament etc
Hopefully the team is now better than the sum of its parts and we can perform like cornered tigers again
 
I hear they are re using the same track.

If yes, Sarfaraz Ahmed should have played. He is a v good player of spin.
 
cricketjoshila said:
I hear they are re using the same track.

If yes, Sarfaraz Ahmed should have played. He is a v good player of spin.
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hain???

Bhai if they r using the same pitch, I would say no one from Pakistan should even play or else some new records are going to be broken soon!
 
riddu said:
Shafique
Hurraira
Masood
Ghulam
Shakeel
Rizwan
Agha
Jamal
Mumtaz
Noman
Sajid
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Bro? What sort of lineup is this? 3 spinners + 1 pace bowling allrounder + 1 spin allrounder in agha + 2 extra spin options in saim and Saud on a road track? Do you want England to set a new record and make 1000+?

6 spinners in a lineup lol
 
mominsaigol said:
Bro? What sort of lineup is this? 3 spinners + 1 pace bowling allrounder + 1 spin allrounder in agha + 2 extra spin options in saim and Saud on a road track? Do you want England to set a new record and make 1000+?

6 spinners in a lineup lol
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they are going to play with "one tip out" rule this time :ROFLMAO:
 
A stupid decision that will be reversed soon.

Instead of bringing back experience into the team, they’ve made it even more inexperienced and added to the chaos.

Next up should be Rizwan, so Pakistan can proudly claim being no1 ranked test team when it comes to lack of experience.

Test cricket is not for rookies. This will backfire hard!!

What they should have done is called up Abid Ali, Imam, Asad Shafique, Yasir Shah, Nauman Ali and Abbas. Instead they’ve done the opposite.
 
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cricketjoshila said:
Who are uncapped in the new squad? Any interesting new kid?
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Huraira is good. He has problems with the left arm angle going away from him on a length, but England don’t have any seamer like that. Generally, the boy is a talent.

Haseebullah if he plays isn’t ready for international cricket. He needs at least another 3 years.

Kamran is a good batsman but is a poor starter, he plays well once he is in at the crease.

Mehran won’t play and shouldn’t play. He needs 4 seasons of red ball FC. I would rather take Zafar Gohar instead of him. He’s a T20 prospect, a bit like Santner.
 
Farabi said:
A stupid decision that will be reversed soon.
Instead of bringing back experience into the team, they’ve made it even more inexperienced and added to the chaos.

Next up should be Rizwan, so Pakistan can proudly claim being no1 ranked test team when it comes to lack of experience.

Test cricket is not for rookies. This will backfire hard!!

What they should have done is called up Abid Ali, Imam, Asad Shafique, Yasir Shah, Nauman Ali and Abbas. Instead they’ve done the opposite.
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Asad shafique is finished so is Yasir Shah and abid Ali.

Only Imam has a case but he's useless on such a road pitch where bazzballing will be done.

Only makes sense to bring Imam if the pitch is balanced
 
mominsaigol said:
Asad shafique is finished so is Yasir Shah and abid Ali.

Only Imam has a case but he's useless on such a road pitch where bazzballing will be done.

Only makes sense to bring Imam if the pitch is balanced
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I don't think Pakistan has anyone to bazball other than Shan masood on a good day. Imam can do the role of Pujara and others can attack around him.
 
mominsaigol said:
Bro? What sort of lineup is this? 3 spinners + 1 pace bowling allrounder + 1 spin allrounder in agha + 2 extra spin options in saim and Saud on a road track? Do you want England to set a new record and make 1000+?

6 spinners in a lineup lol
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The funniest thing is if the pitch still ends up a flat patta, then these spinners and PCB won’t have any place to hide.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
I don't think Pakistan has anyone to bazball other than Shan masood on a good day. Imam can do the role of Pujara and others can attack around him.
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Just bat 200 overs.

-----------------

I think shake up should have been done after the BD series. I was surpised to see no shake up after that.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
I don't think Pakistan has anyone to bazball other than Shan masood on a good day. Imam can do the role of Pujara and others can attack around him.
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Naw, they can risk it and bring in fakhar. Tbh poor from saim, He should be the first one to perform bazzballing given the fact that both he and pak media and teammates hyped him as the guy who can get 80 in 5 overs if he wanted to
 
There is no doubt in my mind that Pakistan will win the series 2-1. I wrote the same when there was no news of Babar, Shaheen and Naseem getting dropped because I think they would have performed in the next two matches as well.

