What's new

What is stopping Babar Azam from going on to make big scores?

MenInG

MenInG

PakPassion Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 2, 2004
Runs
217,977
Not that he doesnt have experience of big scores, seems to have the technique but gets out in Tests when you think he has done all the hard work.

What is the issue?
 
its odd but it will happen eventually. Azhar made a lot of 50s as well before his first ton, that was against Sri Lanka in UAE, i can see something similar happening with babar
 
Inexperience at test level , he will start scoring big soon enough. Needs to tighten up a few area but nothing major , his angled bat shorts outside off in the first 50 deliveries of his innings are worrisome though.
 
He is only 22. Give him time and relax. Do not do anything that may lead to criticism later on.

These post will never improve him, rather may disturb a talented young player
 
Babar is doing just fine....Let him be.....

He will eventually get there and score that maiden ton, while once he gets the ball rolling he's talented and committed enough to pick up and score big after that...

We have to be patient.
 
I think similar to Azhar Ali he will get going after that first hundred. I remember Azhar Ali took 2-3 years to get his first hundred. After that he has scored 13 hundreds in 4-5 years. Hopefully Babar will get over the once and then the flood gates will open. Keep in mind Babar only recently scored his first ODI hundred despite getting close a few times. Now has 5 in the space of two series.
 
He needs one breakout innings and everything will fall into place soon after.

Anyway is the least of Pakistan's problems at the moment.
 
Good to see him making 50s rather than single digits or early failures like he was in Australia, but a true sign of improvement will come when he plays a strong team away from home.

Until then, he should find his groove playing against easier opposition and getting big runs eventually and I would expect to him score a couple of tons by this year.
 
Similar issue is plaguing Mominul Haque. He had 4 hundreds from his first 12 Tests and was averaging 63. In the 10 Tests after, no hundreds and his average is only 28. Mominul has had been dismissed for scores of 80, 66, 64, 64, 55, and 4 more times in the 50s. That is 9 dismissals between 50 and 99 out of only 38 innings.
 
Lack of concentration and abit of a lack of hunger to dig in at times when going gets tough. As soon as he gets bogged down he tries to look for shots that arent there, this is where his batting partner needs to help him by talking to him, rotating strike as these are two areas which would help massively.
 
ahmedwaqas92 said:
Babar is doing just fine....Let him be.....

He will eventually get there and score that maiden ton, while once he gets the ball rolling he's talented and committed enough to pick up and score big after that...

We have to be patient.
Click to expand...

There is still an argument for sticking with him, but increasingly it has to be made not on the basis of his performances, but despite them. For a no 3 he is not really doing fine anymore.
 
Azhar got his first ton in his 29th innings against Sri Lanka in UAE. It was actually quite funny because the runs that got him there were clearly leg byes, the umpire was about to signal them but stopped because Azhar was already celebrating.

Also like Babar, Azhar was stranded in the 90s early on his career in tough conditions
 
The only thing I'm worried about with Babar Azam is he's only scored 2 FC hundreds in 36 matches. He needs to kick on once he gets set - as mentioned above maybe he needs one big knock before the floodgates open.

I'd prefer to see him at 4 with Haris at 3 in the future just to cushion him a bit more against the new ball.
 
Markhor said:
The only thing I'm worried about with Babar Azam is he's only scored 2 FC hundreds in 36 matches. He needs to kick on once he gets set - as mentioned above maybe he needs one big knock before the floodgates open.

I'd prefer to see him at 4 with Haris at 3 in the future just to cushion him a bit more against the new ball.
Click to expand...

Why should we throw these youngsters at the deep end from the word go? am not sure that is ideal for their development, given the investment in Shafiq and with him being a senior member it would make sense for him to bat at no.3, Babar at no.4 (given his international exposure compared to Haris) and Harris at no.5

Azhar Ali
Sami Aslam
Asad Shafiq
Babar Azam
Haris Sohail

Shafiq's lack of consistency has ruined our line up but in the ideal scenario that is the line up you'd want. Regardless of conditions and opponent quality, batting at no.3 in Test Cricket is not a walk in the park for a rookie who like you say has only played 36 FC games and is 22 years old; yes he is a highly rated prospect and has experience from the U19 days but it won't make the Test level any easier. Asad Shafiq made his debut at no.6 and has been cushioned there for a long time, he needs to stand up.

Anyhow am backing Babar to do well with more experience and the gamble with Azhar Ali paid off in the past when we slotted him in at no.3 but we can't do that with every player and it would be unfair on Haris; new kid shows up on the block and we're like you're batting at no.3 now lad and just to make you feel better if you flop there are only two words we have to say about that......Sami Aslam.
 
shaz619 said:
Why should we throw these youngsters at the deep end from the word go? am not sure that is ideal for their development, given the investment in Shafiq and with him being a senior member it would make sense for him to bat at no.3, Babar at no.4 (given his international exposure compared to Haris) and Harris at no.5

Azhar Ali
Sami Aslam
Asad Shafiq
Babar Azam
Haris Sohail

Shafiq's lack of consistency has ruined our line up but in the ideal scenario that is the line up you'd want. Regardless of conditions and opponent quality, batting at no.3 in Test Cricket is not a walk in the park for a rookie who like you say has only played 36 FC games and is 22 years old; yes he is a highly rated prospect and has experience from the U19 days but it won't make the Test level any easier. Asad Shafiq made his debut at no.6 and has been cushioned there for a long time, he needs to stand up.

Anyhow am backing Babar to do well with more experience and the gamble with Azhar Ali paid off in the past when we slotted him in at no.3 but we can't do that with every player and it would be unfair on Haris; new kid shows up on the block and we're like you're batting at no.3 now lad and just to make you feel better if you flop there are only two words we have to say about that......Sami Aslam.
Click to expand...

