[VIDEOS/PICTURES] Babar Azam re-appointed as Pakistan white-ball captain

[cricketmania22]

A captain is ultimately judged by results. Babar's been captain for 5 years now and he has been selecting these players for 5 years. Plus his own form has not been good enough

In Pakistan, there's a prevalent belief that the captain alone is representing for a team's success or failure, leading to frequent changes in captaincy. However, even under Shaheen's captaincy, Pakistan faced losses. Would changing the captaincy have made a difference? And if we remove Babar, do you expect the new captain to magically improve the team's performance? Bottom line is, we we are a poor team. A lot has to change before Pakostan would start wining consistently. You can blame Babar all you want but chopping him won’t solve any issues.

 

[Master Blaster]

Brother Bob played a captains knock.

The only 50 hitter for the team. Among the top 2 highest individual scorers in the match. Broke the world record for highest number of T20 50s. What more can you ask for.

Stats don't lie.

 

[BouncerGuy]

Brother Bob played a captains knock.

The only 50 hitter for the team. Among the top 2 highest individual scorers in the match. Broke the world record for highest number of T20 50s. What more can you ask for.

Stats don't lie.

Yeah stats don't lie and there are some other stats as well, that we need to watch out for, like:

Lost to Zimbabwe in world cup
Lost to Afghanistan in world cup
Lost to Ireland today.

Captaincy has not done any good for Babar. He is just attracting criticism which seems very fair TBH. The results are not in his favor and it is not just his fault, it is the team that he is leading, they are pathetic as well.

 

[aukhan]

New excuse of Babar fans: The Pakistan Team is pathetic no matter who the captain is so lets keep Babar as captain because we love him and want to see him as the main guy.

This same excuse was given by Misbah fans during that dark period of Pakistan cricket. We wouldnt have won the Champions trophy or become a No.1 T20 team by winning 11 consecutive series if we had continued with Misbah and Azhar.

The team is pathetic because Babar is continously backing non perfoming roti group BFFs Imam, Shadab and Hasan. A new captain will bring new ideas, strategies and a new set of players and that might help fix some of the things that has been consistently bad over the last 5 years. Shaheen got rid of world class Test opening duo RizBar in his first series as Captain, he realised the importance of powerplay thats what new captains bring to the table a different mindset or fresh ideas.

 

[mominsaigol]

In Pakistan, there's a prevalent belief that the captain alone is representing for a team's success or failure, leading to frequent changes in captaincy. However, even under Shaheen's captaincy, Pakistan faced losses. Would changing the captaincy have made a difference? And if we remove Babar, do you expect the new captain to magically improve the team's performance? Bottom line is, we we are a poor team. A lot has to change before Pakostan would start wining consistently. You can blame Babar all you want but chopping him won’t solve any issues.

My friend @emranabbas already spoke in detail about this.

Magic won't happen over night obviously. It takes time. But a captain has power in Pakistan, infact too much of it.

It's because of Babar that haris, abrar were in reserved and imad chose not to come back for the cup.

Shaheen wasn't going to be a good captain and I called it because these lads are all golden boys and part of the corrupt clique.

Babar, Shaheen, Rizwan, Shadab, chacha etc

^^ These golden boys are of the same mould and doati yari culture, nothing will change.

Shan masood isn't a part of doati yari but add him to the list as well for obvious reasons.

 

[Saj]

I don't see any improvement in Babar's captaincy.

He's still chasing the game, doesn't want to attack, doesn't want to take risks, has no game awareness and lacks proper plans.

 

[amvbfm]

Horrid captaincy as ever. If Pakistan are to win under Babar’s captaincy when defending totals they must post at least 30-40 runs more than par.

 

[topspin]

He’s a loser of the highest order

This guy goes after everyone in Pakistan except Babar and Rizwan. He’s one of Misbah’s mates

Misbah gave him a debut when no one else would. The guy had horrendous fitness for a fast bowler.

You could hear his fatigue during games when he was grunting, huffing and puffing at 125-130kph.

Misbah gave birth to another imposter.

 

[Rana]

Misbah gave him a debut when no one else would. The guy had horrendous fitness for a fast bowler.

You could hear his fatigue during games when he was grunting, huffing and puffing at 125-130kph.

Misbah gave birth to another imposter.

They are all from the same friendship group

Now running their mouths wildly on social media and sometimes getting key posts in PCB.

Just listen to the venom this guy spouts. He doesn’t hold any regard for guys who are struggling to make a name for themselves in Pakistan by comparing them to how rubbish they are in comparison to world players….but never ever says a bad word about Rizwan or Babar, who are CLEARLY below par T20 openers! Then he criticises other journalists and analysts for agendas when he himself is clearly on a hit agenda against everyone but Babar and Rizwan

 

[mominsaigol]

Misbah gave him a debut when no one else would. The guy had horrendous fitness for a fast bowler.

You could hear his fatigue during games when he was grunting, huffing and puffing at 125-130kph.

Misbah gave birth to another imposter.

Why do our captains have so much power? Makes no sense?

Other teams like Australia and England have the captain have equal power to the management and coach, cause you guys need to be on the same page first before you build a team.

In Pakistan is mostly the captain flipping off the coach and says no my way or the high way?

 

[topspin]

They are all from the same friendship group

Now running their mouths wildly on social media and sometimes getting key posts in PCB.

Just listen to the venom this guy spouts. He doesn’t hold any regard for guys who are struggling to make a name for themselves in Pakistan by comparing them to how rubbish they are in comparison to world players….but never ever says a bad word about Rizwan or Babar, who are CLEARLY below par T20 openers! Then he criticises other journalists and analysts for agendas when he himself is clearly on a hit agenda against everyone but Babar and Rizwan

Hit the nail on the head.

He’s exposed himself as a fake analyst who only cares about getting a job with the PCB.

This is Another reason why we can’t have Misbah employed by the PCB. He’ll find a way to give his friend, Tanveer, a job and he’ll do the same when Ifti finally retires.

 

[Ahmed216]

In Pakistan, there's a prevalent belief that the captain alone is representing for a team's success or failure, leading to frequent changes in captaincy. However, even under Shaheen's captaincy, Pakistan faced losses. Would changing the captaincy have made a difference? And if we remove Babar, do you expect the new captain to magically improve the team's performance? Bottom line is, we we are a poor team. A lot has to change before Pakostan would start wining consistently. You can blame Babar all you want but chopping him won’t solve any issues.

