Was it right for Babar Azam to retire at 90 in Pakistan's ICC World Cup 2023 warm-up match against Australia?

[Asad T]

Babar Azam retired on 90 (from 59 ball) in Pakistan's warm-up match against Australia. He came in at #6 when Pakistan was 83/4 and helped stabilize the innings. What do you make of his retiring at 90: should he have retired earlier? Or should he have seen it through? He was not captaining today; do you think this factored into his punchy batting performance today?

 

[Savak]

Dont really care as this was a warm up game. I am more concerned about the fact that the other players are not stepping up against the big teams.

 

[Rana]

Why did he play?

Saud needed more game time. Does Babar not want more clutch players in his XI?

 

[AAli98]

Was it right for Wasim jnr M Haris Nawaz shadab Imam to choose cricket as a profession?

 

[Rana]

Was it right for Wasim jnr M Haris Nawaz shadab Imam to choose cricket as a profession?

It was right for them to have a nature that attracts Babar Azam’s friendship

 

[SamNJ]

His decision to walk in when Australia started bowling Mitch Marsh etc was wrong.

 

[Devadwal]

Yea it was good decision .Win or lose doesn't matter in warm up matches .

 

[Technics 1210]

He is the captain, and is leading by example by demonstrating personal milestones are not important, even in meaningless matches.

He retired and gifted Australia a meaningless win.

His sacrifice meant the tailenders faced Australia's top bowling unit, and Pakistan's tailenders did well!

Babar playing mind games like 4D chess, this was a reverse troll to Australia!

 

[Technics 1210]

Babar Azam retired on 90 (from 59 ball) in Pakistan's warm-up match against Australia. He came in at #6 when Pakistan was 83/4 and helped stabilize the innings. What do you make of his retiring at 90: should he have retired earlier? Or should he have seen it through? He was not captaining today; do you think this factored into his punchy batting performance today?



View attachment 137013

Superb SR!

 

[Usman Chadda]

Yes he did.

No need for him to bat even, but that’s two decent innings in a row.

Babar and Rizwan in form is a good sign, just need Fakhar and Imam to stop disappointing us at this important time.

 

[hafizexpress]

Haters would be ignorant of this but Babar played a great role today.

Saved the collapse, took the innings far, took advantage of the part-timers in a way the out of form batsmen would not have, only played 59 balls, brought target within reach, provided a platform to the lower order to get exposure facing Australia's best bowlers without pressure of an unchasable target -> giving Nawaz, Mir, and Hasan Ali time to get into batting rhythm.

Our tail will be really important in this world cup with our openers out of form. It was important that they gained some confidence along with the team. The team bundling out for 200 would have done a lot of mental damage. Babar did a lot of good to the team today

 

[FearlessRoar]

Its not a big deal. It was warm up match.

 

[ChTab]

Why he even played this game in 1st place Saud should have played instead. It was stupid from Pakistani management

 

[Technics 1210]

Sounds like Kanye West delivering an interview

Says the guy who wants convicted fixers back in the team as he hates Pakistan so much, yet has time to follow all the news, comments, and matches on team Pakistan.

Self loathing torture.

 

[Technics 1210]

Haters are in a tail spin today, they were hoping for Babar to score a century in a meaningless match so they can spew their nonsense and hatred.

Little did they know Babar had other plans for them!

All hail the 4D captain of Pakistan!

 

[hassan918]

IMO, he should have at least get past the three figures.

 

[Bhaijaan]

It was an act of ultimate selflessness.

Things you expect from Big Bobby

 

[Bilal7]

Haters are in a tail spin today, they were hoping for Babar to score a century in a meaningless match so they can spew their nonsense and hatred.

Little did they know Babar had other plans for them!

All hail the 4D captain of Pakistan!

It's hilarious seeing their tiny, confused brains try to comprehend what happened. The narrative now is that Babar retiring didn't matter because Pakistan would have lost even if he didn't retire.

He was awesome with the bat today. Firstly, his absence at #3 showed everyone how important he is to this team. To then come in at #6 and play the innings he did was exception in of itself but it also allowed us to get to a position where we could have chased down that score.

He then retired at the 35th over mark to give Nawaz and Agha the opportunity to finish things off.

