When 30k people in the crowd are more knowledgeable than Babar Azam, things are bad

[Major]

Shan Masood and Rizwan failed to hit full toses. They dabbed them for singles and played a selfish innings.

Shan Masood got out and the crowd cheered. Now before the next batter cane out, everyone chatted asif alis name, because we all know that asif has the ability to hit a six off the very first ball, he doesnt need to warm up.

And guess who Babar sends in?

Khushdil shah.

Shah saab fails to hit anything. He gets out along woth Rizwan and finally Asif Ali comes in the last over. Gues ehat Asif does, first ball six. In the three balls he faced, he hit two sixes. Crowd cheered as they knew they were proven right.

Makes you think how dumb is Babar Azam as a captain.

We have been bashing our batting, buts its babars captaincy which is the issue

 

[Mean&Green]

Extremely dumb absolutely clueless and he knows his game is limited so when he gets criticized plays one good innings by coming out of his shell than goes back to his norm. He will never be a risk taker

 

[Mp812]

Babar is confusing potential opposition strategists for upcoming world cup games by keeping things unpredictable about his captaincy style and strategy

 

[Suleiman]

Yeah he is playing some 4D chess that us mere fans won’t be able to comprehend. Probably wanted them to think Asif was a tailender because he came after Khushdil and Shan, but then psyche- 2 sixes.

 

[Kriketer]

You know the saying some.people are born to be leaders, with their sharp mind, risk taking abilities and quirky deicion making. Babar doesn't seem to have none, laid back people just don't make good leaders.

Babar is an outstanding batsman and should be left with that only. Will be happy to be proven wrong, but seeing so far his field placements, bowling changes and batting order hasn't sparked much hope.

 

[Sarwar89]

There is no need to replace Babar as captain, it is typical Pakistan culture where people lack patience & are happy to bring back late 90’s era where our team never settled due to so many captains including Salim malik, wasim, moin, anwar, aamir sohail, wikki.

New zealand model has generally been so good they stick with their guys for long be it fleming ( who won them icc champ trophy) or kane ( won them icc test chmp).

By changing babar as captain, pakistan is still not going to be invincibles of Bradman team of 48.

Under babar team has reached semi finals of world cup after 9 years gap + beaten india twice, afghanistan twice and above all reached Asia cup final after 9 year gap.

Yes there is room for improvement, tactically he can be more astute, but he is only 27. Imran did not even become captain until he was 29-30.

Time & patience are the key. By chopping him as captain, entire team dynamics will suffer.

 

[Nfc120]

What an absolutely horrendous take, Pakistanis fans are the worst. Perhaps Babar is keeping his middle order fluid to test different batters and experiment? Why do we have to treat this t20 like it’s the final of a WC. Babar isn’t a brilliant tactician but he is learning, and under him, the team has been more consistent than I’ve ever seen them. Criticism of them is way overblown

 

[Usman Chadda]

Pakistan fans are actually quite possibly the dumbest in the world. Nowhere have I seen such low IQ among cricket fans, with zero understanding of the game.

Babar did muck up today with the batting order, however the OP is completely wrong with the premise once again.

 

[Slim]

Babar had a rare off day with captaincy today during the batting. His fielding set up for the last over was fantastic. Pakistanis need to stop whining about the good things we have in our team. Whose your replacement captain huh?

 

[Shafi]

What an absolutely horrendous take, Pakistanis fans are the worst. Perhaps Babar is keeping his middle order fluid to test different batters and experiment? Why do we have to treat this t20 like it’s the final of a WC. Babar isn’t a brilliant tactician but he is learning, and under him, the team has been more consistent than I’ve ever seen them. Criticism of them is way overblown

Babar will never learn. He is doing same things for last 2 years with no initiative. He is not a captain material neither is a power hitter. He should play as an anchor (pure batsman) role where Rizwan has potential to be a power hitter and should work on it. Shadab has better leadership ability to be a captain.

 

[Shafi]

Babar had a rare off day with captaincy today during the batting. His fielding set up for the last over was fantastic. Pakistanis need to stop whining about the good things we have in our team. Whose your replacement captain huh?

Shadab. Babar is a younger captain version of Misbah in LOI but no where near Misbah in test.