I agree that there is a lack of talent in Pakistan, but this does not mean that we should continue with a bad captain like Babar. You cannot accept defeat before the game starts.
There's always room for fresh ideas and approach

 

[Forum363]

In Pakistan, there's a prevalent belief that the captain alone is representing for a team's success or failure, leading to frequent changes in captaincy. However, even under Shaheen's captaincy, Pakistan faced losses. Would changing the captaincy have made a difference? And if we remove Babar, do you expect the new captain to magically improve the team's performance? Bottom line is, we we are a poor team. A lot has to change before Pakostan would start wining consistently. You can blame Babar all you want but chopping him won’t solve any issues.

Exactly the same argument made by certain posters on here as to why Joe Root should continue as England captain, despite losing everything. Stokes came in and immediately took the same team losing 16 out of 16 matches and won the next 9/10.

Pakistan doesn’t have a leader like stokes ofcourse, but changing the captain in cricket makes a huge difference. Especially when the previous one is a dumb/ stale / timid one like Root and Babar.

 

[BouncerGuy]

This thread is not about Misbah and Tanvir. Please do not discuss them anymore in this thread. Thanks

 

[Usman Chadda]

Exactly the same argument made by certain posters on here as to why Joe Root should continue as England captain, despite losing everything. Stokes came in and immediately took the same team losing 16 out of 16 matches and won the next 9/10.

Pakistan doesn’t have a leader like stokes ofcourse, but changing the captain in cricket makes a huge difference. Especially when the previous one is a dumb/ stale / timid one like Root and Babar.

Big difference. England actually have the talent to change their strategy and deliver results, we have nothing. These losers are only decent at T20 cricket as that’s all they want to play. Some of these players have ended up retiring because they weren’t given NOCs to play league cricket.

Our best performers from PSL are playing these games, yet they look no better than minnows.

 

[Forum363]

Big difference. England actually have the talent to change their strategy and deliver results, we have nothing. These losers are only decent at T20 cricket as that’s all they want to play. Some of these players have ended up retiring because they weren’t given NOCs to play league cricket.

Our best performers from PSL are playing these games, yet they look no better than minnows.

Talent is subjective. That same talent could not win England anything when Root was in charge.

What matters is the environment and outcome.

Fakhar had the talent but it was the right environment and stage for him and he scored the century against India in CT final. We have other players capable of competing with the best.

 

[cricketmania22]

My friend @emranabbas already spoke in detail about this.

Magic won't happen over night obviously. It takes time. But a captain has power in Pakistan, infact too much of it.

It's because of Babar that haris, abrar were in reserved and imad chose not to come back for the cup.

Shaheen wasn't going to be a good captain and I called it because these lads are all golden boys and part of the corrupt clique.

Babar, Shaheen, Rizwan, Shadab, chacha etc

^^ These golden boys are of the same mould and doati yari culture, nothing will change.

Shan masood isn't a part of doati yari but add him to the list as well for obvious reasons.

Harris is a nothing player. Today you guys are rooting for him, after a few more failures (he already had so many) you would be asking for his head. Someone here would call him a patch or a member of somebody else’s dosti Yaris club. Imad Wasim is pretty average too. A guy who has hit only 9 sixes in 45 innings isn’t going to solve your T20 power hitting issues. It’s time to accept the fact Babar or no Babar Pakistan will still lose because we are a poor side. Blaming Babar is an easy way out but hard part is to accept the fact that even without Babar this team would lose just like this.

 

[cricketmania22]

I agree that there is a lack of talent in Pakistan, but this does not mean that we should continue with a bad captain like Babar. You cannot accept defeat before the game starts.
There's always room for fresh ideas and approach

Yes we shouldn’t continue with someone like Babar, agreed, but somehow, we always have believed changing captains would resolve all the issues. From Malik to Younis to Afridi to Misbah to Sarfraz to Babar and lists goes on an on. About time we should accept that Pakistan cricket needs to make drastic changes.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

With Babar we are sure to lose 80% of the game against good sides and without him we still going to lose 60% of the games so it’s still a great improvement

 

[TeymurBlake]

Shan Masood is quite far inferior to Babar has a batter, however he was much superior in captaincy down under.

He is such a poor captain & leader, one must think how far can this cricket board can fall.

 

[emranabbas]

At this point wouldn't even mind having shaan masood as white ball captain

 

[Mamoon]

Shan Masood is quite far inferior to Babar has a batter, however he was much superior in captaincy down under.

He is such a poor captain & leader, one must think how far can this cricket board can fall.

What was the outcome of Shan Masood’s “much superior” captaincy Down Under?

And was Australia getting out of jail at 16/4 part of his superior captaincy?

 

[Mamoon]

Exactly the same argument made by certain posters on here as to why Joe Root should continue as England captain, despite losing everything. Stokes came in and immediately took the same team losing 16 out of 16 matches and won the next 9/10.

Pakistan doesn’t have a leader like stokes ofcourse, but changing the captain in cricket makes a huge difference. Especially when the previous one is a dumb/ stale / timid one like Root and Babar.

Stokes and McCullum produced identical results vs Australia and India for all the Bazball hype.

Stokes is the worst English captain I have ever seen.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Why do our captains have so much power? Makes no sense?

Other teams like Australia and England have the captain have equal power to the management and coach, cause you guys need to be on the same page first before you build a team.

In Pakistan is mostly the captain flipping off the coach and says no my way or the high way?

Not defending captaincy power but Michael Clarke used to be a pretty powerful captain as well. He used to have voting power as selector as well before Warner vs Root happened and Mickey got sacked. Once Lehmann was brought in, they gradually contained Clarke's powers. Dhoni, Vettori, Fleming, Graeme Smith and Kohli were all pretty powerful captains (not Pakistanis)

 

[mominsaigol]

Not defending captaincy power but Michael Clarke used to be a pretty powerful captain as well. He used to have voting power as selector as well before Warner vs Root happened and Mickey got sacked. Once Lehmann was brought in, they gradually contained Clarke's powers. Dhoni, Vettori, Fleming, Graeme Smith and Kohli were all pretty powerful captains (not Pakistanis)

Bhai theirs a difference.

- kohli was a trash captain who needed Dhoni hand holding ti function, it was clear as day Dhoni was still captaining, Kohli got exposed as soon as Dhoni retired, which led to kohli leaving captaincy in 2021.

