What does Babar Azam mean when he says the main players are not available?

[realitygaf]

Babar Azam | Losing skipper:

We wanted to restrict them to under 300. But we didn't start well in the first ten overs, but we restricted them well in the end. I thought we lost the grip when I got out. It wasn't easy for the new batsmen, but unfortunately I got out and they got the momentum. When your main players aren't available, you have to back the young players. They debutants did well though. We will discuss the mistakes we made and look to not repeat it in the next game.

What does he mean exactly ?

 

[YousafTheBeast]

If you need your main players to beat an Australian team without the likes of Warner, Maxwell, Starc, Smith, Cummins, Hazelwood then there’s no hope for this team.

Imagine going from a captain like Imran Khan to now having one like Babar Azam. What a downfall.

 

[iniqbal223]

Glad he did not say , we lost to England in 2021 ODIs because our main players were not available
I think ICC and other member boards were stunned when Pak fluked against India in T20 WC; so may be they realized its better to play A team with A team

If Australia beats us in this series; its all going to reset to countries sending their C/Z teams

 

[iniqbal223]

Fluke victor against India WILL DO MORE HARM than GOOD TO US

 

[giri26]

Who are these main players? Shaheen Afridi is one but again he isn't a batter. I think Pakistan had most of their main batters in the XI, Fakhar, Imam, Rizwan & Babar. Who are these other main players who have made the difference in ODI batting in recent times and who could have chased 8 runs an over for over 25 overs?

Australia on the other hand were actually missing at least 5 of their first choice players and then missed few more due to COVID & injuries. They aren't complaining. Pakistan are struggling against a team which is missing Warner, Smith, Starc, Cummins, Marsh, Maxwell & Hazlewood. They even lost Ashton Agar before the game. It is best for Babar to not to give interviews during a series. The things he says are absurd.

 

[Major]

Poor statement and thinking. Australia was without its main players, and yet you needed your main players?

Also, bowling wasnt an issue. On this flat wicket, the bowlers did well. Issue was batting. 300 is normal, expecting less than 300 is ridiculous. Even if the target was in the 270 range, these guys would had bottled it.

Basically, what Babar is saying is that he himself wont bat fast, but expects opposition to give him a low score or his bowlers to do all the main work, so that he can continue batting at his pace.

I wonder what the statement would had been had the score been 299.... Babar's reply are as expected. 317 was not even that big with todays standards. You went in with 7 batters for gods sake.

 

[JibranAnsari]

Always trying find excuses.

 

[hitthestump]

Everyone knows our main players are Hafeez and Malik.

Pakistan have failed to move on from these two in the middle order because our talent stocks remain bone dry.

 

[Cric1234]

Everyone knows our main players are Hafeez and Malik.

Pakistan have failed to move on from these two in the middle order because our talent stocks remain bone dry.

No we have power hitters in Sharjeel Akmal Haider even Ghulam can play in this mediocre ODI team it’s the selections and team balance which are holding us back from being more competitive and moving up the rankings.

Next we will see Abdullah Shafique another accumulator prodigy plodding on stat padding then you never know Asad Shafiq might get a recall he did a score a few hundreds in the last domestic tournament his experience can come in handy according to our selectors.

The other new thing is playing old spinners almost like a few farewell series and they generally are not good enough instead of playing younger ones for long term.

 

[PerfectionPersonified]

Khushdil and Ifti are domestic hacks, the quicker PCB realize the better.

Unfortunately Pakistan lacks talent when it comes to real cricket ( Test) and semi real cricket ( ODI).

Pakistan is still a good team in circus cricket i.e T20I

 

[Kianig89]

Shadab Shoaib Malik Naseem Shah are his main players ??

 

[sweep_shot]

Was he referring to Shadab, Imad, and Shaheen?

 

[ask_analyse_act]

Khushdil and Ifti are domestic hacks, the quicker PCB realize the better.

Unfortunately Pakistan lacks talent when it comes to real cricket ( Test) and semi real cricket ( ODI).

Pakistan is still a good team in circus cricket i.e T20I

Indeed circus cricket they are good at.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

Was he referring to Shadab, Imad, and Shaheen?

May be he is referring to his coaches Yousuf , Saqi and his previous coaches Misbah and Waqar.