Shafiq could come in at #4, Batsman should get what his natural position is, You can't expect a new ball bowler to come in at 3rd change.

Similarly Babar Azam is a top order batsman who should be persisted with in the top order since he is a long term prospect for Pakistan.

It's not a GAMBLE that you take, You have a young opener or a #3 batsman, And you would play him at a lower number just because you don't want to take the gamble?
 
Not there technically. Needs few technical adjustments.
He will get better and score centuries the more he plays test cricket.
I will move him at no 4 if/when Haris comes in at no 3
 
Still think he is too green to be given the test number three position. With openers like Shan Masood, our number three would be coming in with hardly an over bowled. Babar should have been blooded in at 5 or 6 in test matches.

In any case as Markhor mentioned, he does not have a stellar FC record and we are getting a continuation of the same in test matches. Can't expect someone to average 30 odd in domestics and 50 odd in internationals, it doesn't work that way.
 
Amjid Javed said:
Lack of concentration and abit of a lack of hunger to dig in at times when going gets tough. As soon as he gets bogged down he tries to look for shots that arent there, this is where his batting partner needs to help him by talking to him, rotating strike as these are two areas which would help massively.
Click to expand...

Pretty much this and reason why I feel he has too many things common with Akmal brothers . Even technically ,though hes much better just like Umar he has a tendency to play away from body and cross batted shots . Needs to work on these aspects .
Most batsmen these days develop bad habits with the amount of LOIs they play , I guess the biggest challenge for batsmen these days is switching between three different formats , not easy for any youngster and it wont be easy for Babar .
 
Syed1 said:
Still think he is too green to be given the test number three position. With openers like Shan Masood, our number three would be coming in with hardly an over bowled. Babar should have been blooded in at 5 or 6 in test matches.

In any case as Markhor mentioned, he does not have a stellar FC record and we are getting a continuation of the same in test matches. Can't expect someone to average 30 odd in domestics and 50 odd in internationals, it doesn't work that way.
Click to expand...

The more I see him am convinced that hes not your No3 , I dont think he should bat higher than 3 .
 
Babar to be fair is still learning the game but he needs to watch and learn from YK and misbah as much as possible, sometimes he will have sessions or even a hour where runs come easily and then sometimes u just have to work through a period where u wont get to many runs and if you tend to get through that period u then flourish after, Hopefully the more test cricket Babar plays the more he will mature as a player and not throw his wicket away like he did here.
 
Babar should not be fidgeted around with. He is Pakistan's best talent and best batsman whether you like it or not. Everyone has a couple of off series and he's only 22. Give him some time, please. Don't be impatient.

And for the people replacing him with Asad Shafiq need to open their eyes.
 
Markhor said:
The only thing I'm worried about with Babar Azam is he's only scored 2 FC hundreds in 36 matches. He needs to kick on once he gets set - as mentioned above maybe he needs one big knock before the floodgates open.

I'd prefer to see him at 4 with Haris at 3 in the future just to cushion him a bit more against the new ball.
Click to expand...

He was drafted young into national team, which is also right thing to do. To be fair, he has started test career in worst year, when we tour NZ/AUS/ENG in same calendar year. Couple of easy home series helped in past for young guns...Too much to learn in short period of time, how to deal with new ball, short pitch, extra bounce, seam movement not to mention spin...We discarded UA after tough tour(which I still think was a big mistake), BA should be continued, weather it is no 1 or no 5, its up to the think tank, long term he is no 3, but may not be right away...

Haris at 3 is good prospect, I would not mind. But at 4 you need a good player of spin from an Asian side. Misbah and Younis thrive in mostly asian conditions in last 6/7 years, because they were one of the best against spin, now they are gone, we have a huge void...That's why Fawad Alam may come in at #4, somebody who is really good with spin has to be in the team...Playing spin gets better with experience, I can imagine Malik, Fawad, Hafeez are good player of spin, one of them or if there is spin expert in domestic, that will come into the team...

Asad is not as good against spin, Azhar is best opener we ever had, he is so good against new ball, I would not like to tinker with that...Azhar and Sami can form the best opening pair, give them 2-3 years, they have solid technique against new ball, I don't know why Inzi screw with Sami :facepalm:

What we lost with Misbah and YK, high quality spin bashers, we need atleast one spin basher in the team, I don't know who that would be...They were not really that good against pace, reason why we lost 9/10 test matches in last 2 years :(
 
Hopefully it's just a case of him not knowing how to score hundreds because he's so early in his career. Once he manages to get over that hump then inshallah the floodgates will open.
 
He is good player , but needs to get his temperament right. Once he gets there , he will get more. One needs to learn how to make hundreds.
 
I said this in 2015 as well. He used to give up good starts in domestic then and still does that.

Lack of focus/batting temperament.

Needs to bat a full day in order to improve focus. Problem is that in int cricket you need to be there from the start and people will judge you even if you are 18 or 22.
 
Nothing to worry about. Will become an excellent number 3 in all formats
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
What is exactly going on with Babar Azam?
2 3
Replies
180
Views
7K
Rana
Rana
BouncerGuy
“I do not think Babar Azam or Mohammad Rizwan can be ruled out completely”: Salman Butt
Replies
18
Views
923
RedwoodOriginal
RedwoodOriginal
BouncerGuy
“Babar Azam needs to get mentally strong and make a comeback": Virender Sehwag
Replies
26
Views
32K
usman.sandhu
U
emranabbas
Shadab Khan urges fans not to call Babar Azam 'King' on national TV
Replies
27
Views
1K
RizwanT20Champ
R
Savak
  • Poll Poll
Who is a more mentally tough and resilient cricketer? Babar Azam or Mohammad Rizwan?
Replies
62
Views
3K
Greenstorm
Greenstorm
Back
Top