- The others you mentioned besides Dhoni weren't all that great.

Now about Clark. Micheal clark has power yes but he's an educated individual who had been trained and mentored by Ricky pointing.

CA didn't randomly trust him, they trusted him because his thinking was the same as a captain who had won multiple cups for Australia.

What has Babar won? He has done nothing to gain the trust of the selectors? On what basis should host advice be listened to?

Clark deciding to trust Steve Smith as a no 3 in smith's golden days probed to be the best decision ever in 2015.

Babar's best decison was calling Mawaz his match winner lol.

 

[RyanRyan10]

He’s a loser of the highest order

This guy goes after everyone in Pakistan except Babar and Rizwan. He’s one of Misbah’s mates

This guy had refused to acknowledge Inzamam as a legend. Had seen him on various talk shows during Sarfi era. All he used to do was to moan and whine about selections. There was an instance where journalist Waheed Khan countered him with some stats and completely silenced him during the debate. He was unable to counter him.

 

[Rana]

This guy had refused to acknowledge Inzamam as a legend. Had seen him on various talk shows during Sarfi era. All he used to do was to moan and whine about selections. There was an instance where journalist Waheed Khan countered him with some stats and completely silenced him during the debate. He was unable to counter him.

He was humiliated by Gambhir too.

At the time I felt bad for him. Now I want to give Gambhir a major high 5.

 

[Rana]

Why do our captains have so much power? Makes no sense?

Because Ramiz idolises Imran Khan…and it’s clear Imran Khan was probably using guys like Ramiz to carry his bags.

Ramiz thought he will give that almighty power to Babar and make him like Khan.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Bhai theirs a difference.

- kohli was a trash captain who needed Dhoni hand holding ti function, it was clear as day Dhoni was still captaining, Kohli got exposed as soon as Dhoni retired, which led to kohli leaving captaincy in 2021.

- The others you mentioned besides Dhoni weren't all that great.

Now about Clark. Micheal clark has power yes but he's an educated individual who had been trained and mentored by Ricky pointing.

CA didn't randomly trust him, they trusted him because his thinking was the same as a captain who had won multiple cups for Australia.

What has Babar won? He has done nothing to gain the trust of the selectors? On what basis should host advice be listened to?

Clark deciding to trust Steve Smith as a no 3 in smith's golden days probed to be the best decision ever in 2015.

Babar's best decison was calling Mawaz his match winner lol.

I was merely pointing towards the fact that powerful captains have existed in other countries as well. Do I agree with Babar getting all the power? No
Clarke was one of my favorite batters and tacticians. He was mentored more by Warne than Ponting. If anything, there was some unease and stark difference in captaincy style between him and Ponting. Australia have an excellent system at developing leaders. They have even transformed players regularly like Labuschagne, Sean Abbott, Lyon etc etc
Was Vettori a great captain? Not really.
Graeme Smith was pretty good tbh. Too bad he couldn't rid SA of their ever present choking.
Fleming was a pretty good captain. He did the best with an average NZ team over the years. He was an astute leader who was very well respected. There's a reason Dhoni has him involved with CSK since IPLs inception.

Kohli never captained in Tests in Dhoni's presence. His captaincy and decisions often drew eyes. Like not going with practice matches in SA or Eng and instead preferring net sessions. His tactics weren't that great either (compared to Dhoni) but he needs to be credited with making Indian bowling attack not dependent on spinners. He gave his pacers a lot of breathing space and molded Indian bowling attack as a very good pace attack which had been lacking before.

 

[heddie19]

Tanveer is right. Pakistan is a poor team and Babar is leading a poor team. A captain can only be as good as the team he is leading.

Koi samjhaye posters ko b

 

[Savak]

I don't see any improvement in Babar's captaincy.

He's still chasing the game, doesn't want to attack, doesn't want to take risks, has no game awareness and lacks proper plans.

This is absolutely criminal when someone has been in the job for 4-5 years. How many Pakistani captains have had such backing, opportunities and no consequences for results?

Which professional organization will keep an under performing employee for 5 long years?

 

[cricketmania22]

Koi samjhaye posters ko b

Pakistani fans always want a scapegoat to turn a blind eye towards the reality. Eik bhee batsman siwaye babar kay NZ-C team ya Irish team kay khilaaf 50 nahee ker sakta aur in ko lagta hai masla sirf babar hai.

 

[mominsaigol]

Tanveer is right. Pakistan is a poor team and Babar is leading a poor team. A captain can only be as good as the team he is leading.

And who selected this poor team?

Who's idea was it last year to ignore imad and abrar for nawaz and shafab despite all of Hafeez's order which babar ignored.

Who's idea was it to send in saud and Abdullah last minute with no international match practise.

How's idea was it to bench haris as a backup keeper, considering how injury prone rizwan is?

Who's idea was it to randomly remove tayyab deapite having zero games to play?

 

[cricketmania22]

And who selected this poor team?

Who's idea was it last year to ignore imad and abrar for nawaz and shafab despite all of Hafeez's order which babar ignored.

Who's idea was it to send in saud and Abdullah last minute with no international match practise.

How's idea was it to bench haris as a backup keeper, considering how injury prone rizwan is?

Who's idea was it to randomly remove tayyab deapite having zero games to play?

Sounds like you’re just throwing everything on Barbar. For poor selections selectors should be held responsible too.

Imad thought he as bigger the game, and retired himself. Who told him to retire? And Inad’s bowling wasn’t good enough to play him as an alrounder, so he had a weak case.

Abdullah was included because everybody was asking for Fakhar Zaman to be dropped. Even if you go through PP, most people wanted him to be dropped.

Abrar was undercooked and would have gotten clobbered. Then you would have the same excuses you are making right now with Abdullah.

Also, all the players you mentioned are nothing special. With or without them Pakistan would remain a poor team.

 

[mominsaigol]

Sounds like you’re just throwing everything on Barbar. For poor selections selectors should be held responsible too.

Imad thought he as bigger the game, and retired himself. Who told him to retire? And Inad’s bowling wasn’t good enough to play him as an alrounder, so he had a weak case.

Abdullah was included because everybody was asking for Fakhar Zaman to be dropped. Even if you go through PP, most people wanted him to be dropped.

Abrar was undercooked and would have gotten clobbered. Then you would have the same excuses you are making right now with Abdullah.