Similarly, I also expect the replacement players to perform well and also Rizwan will correct his poor record vs England at home.
 
Mamoon said:
There is no doubt in my mind that Pakistan will win the series 2-1. I wrote the same when there was no news of Babar, Shaheen and Naseem getting dropped because I think they would have performed in the next two matches as well.

Similarly, I also expect the replacement players to perform well and also Rizwan will correct his poor record vs England at home.
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I hope the 19th will clear all your doubts
 
Nasty Naz said:
Just full blown panic and chaos. What players like this get dropped from squads mid series. I am not really going to advocate for Babar being in the lineup but it's humiliating to drop your star players like this. PCB as always, are aimless without a plan.

If Babar and other star player struggle, the option isn't to simply drop them, it's to help them get out of the rut. Espncricinfo had a great article recently that who does Babar/Abdullah or really anyone else turn to get out of the rut when there's coaches/selectors/batting coaches etc. being changed on such frequent basis. As a player if a coach is even telling you try this, try that, you would simply ignore as a player because you know they'll be gone in a couple of months anyways.

Who knows, maybe it's the wake up call Babar needs and he takes some time to fix his technical issues and fitness. I don't know... whatever this Pakistan cricket has been in the past year+, it feels like we are living in the darkest timeline. Anything that could go wrong, has gone wrong and there is simply no easy fixes.
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All the batting coaches and other officials who have worked with Babar ie Gibbs, Hollioake, Yousaf, Wasim Akram etc have confirmed that he sticks to his comfort zone and doesn't listen to advice, suggestions.

In the last few years you have seen a big regression in Babar's batting, his strike rate has dropped, he has become susceptible to all forms of dismissals ie playing away from the body without footwork getting caught behind by the keeper, slips, lbw or bowled bw bat and pad, getting stuck against spinners, getting caught at midwicket, getting caught down the leg side.

Just by looking at him, you can tell he has let himself go big time fitness, diet wise and its had negative repurcussions on his game. Ramiz made him an all powerful unaccountable captain and he abused the power to accomdocate his doosti pyaari Saya buddies and to do away with the fitness, diet culture in the team. It is the captain who ultimately drives the culture and environment in the team. Just look at what Kohli and Rohit have done for India as captains.

The PCB have done the right thing. No one is bigger than the game. I do not buy this argument that who does Babar talk to regarding his flaws, the evidence is there that you can give him the best batting coaches, he won't listen. Also he has now been playing professional cricket for a good ten years now, he should be knowledgeable enough to fix things himself without needing any hand holding.

It's up to Babar Azam now. Does he cry in the media and use his political connections to get back into the team without performances just like how he back stabbed Shaheen to get back the captaincy or does he genuinely put the hard yards in and score so heavily in domestic cricket that the selectors have no choice but to recall him.
 
According to reporters on social media, Naqvi had a harsh tough discussion with the selectors and mentors and was like I have hired you guys to make a difference and to make tough calls, if you are going to just agree to everything the coaches and captains want then what is the point of having you guys around. I don't care if the team loses with young inexperienced players but make the tough calls, I will back you and deal with all the blowback.

This gave Aqib Javed an opportunity to execute his long term desire to axe Babar and Azhar Ali was tasked with the duty to speak to Babar on the phone.
 
There is no Selection committee in the World which will drop big names like Babar and Shaheen. In India we wanted Kohli/Rahane/Pujara to be dropped for ages and it never happened.
So they have really taken a bold call. Hats off to them.
 
Savak said:
All the batting coaches and other officials who have worked with Babar ie Gibbs, Hollioake, Yousaf, Wasim Akram etc have confirmed that he sticks to his comfort zone and doesn't listen to advice, suggestions.

In the last few years you have seen a big regression in Babar's batting, his strike rate has dropped, he has become susceptible to all forms of dismissals ie playing away from the body without footwork getting caught behind by the keeper, slips, lbw or bowled bw bat and pad, getting stuck against spinners, getting caught at midwicket, getting caught down the leg side.