 

[ChipShot]

Yes the sooner he is removed as captain the better it is.

 

[Colorblind Genius]

Shan Masood and Rizwan failed to hit full toses. They dabbed them for singles and played a selfish innings.

Shan Masood got out and the crowd cheered. Now before the next batter cane out, everyone chatted asif alis name, because we all know that asif has the ability to hit a six off the very first ball, he doesnt need to warm up.

And guess who Babar sends in?

Khushdil shah.

Shah saab fails to hit anything. He gets out along woth Rizwan and finally Asif Ali comes in the last over. Gues ehat Asif does, first ball six. In the three balls he faced, he hit two sixes. Crowd cheered as they knew they were proven right.

Makes you think how dumb is Babar Azam as a captain.

We have been bashing our batting, buts its babars captaincy which is the issue

It’s not Babar’s captaincy. It’s his dishonesty with job/responsibilities, and abuse of power.

His say in team selection is based on personal friendships, personal likes and dislikes. Take for example Usman Qadir.

Our system does not have any concept of how to produce and groom leaders who are alert and well trained to identify confirmational and personal Bias in their own decisions.

Here in the US when we take leadership training courses at our workplace, we learn these and many other pitfalls that a successful leader must be alert of, or else not only he destroys his own self and his team, but also hurts the organization he works for.

The way people become leaders in Pakistan is not by talent, skill, experience AND training - but either by nepotism, or the next senior becomes the captain after existing one steps out. Or in politics, it’s father son daughter etc. No leadership skill n training required.

 

[Saurav]

One viewpoint could be that he's trying players. They already know what Asif Ali can do.

 

[Sarwar89]

One viewpoint could be that he's trying players. They already know what Asif Ali can do.

This is what people are not understanding.

Common sense.

 

[Rana]

One viewpoint could be that he's trying players. They already know what Asif Ali can do.

We already know what Babar and Rizwan can do. Why are they not experimenting in their positions?

 

[PakPremi]

Babar is not very astuate captain or an honest one either as he could have tested other fringe players lin Asia cup as well. I think here he is persisting with Khushdil and Iftikhar to prove or disapprove themselves. I can see Khushdil will be dropped from WC squad as hedoesnot havea capacity to play a significant inning against England's attack.The bowling will favour Iftikhar and his ability to atleast stabilise an inning when top order collapses will save him. All that means we wil have too many anchors in the team.

 

[Rana]

Babar is not very astuate captain or an honest one either as he could have tested other fringe players lin Asia cup as well. I think here he is persisting with Khushdil and Iftikhar to prove or disapprove themselves. I can see Khushdil will be dropped from WC squad as hedoesnot havea capacity to play a significant inning against England's attack.The bowling will favour Iftikhar and his ability to atleast stabilise an inning when top order collapses will save him. All that means we wil have too many anchors in the team.

Lol. That’s not the reason why Iftikhar and Khushdil are being persisted with. They have a very powerful backing in the management

 

[gazza619]

Babar’s dumbness becomes more visible under Saqi as Saqi is equally dumb.

I would get a better coach.

 

[Saurav]

We already know what Babar and Rizwan can do. Why are they not experimenting in their positions?

Their position is confirmed. No point experimenting there

Same as our top 3. Only experiment between Pant/DK etc

 

[Titan24]

One viewpoint could be that he's trying players. They already know what Asif Ali can do.

This.

We can question captaincy and other things but, then we fans are the ones who also question the lack of opportunities, experiments etc. Asif's ability of being a 6-12 ball specialist in an international T20 game is already known, its the guys like Khushdil, Iftikhar who Babar would like to show more of that hitting ability straight away or in few balls as that's the amount of balls more often they will get. Guy is captain of the national team, his focus is on the upcoming World T20 rather than making the perfect decisions to make the crowd on the day of one of a bilateral series match happy.

Pak fan base is completely ignorant of the fact that development of players takes time, patience and number of things (Yes easy to have patience when you win). They expect the players to start performing from the word go and become world class players, it doesn't happen even in Aussie system which is arguably the best in the world.

 

[Titan24]

We can find thousands of arguments regarding who is not good but, the ones which actually provide solutions/options are a rarity.