Also, all the players you mentioned are nothing special. With or without them Pakistan would remain a poor team.

The selectors told babar to take abrar and take imad and take tayyab etc etc.

Amd no Abdullah was included because babar met him and friended him in List A.

The captains in pcb have always had control over selections, excluding some minor cases like shan lol.

 

[FearlessRoar]

It's only been 2 overs into the powerplay, and he's already introduced the 3rd bowler.

 

[Asad T]

Imad only bowled 3 overs and went at 7 an over. Yet he persisted with the pacers, who bowled 16 overs and went for an eco rate of 10.13. Poor captaincy imo

 

[Markhor]

You can accept sometimes captains make marginal decisions in complicated, nuanced situations that don't work out.

However Babar after 4.5 years of captaincy still cannot get the basics right.

The pacers went at over 10 RPO today but the spinners conceded at only 7. Imad and Saim tied down the Irish batsmen in the middle overs. Yet they were hauled off and the pacers bowled their full quota !

I cannot understand how somebody who's played so much top level cricket can be so boneheaded.

 

[Barragan]

Once again pathetic captaincy.

Spinners went for 7 rpo and had Ireland bogged down, but only bowled the 4 overs.

Shambles.

 

[Barragan]

You can accept sometimes captains make marginal decisions in complicated, nuanced situations that don't work out.

However Babar after 4.5 years of captaincy still cannot get the basics right.

The pacers went at over 10 RPO today but the spinners conceded at only 7. Imad and Saim tied down the Irish batsmen in the middle overs. Yet they were hauled off and the pacers bowled their full quota !

I cannot understand how somebody who's played so much top level cricket can be so boneheaded.

He is worse than club level captains!

Truly clueless.

 

[Master Blaster]

25 ball 100 by Bobby imminent.
Irish cannot escape the babar massacre ...

 

[mominsaigol]

@PakEngFan

So babar easily makes it over sheryas iyer in india because sheryas is a bad overseas player?

I'll give you one final chance to retract that statement.

You can't be serious when this is what babar has been doing for the past 2 years. Unless it's pindi, he's a tailender overseas.

 

[PakEngFan]

@PakEngFan

So babar easily makes it over sheryas iyer in india because sheryas is a bad overseas player?

I'll give you one final chance to retract that statement.

You can't be serious when this is what babar has been doing for the past 2 years. Unless it's pindi, he's a tailender overseas.

I will repeat for the millionth time Babar is far better than iyer.

 

[mominsaigol]

I will repeat for the millionth time Babar is far better than iyer.

Based of what? Please enlighten

 

[PakEngFan]

Based of what? Please enlighten

Based on eye test, based on performances, based on stats. Based on cricketer knowledge.

 

[mominsaigol]

Based on eye test, based on performances, based on stats. Based on cricketer knowledge.

Stats has sheryas having superior performances to Babar in the world cup?

Stats has better overall statistics. A 50 avg and 100+ SR which 56 avg that's decreased from 60 to 56, and is going close to 55 and will probs go lower with a sr that's isn't even in the 90 range?

Sheryas has significantly better Stats in spin play then babar as well? In terms of pace babar is slightly better but only marginally?

Which Stats? Only thing you have is Australia overseas?. Which in that case babar is even worse. Nothing beats his 17 avg.

All you have is an eye test, and sorry to say this you're blind. Sheryas struggles a bit against the short ball, Babar recently has been struggling against 115kph minnow bowling irrespective of delivery.

 

[PakEngFan]

Stats has sheryas having superior performances to Babar in the world cup?

Stats has better overall statistics. A 50 avg and 100+ SR which 56 avg that's decreased from 60 to 56, and is going close to 55 and will probs go lower with a sr that's isn't even in the 90 range?

Sheryas has significantly better Stats in spin play then babar as well? In terms of pace babar is slightly better but only marginally?

Which Stats? Only thing you have is Australia overseas?. Which in that case babar is even worse. Nothing beats his 17 avg.

All you have is an eye test, and sorry to say this you're blind. Sheryas struggles a bit against the short ball, Babar recently has been struggling against 115kph minnow bowling irrespective of delivery.

You started talking about odis than switched to t20 and than you only selected a specific stats. You can please your Indian masters. But anyone who has seen them play and looking at their stats overall there is a big difference.

 

[mominsaigol]

You started talking about odis than switched to t20 and than you only selected a specific stats. You can please your Indian masters. But anyone who has seen them play and looking at their stats overall there is a big difference.

Babar azam averages 56 of 63 balls in every game as a no 3.

Sheryas iyer averages 50 of 49 balls in every game as a no 4

Sheryas iyer in wc 2023 averages 70 of 64 deliveries. Aka 70 avg 106 sr.

Babar in wc 2023 averages 40 and 82 SR which was the lowest ampung every top batter(SENA and India) in the world cup excluding bavuma

Where are you getting your nonsense from?

 

[zaidihusain]

To be honest Babar doesn't deserve a place in current T20 team, he doesn't add any value despite playing so many matches. Most of the time in crunch situations he is the first one to surrender. He will still score tons of invaluable runs for personal milestone but cannot win big matches

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Babar Azam has become the most successful T20I captain in history.


Most T20I wins as captain:

Babar Azam: 45 (78 matches)
Brian Masaba: 44 (56)
Asghar Afghan: 42 (52)
Eoin Morgan: 42 (72)


Most T20Is as captain:

Babar Azam: 78
Aaron Finch: 76
MS Dhoni: 72
Eoin Morgan: 72
Kane Williamson: 71

 

[FearlessRoar]

Babar Azam has become the most successful T20I captain in history.


Most T20I wins as captain:

Babar Azam: 45 (78 matches)
Brian Masaba: 44 (56)
Asghar Afghan: 42 (52)
Eoin Morgan: 42 (72)


Most T20Is as captain:

Babar Azam: 78
Aaron Finch: 76
MS Dhoni: 72
Eoin Morgan: 72
Kane Williamson: 71

PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi presented special jersey to Babar Azam to celebrate his recent achievement.

 

[Energy]

Wow that's quite cringe.

Pakistan players are like school children who are repeatedly told what to do.

 

[RidiculousMan]

25 ball 100 by Bobby imminent.
Irish cannot escape the babar massacre ...

He was just 1 and 0 runs short

 

[aukhan]

Babar Azam has become the most successful T20I captain in history.