Just by looking at him, you can tell he has let himself go big time fitness, diet wise and its had negative repurcussions on his game. Ramiz made him an all powerful unaccountable captain and he abused the power to accomdocate his doosti pyaari Saya buddies and to do away with the fitness, diet culture in the team. It is the captain who ultimately drives the culture and environment in the team. Just look at what Kohli and Rohit have done for India as captains.

The PCB have done the right thing. No one is bigger than the game. I do not buy this argument that who does Babar talk to regarding his flaws, the evidence is there that you can give him the best batting coaches, he won't listen. Also he has now been playing professional cricket for a good ten years now, he should be knowledgeable enough to fix things himself without needing any hand holding.

It's up to Babar Azam now. Does he cry in the media and use his political connections to get back into the team without performances just like how he back stabbed Shaheen to get back the captaincy or does he genuinely put the hard yards in and score so heavily in domestic cricket that the selectors have no choice but to recall him.
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This situation is totally the making of the entire Pakistan cricket culture/setup which has a historically very poor understanding of Elite class batting pedigree. They just don't seem to understand how to recognize if a player has the ingredients to become a elite level batsman and the itch to have the Pakistani answer to Kohli/Rohit/etc is soo high that they will do anything

So they nominated Babar to be that Elite grade batsman from Pakistan. The desperation to forcibly shove/nominate him into the Kohli/Smith/Root/Williamson class of batsmen was soo obvious to see. Once you are invested in that agenda its very hard to walk that back and you invariably will make stupid decisions to keep believing in these theories. One such decision was to make him a captain and worse give him full carte-blanche authority!. I doubt even Kohli and MSD had that kinda authority.

It was only a matter of time that this would unravel and unravel it did in a spectacular way. I doubt Babar has handled such setbacks in his career before. He doesnt appear to be the sort of guy who is mentally very strong either like Kohli to overcome adversity. Besides that the biggest problem is that his skill-sets are not the elite calibre level to help him through the ruthless grind that is the modern day international cricket while being part of a toxic cesspool that is also known as Pakistan Cricket!. Its very likely that he might get consumed by the desire to prove the entire world wrong and his ego starts writing checks that his skillsets and abilities cannot cash.​

Babar has been very fortunate that he never had to play tests against India (ever) which would have brutally exposed his technical deficiencies as he would have had to deal with peak Ashwin/Jadeja/Shami/Bumrah/kuldeep etc.
 
If I was babar I would retire from intl since pakistan cricket is in terminal decline.

He's better getting a country cricket contract he will be in demand and a high profile player for any team z and much better than likes of saud shakeel and shan masood

Alongside playing the t20 leagues psl , England, Australia, carribean , Sri Lanka etc

It would be a nice steady source of income without the scrutiny and pressure.
 
Rana said:
Imam was dropped recently, well he looks like he will be back

Rizwan was dropped recently, he returned after a few games.

Shaheen was dropped in the 2nd Test against Bangladesh, he returned the very next Test v England.


*Whats the common theme in all of these droppings? Besides the fact that they are all highly connected with the PCB hierarchy….

None of them played any 4 day cricket to work on their shortcomings.


Let that sink in….Babar will be the same.
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Exactly - the people crying on social media are doing so much dramabaazi.

This is probably doing Babar a favour if anything and I wonder that is why it is planned this way.

We never have any continuity. The next series, we just pick the same squad of alleged “superstars”.

What did Rizwan do to “force himself back in the test team”?

What did Shaheen do after the Bangladesh series?

The next series after this, all of babar, Shaheen and Naseem will be back as if nothing happened.

The real game changer would be if at the start of a new series they are not selected.
 
Rizwan should also be rested for the next few months. Let his replacement come in, and show us their talent.
 
Reports suggest Shaheen told selectors he had a niggle & Naseem said he needed a rest , rest 2 were dropped ! Dropping Babar is a blunder imo .
 
