[VIDEOS] Saad Baig - The Pakistani Quinton de Kock?

[Sher Khan]

I've been very impressed first and foremost with Saad's brilliant captaincy during this Asia Cup.

But what stands out is his belligerent batting, taking the attack to the opposition. His flicks and inside out cover drives evoke lazy elegance. He reminds me so much of QDK. Similar batting stance and shots.

Both are left handed batsman and wicketkeepers.


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Youth Test Stats:




Youth ODI Stats:




Youth ODI Stats:

 

[Muhammad Saad]

He is not a good batter and too much of a hit and miss player but his captaincy is extremely good

 

[shamaan]

His wicket keeping needs improvement but his batting and captaincy especially has been really impressive.

 

[FearlessRoar]

Pakistan's U19 captain Saad Baig has been picked by Karachi Kings in supplementary category in PSL Draft 2024.

Since he's from Karachi, it makes sense! Let's hope he gets plenty of chances to shine in PSL 9.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

Pakistan's U19 captain Saad Baig has been picked by Karachi Kings in supplementary category in PSL Draft 2024.

Since he's from Karachi, it makes sense! Let's hope he gets plenty of chances to shine in PSL 9.

Great move by Karachi as he is a naturally talented power hitter who can perform well in T20 cricket.

 

[Saj]

Watched his wicket-keeping in the ongoing Asia Cup and it's been awful.

Doesn't look a natural with the gloves at the moment.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

A good batsman but many loopholes in his leadership skills during the semi final against the UAE.

He need to just concentrate on his batting else he will become another babar azam in terms of captaincy.

 

[Bewal Express]

Watched his wicket-keeping in the ongoing Asia Cup and it's been awful.

Doesn't look a natural with the gloves at the moment.

Saw Haris in the Asia Cup B team thing in SL and he didn't look much cup either

 

[BouncerGuy]

The Pakistan skipper is doing well atm. 3 6s in an over against Afghanistan U19 in the ICC U19 world Cup match. Beautiful shots all 3 of them, proper hits to get the maximum out of it.

 

[BouncerGuy]

A beautiful shot for 4 to reach his first 50 of the ICC U19 World Cip campaign in a game against Afghanistan U19. Looking good out there.

 

[BouncerGuy]

Mis-read the length from the spinner and loses his wicket. Gone after scoring 55 of 52 balls. Good innings by the skipper.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Glimpses of Saad Baig's brilliance today against Afghanistan Under 19 side.

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[sweep_shot]

His stance isn't like Quinton's. It reminds me of Haris Sohail's batting.

Good prospect though. He should be given a go at senior level soon.

 

[Nasty Naz]

He seems to consistently have high SR in games. Definitely one to watch.

 

[Kianig89]

Pakistan fans and self imagination goes a long way, there was

Imran Farhat who was touted the next Lara, Ahmed Shehzad Pakistan' Kohli
Bilawal Bhatti our Malcolm Marshall
Umer Amin the fake Ponting
Awais Zia Pakistan's Hayden
Shazaib Hasan our Greenidge

 

[Muhammad Saad]

I don’t rate him at all , will probably end up like Rohail Nazir who once captained Pak U19

 

[Major]

Pakistan u19 cricket usually produces great batters or bowlers, but never captains. This time around we saw a captain emerge that showed great game awareness and had strategic plans that helped his team defend very low scores. The guy i am talking about is Saad Baig. His team had a very leak batting line up, but his bowlers were as good as international bowlers.

His field strategies and his way of using the bowlers was just marvelous.

Could he be the captain of the future?

 

[Rana]

Zindabad captain

Love his never die attitude

 

[Muhammad Saad]

He is the best captain I have seen in last two decade but will he develop his batting to atleast Sarfraz Ahmed level? Currently he is no better than no.8 batsmen.