Most T20I wins as captain:

Babar Azam: 45 (78 matches)
Brian Masaba: 44 (56)
Asghar Afghan: 42 (52)
Eoin Morgan: 42 (72)


Most T20Is as captain:

Babar Azam: 78
Aaron Finch: 76
MS Dhoni: 72
Eoin Morgan: 72
Kane Williamson: 71

Always read that stats can be very misleading and this proves it.

Sarfraz was the best T20 captain we had followed by Younis and then Hafeez. No amount of stats will change that.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

Sounds like you’re just throwing everything on Barbar. For poor selections selectors should be held responsible too.

Imad thought he as bigger the game, and retired himself. Who told him to retire? And Inad’s bowling wasn’t good enough to play him as an alrounder, so he had a weak case.

Abdullah was included because everybody was asking for Fakhar Zaman to be dropped. Even if you go through PP, most people wanted him to be dropped.

Abrar was undercooked and would have gotten clobbered. Then you would have the same excuses you are making right now with Abdullah.

Also, all the players you mentioned are nothing special. With or without them Pakistan would remain a poor team.

Not throwing everything on Babar... the committee highly recommended to take Abrar for Asia cup and also as mystery spinner for the WC (because his footage in intl cricket is unavailable too) , Babar ignored it , retained Shadab and Nawaz , took Usama in reserves..

Abraar was not undercooked , he had played 5 to 6 test matches by then...

Pak was searching for a middle order batsman in ODIs , salman ali agha was showing some promise.. Saud shakeel scored a double ton in Galle (Srilanka's fortress and i think he is the first non-srilankan to score a double ton in Galle rank turner ) was in sublime form... Also Salman ali agha scored a 130 , Abdullah Shafique scored double ton as well in that test series ... which was followed by ODI series against Afghanistan where he gave chance to Salman because he was being tried in the middle order... but never dropped Iftikar Ahmed who could only make 30-40 runs at max be it any format... Shadab who walks in after Iftikar has scored more 50s lol ... he gave chance to Saud in the dead rubber...and then in the Asia cup no chance... In the CWC warm up game Saud scored a brilliant 75 (50) against NZL that didnt guarantee him a spot until his friends Imam, Iftikar, Nawaz and Shadab continue to fail one after another..

This is exactly what Misbah does , For a performing youngster what he will do is shove away or move around or take them to tour abroad only no chance in home conditions or give less game time by pushing down the order or give them just a dead rubber where nobody cares etc ..... Babar is doing the same in terms of selection..

Pakistan will continue to shine as a poor team until such wicked weak minded ppl are in power..

 

[Usman Chadda]

Not throwing everything on Babar... the committee highly recommended to take Abrar for Asia cup and also as mystery spinner for the WC (because his footage in intl cricket is unavailable too) , Babar ignored it , retained Shadab and Nawaz , took Usama in reserves..

Abraar was not undercooked , he had played 5 to 6 test matches by then...

Pak was searching for a middle order batsman in ODIs , salman ali agha was showing some promise.. Saud shakeel scored a double ton in Galle (Srilanka's fortress and i think he is the first non-srilankan to score a double ton in Galle rank turner ) was in sublime form... Also Salman ali agha scored a 130 , Abdullah Shafique scored double ton as well in that test series ... which was followed by ODI series against Afghanistan where he gave chance to Salman because he was being tried in the middle order... but never dropped Iftikar Ahmed who could only make 30-40 runs at max be it any format... Shadab who walks in after Iftikar has scored more 50s lol ... he gave chance to Saud in the dead rubber...and then in the Asia cup no chance... In the CWC warm up game Saud scored a brilliant 75 (50) against NZL that didnt guarantee him a spot until his friends Imam, Iftikar, Nawaz and Shadab continue to fail one after another..

This is exactly what Misbah does , For a performing youngster what he will do is shove away or move around or take them to tour abroad only no chance in home conditions or give less game time by pushing down the order or give them just a dead rubber where nobody cares etc ..... Babar is doing the same in terms of selection..

Pakistan will continue to shine as a poor team until such wicked weak minded ppl are in power..

Pakistan will continue to be a poor team, until they groom players properly.

Changing captains won’t make a difference. Shan Masood was quite decent as a captain against Australia, still got smashed 3-0.

You can pick all the random names you want and blame everything on the captain, the team management, the Chairman etc. But the fact remains that our product is poor and has ego issues on top of the lack of skill, which leads to rubbish performances.

Saud played the first game right after the warm-up btw. Failed spectacularly in the World Cup once the pressure was on.

 

[emranabbas]

Babar Azam has become the most successful T20I captain in history.


Most T20I wins as captain:

Babar Azam: 45 (78 matches)
Brian Masaba: 44 (56)
Asghar Afghan: 42 (52)
Eoin Morgan: 42 (72)


Most T20Is as captain:

Babar Azam: 78
Aaron Finch: 76
MS Dhoni: 72
Eoin Morgan: 72
Kane Williamson: 71

Obviously the more you play more you win here is the W/L ratio which will paint the true picture

Pakistan's most successful captain


most successful captain in t20i (overall)


sarfaraz was a goat captain

 

[mominsaigol]

Not throwing everything on Babar... the committee highly recommended to take Abrar for Asia cup and also as mystery spinner for the WC (because his footage in intl cricket is unavailable too) , Babar ignored it , retained Shadab and Nawaz , took Usama in reserves..

Abraar was not undercooked , he had played 5 to 6 test matches by then...

Pak was searching for a middle order batsman in ODIs , salman ali agha was showing some promise.. Saud shakeel scored a double ton in Galle (Srilanka's fortress and i think he is the first non-srilankan to score a double ton in Galle rank turner ) was in sublime form... Also Salman ali agha scored a 130 , Abdullah Shafique scored double ton as well in that test series ... which was followed by ODI series against Afghanistan where he gave chance to Salman because he was being tried in the middle order... but never dropped Iftikar Ahmed who could only make 30-40 runs at max be it any format... Shadab who walks in after Iftikar has scored more 50s lol ... he gave chance to Saud in the dead rubber...and then in the Asia cup no chance... In the CWC warm up game Saud scored a brilliant 75 (50) against NZL that didnt guarantee him a spot until his friends Imam, Iftikar, Nawaz and Shadab continue to fail one after another..