Former Pakistan cricketer, Basit Ali said while speaking on his YouTube channel:

"A batting pitch was made for their benefit. It was Babar's bad luck that he was out of form and got out on such a pitch. However, the target was always Shaheen Shah Afridi. It was because of Shahid Afridi."

"I want to give a message to Shahid Afridi that he needs to identify his friends and enemies. Not everyone who speaks with a smile is your friend. You are not thinking about how subtly these guys work. Because you are a devotee of Allah, there's nothing to fear."
 
A viral video on social media shows Babar Azam engaged in a heated conversation with head coach Jason Gillespie, before being reassured by him and assistant coach Azar Mahmood.

Although the specifics of the discussion remain unclear, Babar's visibly upset expression suggests he was unhappy about an issue. Fortunately, the coaches' words of comfort appeared to ease his concerns.

 
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FearlessRoar said:
A viral video on social media shows Babar Azam engaged in a heated conversation with head coach Jason Gillespie, before being reassured by him and assistant coach Azar Mahmood.

Although the specifics of the discussion remain unclear, Babar's visibly upset expression suggests he was unhappy about an issue. Fortunately, the coaches' words of comfort appeared to ease his concerns.


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LOL what does this tourist expect?
Embarrass the nation 24/7 and thinking he can just keep playing on?

Hit the gym and get rid of that belly fat you are carrying around.
 
Rana said:
You can’t replace Rizwan the politician.
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He has been awfully silent since his beloved departed. One would think he’d be in Devdas mode now, but why bother when you got the Bacha Party & Saya to do your bidding, plus there is a greater goal to attain the ring of power.
 
Speaking at the press conference ahead of 2nd Test against England, Azhar Mahmood:

"Babar is our No.1 player. There is no question about that. His technique and ability. If you look at Pakistan's FTP, there's a lot of cricket coming up. So, because of that, the selection committee decided that this was the best time to give Babar a rest. After that, we have to go to Australia and Zimbabwe and there is a South Africa tour as well. So that's important."

"If you look at the fast bowling, this was the third test under new management. Before that we were also struggling as we wanted to know how to get 20 wickets. So now we think we have more options with spin. There were also a few niggles. Naseem had a few niggles and Shaheen was playing a lot of cricket. So we decided to rest him."

"He hasn't been dropped. He has been rested. The management also understands that there has been a lot happening in the last few months. Mentally, even if you say you're strong, it still goes on in the back of the mind. He was willing to play. But it was the decision for him and Pakistan team to give him a rest so that he can come fresh. Because after this, we're playing till April next year."
 
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I don't understand the fuss about this. In the '90s and even the 2000s, it was common to drop underperforming players. They would typically take time to improve their skills and make a comeback, often returning to domestic leagues to prove themselves again.

What's so special about babar? Is he bigger than pakistan and cricket?

Or is it just fan girls throwing their toys out of the pram
 
BaankeJi said:
I don't know why Indian fans troll Babar for that. He was just showing empathy. At least I didn't smell any taunt in that.
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It was not his place to say it. He looked like a fool showing empathy that time. Babar is not even 20% the player Kohli is and never will be.
 
Going all out on spinners suggests it's going to turn big from day 1, let's see if they can make use of the pitch
 
RyanRyan10 said:
Haseebullah doesn't play with intent. @Rana considers him a clone of Rizwan
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He is technically more of a batsman than Rizwan is. But he is a parchi. They want to push him because he is from Balochistan. It’s a bit like an Okayish player getting pushed from Jammu Kashmir or Punjab, but the guy may not look anywhere near as good or as ready as players from all other regions in the country.
 
Azhar Mahmood on the decision to drop Babar Azam from the Test squad against England:

"Babar is our number one player. There is no question about that. His technique and ability are exceptional. If you look at Pakistan's future tour plans, there's a lot of cricket coming up. So, because of that, the selection committee decided that this was the best time to give Babar a rest. After that, we have to go to Australia, Zimbabwe, and there is a South Africa tour as well."

"He hasn't been dropped. He has been rested. The management also understands that there has been a lot happening in the last few months. Mentally, even if you say you're strong, it still goes on in the back of the mind. He was willing to play. But it was the decision for him and Pakistan team to give him a rest so that he can come fresh. Because after this, we're playing till April next year."
 
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