 

[batandballbattle]

Captaincy is good but his batting leaves a lot to be desired
Specialist captains are old fashioned, nowadays you need everyone in your top 8 putting runs on the board. May not see too much of him in the coming years, but hope I am wrong

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Saad Baig in a recent interview has shared his experiences and insights following his team's impressive run in 2023 U19 WC

"I started with tape ball cricket. Then my father got me admitted to Custom Cricket Academy. That's where my journey began,"

"I played U13, then U16, and after performing for three years there, I performed in the PJL. After consistently performing, PCB announced me as a captain. I represented Pakistan in the World Cup as a captain and also in the Asia Cup. So, thank God, the journey has been very good so far,"

"If I want to become a wicketkeeper like someone, it's Sir Rashid Latif. I watch a lot of his videos, and I'm inspired by him. He was the best wicketkeeper of his time, so I try to keep wickets like him,"

"As a captain, there is pressure on you. But how you lead your team under that pressure is a very important role. The journey of the U19 World Cup was very good; we showed good performances. The last two matches were very thrilling against Bangladesh and Australia, but we learned a lot from them. The pressure we played the semi-final under and handled will be very helpful in the future,"

"The Asia Cup was the first tournament for me where I was going to represent Pakistan as a captain, so it was a very proud moment for me and my family. There was excitement and nervousness about how I would perform there, and how I would lead the team. But I was very happy with my team for how we defeated India, Afghanistan, and Nepal, especially the way we dominated against India. I felt very good about my team there,"

 

[sweep_shot]

Good prospect.

Should be given a go at national level.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

Good prospect.

Should be given a go at national level.

Let's start with a domestic team first , hopefully some older player hogging his place in the domestic team will find a proper job and quit playing cricket so that Saad can get a team.

 

[mominsaigol]

Pakistan fans and self imagination goes a long way, there was

Imran Farhat who was touted the next Lara, Ahmed Shehzad Pakistan' Kohli
Bilawal Bhatti our Malcolm Marshall
Umer Amin the fake Ponting
Awais Zia Pakistan's Hayden
Shazaib Hasan our Greenidge

UA was compared to Yuvraj not Pointing, Aka both aggressive left handed batsmen who could be utilised as bowling options but obviously yuvi succeeded and Umar Amin is a ghost

 

[mominsaigol]

Just select him, That's how you groom players.

He's obviously raw, but the younger the better and more long term prospects.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Saad Baig's scores in U19 Tests:

0 (11)
117 (134)
2 (14)
68 (70)
6* (3)

With no First Class experience and just 5 innings in U19 Tests, do you think Saad Baig has done enough to be picked in Pakistan Shaheens squad?

 

[mominsaigol]

Saad Baig's scores in U19 Tests:

0 (11)
117 (134)
2 (14)
68 (70)
6* (3)

With no First Class experience and just 5 innings in U19 Tests, do you think Saad Baig has done enough to be picked in Pakistan Shaheens squad?

No but he's a long term prospect.

But because Pakistan has no clue on how to cultivate talent, this man ain't coming to the team until he's 29 to 32.

If he manages to come earlier it'll be because he somehow made friends in high places.

Logically the bamgaldesh series that Pakistan is playing should have dropped Babar and rizwan and actually played this guy.

Seriously why are Babar and rizwan playing test series against Bangladesh on roads? The goal shpuld be to improve these 2 and get them out of their comfort zone by organising difficult tours for them.

This is the equivalent of Sending kohli to play against Uganada odi series.

 

[pakistani pride]

No but he's a long term prospect.

But because Pakistan has no clue on how to cultivate talent, this man ain't coming to the team until he's 29 to 32.

If he manages to come earlier it'll be because he somehow made friends in high places.

Logically the bamgaldesh series that Pakistan is playing should have dropped Babar and rizwan and actually played this guy.

Seriously why are Babar and rizwan playing test series against Bangladesh on roads? The goal shpuld be to improve these 2 and get them out of their comfort zone by organising difficult tours for them.

This is the equivalent of Sending kohli to play against Uganada odi series.

Babar has to play. These are the series/teams where he can cash in and his PR machine can do their job.

He will never miss such a series on mega flat tracks.

 

[RidiculousMan]

Saad Baig's scores in U19 Tests:

0 (11)
117 (134)
2 (14)
68 (70)
6* (3)

With no First Class experience and just 5 innings in U19 Tests, do you think Saad Baig has done enough to be picked in Pakistan Shaheens squad?

Thing is. Selecting players on a small sample size means the player is special. Just like for instance Shaheen was selected early because he was special.

But if he is not. Then the people who selected him did wrong. Both to the player and domestic performers.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

His batting is on par with Faheem Ashraf at the moment , hopefully he can improve from that.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

He probably has some good connections otherwise his youth U19 record doesn't suggest he would be playing even for the U19 side let alone captaining them and no chance even in dreams for playing Shaheen so early without any domestic match but having said that he is probably the best captain I have seen coming out from Pakistan after Imran Khan. So let's hope he does become good in future , Guys with high IQ even with less talent can get big success.