This is exactly what Misbah does , For a performing youngster what he will do is shove away or move around or take them to tour abroad only no chance in home conditions or give less game time by pushing down the order or give them just a dead rubber where nobody cares etc ..... Babar is doing the same in terms of selection..

Pakistan will continue to shine as a poor team until such wicked weak minded ppl are in power..

POTW

 

[mominsaigol]

Obviously the more you play more you win here is the W/L ratio which will paint the true picture

Pakistan's most successful captain
View attachment 143809

most successful captain in t20i (overall)
View attachment 143811

sarfaraz was a goat captain

Most of those 8 losses are due to misbah shoving in shehzad, Imam, umar akmal amd irfan into the team out of the freaking blue.

Otherwise sarfraz had like 3 to 4 genuine losses only.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Most of those 8 losses are due to misbah shoving in shehzad, Imam, umar akmal amd irfan into the team out of the freaking blue.

Otherwise sarfraz had like 3 to 4 genuine losses only.

Saifi was a born captain his playing team members was not that much effective else he could have easily surpass this record during his tenure.

 

[mominsaigol]

Saifi was a born captain his playing team members was not that much effective else he could have easily surpass this record during his tenure.

It's all Misbah's fault. 100%. He's to blame and no one else.

 

[Rana]

It's all Misbah's fault. 100%. He's to blame and no one else.

Saifi probably wasn’t part of Sui Gas or whatever department it was in which Misbah was teaching his captaincy, that’s why he was out of favour with him.

 

[mominsaigol]

Saifi probably wasn’t part of Sui Gas or whatever department it was in which Misbah was teaching his captaincy, that’s why he was out of favour with him.

Sarfraz was a captain way before misbah was lol, in 2007.

He doesn't need Misbah's advice. Tbh I feel like sarfi already knew he was being booted and would lose the games given what misbah was doing.

Sarfraz is just too kind and too wholesome. In the nadir Ali podcast he knew what would happen but he doesn't mind it, still supporting the team and wishing everyone the best.

I am so angry that these rizwan's and babar/ Misbah, All these fake nice munafiqs. Their are degenerates and its easy to read their character. Not that sarfraz is perfect, Sarfi has shouted and lost temper, everyone does. But no malicious intent.

Genuinely speaking the 2 nicest guys to represent Pakistan are fakhar and Sarfraz.

Fakhar more so then sarfi but both of them.

This whole set up abuses fakhar on end for just being a nice guy and being an introvert in general.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Miss the times when ODI was the most played format for PCT.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

It's all Misbah's fault. 100%. He's to blame and no one else.

I think Saifi also let him down due to his bad performance as a batter because you can't only rely on good captaincy skills to remain in the team. In the last few years of his career he was on a serious decline which created further troubles for him.

 

[Rana]

I think Saifi also let him down due to his bad performance as a batter because you can't only rely on good captaincy skills to remain in the team. In the last few years of his career he was on a serious decline which created further troubles for him.

But the team won 30 out of 37 games

Since you got your ‘performing, captain…

You are ranked 7th, and it’s clear Pakistan cricket is at one of its lowest ever points as a cricketing nation

 

[Usman Chadda]

I think Saifi also let him down due to his bad performance as a batter because you can't only rely on good captaincy skills to remain in the team. In the last few years of his career he was on a serious decline which created further troubles for him.

Sarfraz became an absolute passenger. He was hiding behind Hasan Ali at some point of his career, the situation became that bad.

Also he had pretty much lost the dressing room by the end of WC 2019. There were numerous reports of him being alienated by some clique formed by Shoaib Malik.

Players were tired of a captain who barked at juniors throughout the game while contributing zilch himself.

 

[Rana]

Sarfraz became an absolute passenger. He was hiding behind Hasan Ali at some point of his career, the situation became that bad.

Also he had pretty much lost the dressing room by the end of WC 2019. There were numerous reports of him being alienated by some clique formed by Shoaib Malik.

Players were tired of a captain who barked at juniors throughout the game while contributing zilch himself.

He can bark at whoever he wants. He has 30 wins out of 37. The guy knew how to get the job done.

 

[Mamoon]

@Rana @Cricket Warrior @mominsaigol @emranabbas and others who are waxing lyrical about Sarfaraz's captaincy and claiming that he was wrongly sacked need to understand something.

There is no doubt that on paper, Sarfaraz's record as captain in T20Is is quite impressive. However, there is a lot more to that and when you understand all of this, you will realize (but you may not accept) that sacking him was the right decision.

After winning the Champions Trophy in 2017 and following it up with a 5-0 whitewash of SL in UAE in ODIs, the Pakistan ODI team under Sarfaraz sank faster than Titanic. Starting with the 5-0 drubbing in NZ in Jan 2018 right until the end of the 2019 World Cup, Pakistan was a clown show in ODIs. Their W/L ratio was on par with an associate team and they were getting hammered left, right and center.

In addition to the terrible rut in ODIs, Pakistan were poor in Tests as well, losing a home series to New Zealand and also getting thrashed in South Africa.

In addition to all of the above, his own form had completely dissipated. Between 2018 and 2019, he played no more than 2-3 decent knocks in each format over a very large sample and there were times where he would not even bat and would send tailenders above him to hit some big shots and it was not a good look nor was it sustainable.

In T20Is specifically, the team was on a downward spiral as well. They lost the series in England in 2019 and got whitewashed by Sri Lanka in Pakistan after the World Cup and that was the final nail in the coffin for Sarfaraz as captain. Not only did Pakistan lose 0-3, Sarfaraz flopped with the bat (Avg 22 at a SR of 108).

There was no way Sarfaraz was going to survive Pakistan losing out on the semifinal spot in the World Cup + having the the third worst NRR in the World Cup + playing like a minnow in ODIs for two years + Sarfaraz not performing as a player + getting whitewashed by SL at home.

As far as the T20I record is concerned, we need to take it with a pinch of salt because teams were focused on ODIs during the 2017-2019 period because of two ODI tournaments in three years. Pakistan was the only side that was playing its best team in every series and they took advantage of that. Teams switched their attention to T20Is after the 2019 World Cup because of the two T20 World Cups in next three years.

 

[mominsaigol]

@Rana @Cricket Warrior @mominsaigol @emranabbas and others who are waxing lyrical about Sarfaraz's captaincy and claiming that he was wrongly sacked need to understand something.