 

[Thanos]

What Babar means he is not your main player, so don't expect him to win matches for Pakistan.
Reminded me of "Jaagte raho, mere bharose mat raho". Lol

 

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

He means the players that weren't playing.

If those were players, then the main players would still be the one's that weren't playing.

I could go on.

 

[shamaan]

Who are these main players? Shaheen Afridi is one but again he isn't a batter. I think Pakistan had most of their main batters in the XI, Fakhar, Imam, Rizwan & Babar. Who are these other main players who have made the difference in ODI batting in recent times and who could have chased 8 runs an over for over 25 overs?

Australia on the other hand were actually missing at least 5 of their first choice players and then missed few more due to COVID & injuries. They aren't complaining. Pakistan are struggling against a team which is missing Warner, Smith, Starc, Cummins, Marsh, Maxwell & Hazlewood. They even lost Ashton Agar before the game. It is best for Babar to not to give interviews during a series. The things he says are absurd.

They were missing nawaz and Shadab who are automatic selections.

 

[Varun]

1. Mohammad Hafeez
2. Shoaib Malik
3. Wahab Riaz
4. Mohammad Amir

 

[hitthestump]

No we have power hitters in Sharjeel Akmal Haider even Ghulam can play in this mediocre ODI team

Say no more. Pakistan cricket is going to go the same way as hockey did - down to the depths.

If we didn't have Babar, Rizwan and Shaheen right now we'd be there already.

 

[realitygaf]

Say no more. Pakistan cricket is going to go the same way as hockey did - down to the depths.

If we didn't have Babar, Rizwan and Shaheen right now we'd be there already.

There are many cricketers who could easily play for other international teams in top tier who never get selected

 

[Ab Fan]

Main players make a difference in Test matches but in limited overs, teams win a lot of games with youngsters too.

In 2007 Australia tour, India won LOI series without the presence of senior players but in Test cricket, they needed the likes of Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly to win games overseas.

Ofcourse, Gabba 2021 is an exception to this and that is why it was a special win. But in limited overs, you don't miss your senior experienced players as much as you would in Test cricket.

 

[giri26]

They were missing nawaz and Shadab who are automatic selections.

wouldn't have made a huge difference to the result yesterday.

 

[iniqbal223]

Babar missing his buddies in playing XI

Usman Qadir, Shadab, Shoaib Malik, Hafeez, Umar Akmal, Nawaz

Right time for Hafeez to take back his retirement

 

[shamaan]

wouldn't have made a huge difference to the result yesterday.

They wouldn't have conceded that score.

 

[Cric1234]

Say no more. Pakistan cricket is going to go the same way as hockey did - down to the depths.

If we didn't have Babar, Rizwan and Shaheen right now we'd be there already.

We are already there I would say we are currently an 8th ranked team in tests and ODIs which mean our so called great players Babar Rizwan and Shaheen are not helping really to make us better are they.

Winning a few matches in T20s against some unknown players is our only success recently again the great Babar Rizwan partnership will again lose us the next T20 World Cup.

With a lack of talent Instill aggression entertain fans then you never know we might win matches against the better teams more often because it can’t get any worse than it is we have become hopeless in the two main formats.

The best strategy in ODIS with the consistent high scoring games is to fill the top 5 with your most aggressive batsmen make it a mini T20 win and lose matches in the first 25 overs the lower order cannot be relied on to win any match other than against minnows.

 

[giri26]

They wouldn't have conceded that score.

Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab khan both average 32 will the ball in ODIs and concede 5.2 runs per over. That is on an average. So don't think they could have done much with the ball. Babar was talking about the batting which came after him even there Nawaz averages 20 and Shadab 24 in ODIs. Again don't think either of them would have made any difference.

 

[shamaan]

Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab khan both average 32 will the ball in ODIs and concede 5.2 runs per over. That is on an average. So don't think they could have done much with the ball. Babar was talking about the batting which came after him even there Nawaz averages 20 and Shadab 24 in ODIs. Again don't think either of them would have made any difference.

Going at 5 runs an over in this day and age is fine.shadab and nawaz are way better spinners than what we are currently playing.

 

[Mobashir]

Fluke victor against India WILL DO MORE HARM than GOOD TO US

You better follow some other sport.
No logic at all in your posts.

We were in good form in the world cup so we beat everyone in the group stage. We also nearly beat aus in the semi.