 

[hafizexpress]

It's hilarious seeing their tiny, confused brains try to comprehend what happened. The narrative now is that Babar retiring didn't matter because Pakistan would have lost even if he didn't retire.

He was awesome with the bat today. Firstly, his absence at #3 showed everyone how important he is to this team. To then come in at #6 and play the innings he did was exception in of itself but it also allowed us to get to a position where we could have chased down that score.

He then retired at the 35th over mark to give Nawaz and Agha the opportunity to finish things off.

They're always looking for an excuse to slam Babar. He has no way out of this. I don't understand why they are following Pak cricket if they despise our players this much. They also made fun of him for smashing Smith, Warner and Marnus. What ELSE did you want him to do? If he got out to them, he would've been bashed. And since he scored runs amongst them they don't want to count it. It's not like he even knew that the part-timers will be bowling? He came to bat to save the team and he did so. Kudos to him

 

[Rana]

They're always looking for an excuse to slam Babar. He has no way out of this. I don't understand why they are following Pak cricket if they despise our players this much. They also made fun of him for smashing Smith, Warner and Marnus. What ELSE did you want him to do? If he got out to them, he would've been bashed. And since he scored runs amongst them they don't want to count it. It's not like he even knew that the part-timers will be bowling? He came to bat to save the team and he did so. Kudos to him

He came to bat because he is still insecure about his form. It all doesn’t work for him when it really matters these days.

He came in and lucky for him the Aussies bowled their net bowlers. He left when the Aussies brought back a couple of their main bowlers.

Babar has only faced Maxwell who will bowl to him in the World Cup.

He didn’t face Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood, Zampa. That’s 4 of the bowlers Australia will employ that day

All of Australia’s batsmen got a good look at Pakistan’s main bowling attack today.

 

[Major]

nawaz got batting practice so yes it was right. Because there will be situations where the likes of Nawaz would be needed to bat in the lower order.

 

[MenInG]

Good of him but wonder if this was some sort of statement to his detractors?

 

[Rana]

Good of him but wonder if this was some sort of statement to his detractors?

Was he the captain or Shadab?

Did Shadab call him back or he left himself?

 

[Dr_Bassim]

Babar can only play whats in front of him.

It was more of a genius masterstroke from Australia that when he came on they switched to Marnus, Smith and Warner.

Obviously hitting Starc, Cummins, Hazlewood and Zampa would have been more confidence boosting and Australia rightly made sure there was no sniff of that.

As I said, credit to Babar though.

One, he is an expert minnow basher and can definitely thrash bowlers like Junior Dala, David Warner and Steven Smith into oblivion.

Secondly, he realized that a century here would only raise more embarassment for him based on the fact that match didnt count. Also, majority of it came vs part timers which would not be really considered any major goo goo in his resume.

He rightfully retired at that time.

Good game for him.

Still think he could have played Saud though.

 

[Saj]

I think he did the right thing.

Give others an opportunity to sink or swim.

Babar won't fire in every match at this World Cup, others need to show what they can/cannot do.

 

[Bilal7]

Was he the captain or Shadab?

Did Shadab call him back or he left himself?

Babar is the captain. He retired himself.

 

[pakistani pride]

Why did he play this game?
And if he decided to play, he should have used this situation to chase the score down.

 

[ArabKnight]

It would be better if he retired at 99.

Hasan Ali would’ve gotten remaining 5 runs by hitting a six with 1 wicket in hand.

 

[giri26]

Australia bowled 22 overs of part-time spin and 7 overs of Marsh. So that makes it 29 overs. Their main bowlers Cummins, Starc & Abott bowled only 18 overs between them. There was no Zampa as well. Australia played it well. They have tried out all their part time bowlers to see how they would fare. Babar Azam retiring was good as all teams are trying to test out their playing XI, so Pakistan would have also wanted to test out their batting before the main event.

 

[jnaveen1980]

He should have never batted. He is one of the guys who missed 0 matches for their country in the last 2 years. Not missing even warm up is next level. Even after coming in to bat he should have retired immediately after seeing Aussies trolling with their bowling choices for whatever reason. It is borderline insult if you ask me. The same practice he could have had in the nets by facing Iftikar and Shadab.

 

[pakistani pride]

Probably the only time in a meaningless game where you want him to stay and he leaves the field.

 

[Bhaijaan]

It was, in the end, his finest knock at the World Cup.