There is no doubt that on paper, Sarfaraz's record as captain in T20Is is quite impressive. However, there is a lot more to that and when you understand all of this, you will realize (but you may not accept) that sacking him was the right decision.

After winning the Champions Trophy in 2017 and following it up with a 5-0 whitewash of SL in UAE in ODIs, the Pakistan ODI team under Sarfaraz sank faster than Titanic. Starting with the 5-0 drubbing in NZ in Jan 2018 right until the end of the 2019 World Cup, Pakistan was a clown show in ODIs. Their W/L ratio was on par with an associate team and they were getting hammered left, right and center.

In addition to the terrible rut in ODIs, Pakistan were poor in Tests as well, losing a home series to New Zealand and also getting thrashed in South Africa.

In addition to all of the above, his own form had completely dissipated. Between 2018 and 2019, he played no more than 2-3 decent knocks in each format over a very large sample and there were times where he would not even bat and would send tailenders above him to hit some big shots and it was not a good look nor was it sustainable.

In T20Is specifically, the team was on a downward spiral as well. They lost the series in England in 2019 and got whitewashed by Sri Lanka in Pakistan after the World Cup and that was the final nail in the coffin for Sarfaraz as captain. Not only did Pakistan lose 0-3, Sarfaraz flopped with the bat (Avg 22 at a SR of 108).

There was no way Sarfaraz was going to survive Pakistan losing out on the semifinal spot in the World Cup + having the the third worst NRR in the World Cup + playing like a minnow in ODIs for two years + Sarfaraz not performing as a player + getting whitewashed by SL at home.

As far as the T20I record is concerned, we need to take it with a pinch of salt because teams were focused on ODIs during the 2017-2019 period because of two ODI tournaments in three years. Pakistan was the only side that was playing its best team in every series and they took advantage of that. Teams switched their attention to T20Is after the 2019 World Cup because of the two T20 World Cups in next three years.

The Sri lanka loss in t20 happened due to misbah shoving his bhoota with shehzad, akmal and imam repeatedly.

2018 was poor, 2019 wc was not that poor besides the wi freak loss. 2019 involves wins against NZ, Peak England, Afghanistan, South Africa etc etc. Australia and India are teams we lose to in every tournament regardless if whether its 1992 or 2019.

2023 on the other hand involves humiliating losses to An England that lost 2 associate teams 2x, a South Africa who chasing first are minnows losing to nedtherlands 2x and get packed up for less then 40 by Indian pacers because they were chasing, a lolly dogwalk against Afghanistan and worst of all, getting trolled by nz and Australia in tye warmups.

We played full strength against NZ and almost full strength against Australia minus Rizwan not playing and despite them bowling with Warner, Mitchell etc they smacked us.

NZ victory was amongst the luckiest breaks and was a huge huge humiliation on Babar who kept fakhar out for Abdullah and imam. Fakhar even said he was fit and ready for the start of the cup, he was only injured slightly? Heck he even featured in the warmups? Without fakhar the NZ game was a troll. Infact ill argue that if rain didn't affect the game, Pakistan like wouldn't have chased 200 in 25 overs remaining, one wicket would have tore the team apart. Considering how poor the middle order was.

My issue is Babar is no different then sarfi, he's been far far worse. Sarfi had a decent record to show for in t20, Babar on paper has it for odi for playing full strength as well.

Babar since 2022 has been a very very very poor batsmen being resorted to a pindi basher who's a tail ender overseas. Infact his record in t20 wc are worse then any opener in history of t20 wordlcups.

I get where you're coming from, Sarfraz form was very very poor, T20 was going downhill and 2018 was a massive massive failure But

It doesn't change the fact that 2019 outing remains superior to 2023 outing by miles, nor does it change the fact that Bobby is in the same boat as sarfi on lack of form, where he's struggling against 115kph pacers and 40M straight boundaries, and frankly besides his pindi performances he's just poor overseas.

You can make a case of booting him out fir rizwan. I hate rizwan but rizwan so far had outperformed Babar consistently for 2 years now, in both captaincy and batting when it comes to wc performances, Asia cup performances, Overseas tour performances and so on and so forth.

Babar's poor record and form does not warrant having captaincy atm. Infact he's the first captain ever to lose to 3 minnow sides, he's also the first captain ever to break the Afghanistan odi winless streak.

 

[Mamoon]

The Sri lanka loss in t20 happened due to misbah shoving his bhoota with shehzad, akmal and imam repeatedly.

2018 was poor, 2019 wc was not that poor besides the wi freak loss. 2019 involves wins against NZ, Peak England, Afghanistan, South Africa etc etc. Australia and India are teams we lose to in every tournament regardless if whether its 1992 or 2019.

2023 on the other hand involves humiliating losses to An England that lost 2 associate teams 2x, a South Africa who chasing first are minnows losing to nedtherlands 2x and get packed up for less then 40 by Indian pacers because they were chasing, a lolly dogwalk against Afghanistan and worst of all, getting trolled by nz and Australia in tye warmups.

We played full strength against NZ and almost full strength against Australia minus Rizwan not playing and despite them bowling with Warner, Mitchell etc they smacked us.

NZ victory was amongst the luckiest breaks and was a huge huge humiliation on Babar who kept fakhar out for Abdullah and imam. Fakhar even said he was fit and ready for the start of the cup, he was only injured slightly? Heck he even featured in the warmups? Without fakhar the NZ game was a troll. Infact ill argue that if rain didn't affect the game, Pakistan like wouldn't have chased 200 in 25 overs remaining, one wicket would have tore the team apart. Considering how poor the middle order was.

My issue is Babar is no different then sarfi, he's been far far worse. Sarfi had a decent record to show for in t20, Babar on paper has it for odi for playing full strength as well.

Babar since 2022 has been a very very very poor batsmen being resorted to a pindi basher who's a tail ender overseas. Infact his record in t20 wc are worse then any opener in history of t20 wordlcups.

I get where you're coming from, Sarfraz form was very very poor, T20 was going downhill and 2018 was a massive massive failure But

It doesn't change the fact that 2019 outing remains superior to 2023 outing by miles, nor does it change the fact that Bobby is in the same boat as sarfi on lack of form, where he's struggling against 115kph pacers and 40M straight boundaries, and frankly besides his pindi performances he's just poor overseas.

You can make a case of booting him out fir rizwan. I hate rizwan but rizwan so far had outperformed Babar consistently for 2 years now, in both captaincy and batting when it comes to wc performances, Asia cup performances, Overseas tour performances and so on and so forth.