 

[BouncerGuy]

His batting is nothing special or maybe it was not special in U19 World Cup but TBH, I don't like his overall form atm. Looked pretty rusty but still, he is young and there is a lot of time for him to improve.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

His batting is nothing special or maybe it was not special in U19 World Cup but TBH, I don't like his overall form atm. Looked pretty rusty but still, he is young and there is a lot of time for him to improve.

Even in the U19 Asia cup he didn't performed well apart from one shaky fifty in which he looked clueless trying to muscle everything on the leg side.

 

[BouncerGuy]

M

Even in the U19 Asia cup he didn't performed well apart from one shaky fifty in which he looked clueless trying to muscle everything on the leg side.

Maybe he is another legside hack. Not sure as it is still early days. Will not jump to conclusions atm.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

M

Maybe he is another legside hack. Not sure as it is still early days. Will not jump to conclusions atm.

Not really , he can play on offside as well but his power game is mostly based on leg side whack.

 

[FearlessRoar]

When it was most needed, Pakistan U19 captain Saad Baig scored only 36 off 48 against Afghanistan U19 in the U19 Tri-Series 2024 match.

 

[Ab Fan]

Being a Pakistani de kock isn’t all that a high benchmark.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

When it was most needed, Pakistan U19 captain Saad Baig scored only 36 off 48 against Afghanistan U19 in the U19 Tri-Series 2024 match.

He is just a Fahim Ashraf level batter but has got a brilliant captaincy mind and is street smart.

 

[RidiculousMan]

He is just a Fahim Ashraf level batter but has got a brilliant captaincy mind and is street smart.

Basically next Sarfraz

 

[Muhammad Saad]

Basically next Sarfraz

slightly below in terms of batting talent but more brilliant and attacking captain.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

Our last U19 team had good bowling attack , the current one now looks awful and Saad can't help it either.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

he is very slow.. another version of Misbah tbh.. not meeting the standards of modern day cricket.

 

[m.shah]

He is good captain but his batting is nothing to talk about

 

[BouncerGuy]

He is not quinton de kock, he is another misbah-ul-haq in the making. These U19 boys are even worse than the current players. No game awareness. they bat like a turtle. Saad is a good captain maybe like Sarfaraz but he is not that good as a batter.

 

[FearlessRoar]

KRL's Saad Baig narrowly missed a century, scoring 95 in the first innings against PTV in the third round of the 2025 President's Trophy.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Saad Baig displayed a stellar show of his skills in the fourth round of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2025

 

[Ball Blazer]

Karachi Blues' Saad Baig strikes his third century of the season on Day 1 of sixth round of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2025-26

 

[hur rizvi]

Excellent stuff from Saad this season. He seems like an intelligent cricketer and could be a possible replacement for Rizwan in future

 

[Bewal Express]

Excellent stuff from Saad this season. He seems like an intelligent cricketer and could be a possible replacement for Rizwan in future

Not as a WK. He is an absolutely awful WK

 

[hur rizvi]

Not as a WK. He is an absolutely awful WK

In limited overs his keeping would be better than usman khan or maybe on par with Haris

For tests you obviously need a better keeper but he is young and can improve

 

[charlie007]

I have tried very hard to understand the fascination of some Pakistani fans comparing some nondescript cricketer to an international proven performer proclaiming them to be the next xyz. And this guy hasn’t even played a single international men’s game for god’s sake! “A good potential”, “a promising prospect”, “an upcoming star” should suffice, no?
Or is it the habit translating to the forum from the social media to get more clicks, responses, or eyeballs to the post?

 

[Muhammad Saad]

Good transformation from utterly mediocre batter at U19 level and if he continues to improve then he will captain our national team soon. The guy got the brains and is an excellent captain.

 

[BouncerGuy]

Very nice stuff from Saad TBH... He proved his mettle in this QEA so far... Scoring big hundreds is something we can always look upto.

 

[Ball Blazer]

Karachi Blues' Saad Baig after scoring 109 in the first innings, scored 116 in the second innings against Peshawar at the Marghzar Cricket Ground, Islamabad.