Babar's poor record and form does not warrant having captaincy atm. Infact he's the first captain ever to lose to 3 minnow sides, he's also the first captain ever to break the Afghanistan odi winless streak.

Lets not blame Misbah for the Sri Lanka series defeat and credit Sarfaraz for the series wins. Pakistan's squad should still have beaten Sri Lanka at home in spite of a few bad selections and Misbah was not responsible for Sarfaraz's bad performance with the bat which played a big role in the series defeat.

Babar was reappointed not because Pakistan was a winning machine under him. Everyone knows that Pakistan's recent record is poor and the World Cup was a disaster. He was reappointed because he is the only viable option at the moment. There are not many players in the team who are guaranteed starters + top performers. Shaheen will captain Pakistan in the future no doubt but this isn't the right time as he is fighting for his own fitness. He doesn't need the captaincy for at least two years.

 

[Sher Khan]

Lets not blame Misbah for the Sri Lanka series defeat and credit Sarfaraz for the series wins. Pakistan's squad should still have beaten Sri Lanka at home in spite of a few bad selections and Misbah was not responsible for Sarfaraz's bad performance with the bat which played a big role in the series defeat.

Babar was reappointed not because Pakistan was a winning machine under him. Everyone knows that Pakistan's recent record is poor and the World Cup was a disaster. He was reappointed because he is the only viable option at the moment. There are not many players in the team who are guaranteed starters + top performers. Shaheen will captain Pakistan in the future no doubt but this isn't the right time as he is fighting for his own fitness. He doesn't need the captaincy for at least two years.

Babar is a complete dud as captain. His tactical awareness is non existent and his batting has no impact on the outcome of most matches.

Rizwan is a proper match winner who won Pakistan the world cup match vs India and the historic wins vs NZ and SA. A proper tactical genius and a fighter.

 

[mominsaigol]

Lets not blame Misbah for the Sri Lanka series defeat and credit Sarfaraz for the series wins. Pakistan's squad should still have beaten Sri Lanka at home in spite of a few bad selections and Misbah was not responsible for Sarfaraz's bad performance with the bat which played a big role in the series defeat.

Babar was reappointed not because Pakistan was a winning machine under him. Everyone knows that Pakistan's recent record is poor and the World Cup was a disaster. He was reappointed because he is the only viable option at the moment. There are not many players in the team who are guaranteed starters + top performers. Shaheen will captain Pakistan in the future no doubt but this isn't the right time as he is fighting for his own fitness. He doesn't need the captaincy for at least two years.

I have to play, because all of misbah's selections failed. He changed the entire team with shehzad, Rizwan, umar akmal, kushdil Chacha etc.

You changed an entire batting order? How is a team suppose to win in a completly new set up overseas with most of these players not even functioning properly? Akmal and shehzad were corpses, Imam at opening is hilarious, Chacha has always been trash 90% of the time, kushdil haha? Rizwan is terrible in the middle order where he was sent dueing that time. Infact he's the worst middle order bat to ever play for Pakistan in t20.

But babar isn't, that's what in saying. Babar has been memed in recent time to be a glorified pindi basher. He needs 3rd class attacks plus pakistani pitches to function.

Overseas even when playing minnows and having 40M boundaries he's still medicore. Babar since 2022 onwards has lost it. He's been poor in every condition excluding Pakistan. Infact world cup performance wasn't a suprise. Its ironically his best form compared to the trash he's been playing in asia cups, t20 world cups and tours in general. He improved when he was stripped of captaincy and batting at 3. But now he's back to his trash form once it was given back.

In fact rizwan even when poor has outperformed Babar by miles in every tournament since 2022, and every which way as a captain. Babar has only done better then rizwan in Pakistan on pakistani pitches. Overseas where 90% of tournaments are played and in overseas test or tours or cups, rizwan has outclassed Babar consistently for 2 entire years.

Babar overseas averages the lowest out of any opener in wc history, his Test form overseas is hilarious. All those horrible defeats that we've had with other captains, Babar has been a part of those set ups and has failed in those set ups excluding a few good knocks against mz in t20 at no 3.

He's out of form for 2 years and is a tail ender overseas. He's no different then any of the current set up, not even close. Infact fakhar at no 4, Rizwan at opening have been surpassing him by miles as of late, same with fakhar in odi at opening where fakhar was just better them Bobby at the wc and dueing the nz series last year. In terms of test, Saud and Abdullah have embrassed Babar overseas who became a hasaranga meme.

Case in point, only time Babar has performed these 2 years has either been in Pakistan itself, or when he's not a captain and bats at no 3 like he did when shaheen was in charge.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

Babar is a complete dud as captain. His tactical awareness is non existent and his batting has no impact on the outcome of most matches.

Rizwan is a proper match winner who won Pakistan the world cup match vs India and the historic wins vs NZ and SA. A proper tactical genius and a fighter.

I think if Pakistan lose today then we could see Rizwan appointed.

Naqvi will have to something bold.

 

[Rana]

I think if Pakistan lose today then we could see Rizwan appointed.

Naqvi will have to something bold.

Yes,

Naqvi will appoint Sitara over Tara as the captain

 

[DeadlyVenom]

Yes,

Naqvi will appoint Sitara over Tara as the captain

Without doubt something major will happen if we lose.

Naqvi needs to save his own skin. Babar will go.

Only leaves Rizwan.

 

[Rana]

Without doubt something major will happen if we lose.

Naqvi needs to save his own skin. Babar will go.

Only leaves Rizwan.

Nothing will happen

Babar stepping down is a different thing. He won’t be sacked.

Imad is a way better option to lead instead of Babar’s clique anyways

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Sarfaraz still reins supreme win ratio wise.

 

[Usman Chadda]

Sarfaraz still reins supreme win ratio wise.

View attachment 143830

I don't think anyone disagrees that Sarfraz was a better captain than Babar. He also got exposed due to the lack of talent in his team, but he was definitely a more street smart captain compared to Babar.

The issue was Sarfraz was as good as a tail-ender when he was removed as captain. He just wasn't able to contribute to the team in any capacity other than captaincy. You cannot have that at international level.

 

[Rana]

You cannot have that at international level.

Who decides that? You’ve got guys who supposedly contribute as cricketers captaining the side. Started from 1…now we 7th