 

[hur rizvi]

Excellent stuff from Saad

 

[Omer2002]

well to be honest he look average previous years i believe captained under 19s at one time aswell. This year he has been scoring hundreds for fun for some reason and that too by opening

 

[Nasty Naz]

well to be honest he look average previous years i believe captained under 19s at one time aswell. This year he has been scoring hundreds for fun for some reason and that too by opening

Well, young players tend to improve and the kid is only 19. He was exposed to the scene too early getting selected to PSL when he shouldn't have been and looked out of place. The same happened with Saim Ayub who didn't look like much when he initially played in PSL at a very early age and little to no domestic experience.

Good on Saad having a very impressive season so far. Pakistan WK stocks are always quite poor so nice to see a WK option on the horizon. Hope they leave him alone in domestic for a bit longer to let him properly marinate and develop. Too often players get selected onto the national team after one good season but the hallmark for selection should require multiple seasons of top level performance at the domestic level to be considered.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

Last U19 batch produced very good talent in the form of Shamyl, Azan , Shahzeb, Saad , Ubaid, Ali Raza , Huzefa , it’s like 7 players who have the potential to play for national team.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

6 of these players have started performing at domestic level and hopefully in couple of season most of them will be ready.

 

[Omer2002]

Last U19 batch produced very good talent in the form of Shamyl, Azan , Shahzeb, Saad , Ubaid, Ali Raza , Huzefa , it’s like 7 players who have the potential to play for national team.

Hufeza has been messed about big time i belive his name is under 19s again is carbon copy of kuldeep looks to have good future

 

[Kianig89]

When are we having Pakistan vs international Imposter Xi game.
Because over the years we've unearthed Pakistani Lara , Pakistans Sachin, Pakistans Gilchrist , Pakistans Marshall , just like this QDK

 

[Bewal Express]

Well, young players tend to improve and the kid is only 19. He was exposed to the scene too early getting selected to PSL when he shouldn't have been and looked out of place. The same happened with Saim Ayub who didn't look like much when he initially played in PSL at a very early age and little to no domestic experience.

Good on Saad having a very impressive season so far. Pakistan WK stocks are always quite poor so nice to see a WK option on the horizon. Hope they leave him alone in domestic for a bit longer to let him properly marinate and develop. Too often players get selected onto the national team after one good season but the hallmark for selection should require multiple seasons of top level performance at the domestic level to be considered.

The chances are that he isnt 19 and thats one of the reasons they dont develop. He is, if the likes of SSA, Shadab, Naseem and Haider are to go by, at least 3-4 years older.
He is an excellent batsman but he is an awful WK. Maybe he was having a bad game, or 2 or 3 but his WK needs a hell of a lot of work.

 

[m.shah]

The chances are that he isnt 19 and thats one of the reasons they dont develop. He is, if the likes of SSA, Shadab, Naseem and Haider are to go by, at least 3-4 years older.
He is an excellent batsman but he is an awful WK. Maybe he was having a bad game, or 2 or 3 but his WK needs a hell of a lot of work.

What is your obsession with age? He is just a kid and he has ample time to improve

 

[Bewal Express]

What is your obsession with age? He is just a kid and he has ample time to improve

Because age is important when you pick players. Why do you think these players lie about their ages if its not important

 

[hur rizvi]

Saad looks around 19-20 tbh

Mostly age is correct for players coming from urban centres like Karachi

 

[m.shah]

Because age is important when you pick players. Why do you think these players lie about their ages if its not important

What proof do you have that Saad has lied about his age about 4 years?

 

[Bewal Express]

What proof do you have that Saad has lied about his age about 4 years?

I dont. My point was a more general one that the vast majority are overage. He maybe the exception. I think you dont understand how much damage it does to the national team because resources are spent on fake aged guys, guys who have already reached their ceiling

 

[m.shah]

I dont. My point was a more general one that the vast majority are overage. He maybe the exception. I think you dont understand how much damage it does to the national team because resources are spent on fake aged guys, guys who have already reached their ceiling

That is true but most of these guys seems of real age now.

 

[Bewal Express]

That is true but most of these guys seems of real age now.

If you know that, that is all good. I told you that the likes of Amir, Najaf Shah and Shadab are all around 3-4 years older. That wasnt speculation, that was a fact.

 

[RidiculousMan]

Saad looks around 19-20 tbh

Mostly age is correct for players coming from urban centres like Karachi

It's not 90s anymore. Age is mostly correct for these new lads. Maybe a year up or down for afew. But that's about it.