Easy to criticize failures, very difficult to talk about and suggest feasible solutions (Fast tracking couple of young guys without them even playing 2 complete domestic seasons is not a solution).

 

[Kroll]

Of course it was a bad move in hindsight, I had said in commentary thread that Asif should have came on instead of Shan.

Babar may have felt that this was Khushdil's chance to finally come good, but sadly it failed. Khushdil may have signalled to Babar that he was ready to step up hence that's why he came in before Asif.

I actually disagree, as it is clear that Asif was more likelier to succeed given the current form of the two. However, I can see why Khushdil may have been sent as he's also a designated power hitter and finisher.

 

[KingOfPakBreakfast]

This.

We can question captaincy and other things but, then we fans are the ones who also question the lack of opportunities, experiments etc. Asif's ability of being a 6-12 ball specialist in an international T20 game is already known, its the guys like Khushdil, Iftikhar who Babar would like to show more of that hitting ability straight away or in few balls as that's the amount of balls more often they will get. Guy is captain of the national team, his focus is on the upcoming World T20 rather than making the perfect decisions to make the crowd on the day of one of a bilateral series match happy.

Pak fan base is completely ignorant of the fact that development of players takes time, patience and number of things (Yes easy to have patience when you win). They expect the players to start performing from the word go and become world class players, it doesn't happen even in Aussie system which is arguably the best in the world.

Regarding Khushdil, what I’m afraid of is his confidence. It’s just so incredibly low at this moment that it’s begun to affect him in the field. He looks like a deer in the headlights.

And what’s worse is, the tactics have not helped his confidence one bit. If your captain and senior wicketkeeper play in a way that shows a complete lack of confidence in your ability, how will you ever believe in yourself. Even in the PSL, we saw that Khushdil takes a bit of time to get going. Having him come in so late and then expecting fireworks is a nonsense. This series does not matter. I’d rather Babar let his middle order get enough time in the middle than him batting for 12 overs.

I don’t think Khushdil is solution to our long term, but I believe with all my heart, that he’s better than this fragile shadow of a player we’re seeing.

 

[Titan24]

Regarding Khushdil, what I’m afraid of is his confidence. It’s just so incredibly low at this moment that it’s begun to affect him in the field. He looks like a deer in the headlights.

And what’s worse is, the tactics have not helped his confidence one bit. If your captain and senior wicketkeeper play in a way that shows a complete lack of confidence in your ability, how will you ever believe in yourself. Even in the PSL, we saw that Khushdil takes a bit of time to get going. Having him come in so late and then expecting fireworks is a nonsense. This series does not matter. I’d rather Babar let his middle order get enough time in the middle than him batting for 12 overs.

I don’t think Khushdil is solution to our long term, but I believe with all my heart, that he’s better than this fragile shadow of a player we’re seeing.

Totally.

Expecting middle order to keep on delivering 6-7 balls 18-20 consistently is an unrealistic ask. People make PP utilization an issue but, we are not that far behind other teams if we compare on same surfaces its the overs 6-14 where we really lag behind.

With 9-10 wickets in hand which we usually have after PP batsmen should try and go at a good rate during that period (Of course if a wicket falls, you consolidate for few balls), it might not always go as planned but it will still have more probability to come through I believe then expecting the middle order to go at 12-13 an over in last 3-4 overs to set a target and sometimes chase as well. Especially with the batting depth we have in our main XI, top order should be confident regarding rest of the XI. That Afghanistan game as well despite the pitch shouldn't have gotten this close, main issue was our lack of intent in middle overs and same thing happened in Asia cup final.

 

[Blistering Barnacle]

Khushdil needs to be replaced for sure. He's not shown any inclination to risk his wicket for the team's cause in any match I have watched with him in the team.

 

[Blistering Barnacle]

Didn't Khushdil score like 5 off 7 in the match prior to this? And in other matches too his lack of intent has been crazily poor.

 

[Blistering Barnacle]

Overall, Babar seems to lack tactical skills as a captain.

His strength is backing is players. But he backs the wrong ones more often than not.

 

[PakPremi]

Lol. That’s not the reason why Iftikhar and Khushdil are being persisted with. They have a very powerful backing in the management

We claim that for evry second player. Truth is they are backed because PCB have invested a lot of time on them when everyone was claiming that Pak has no hitters and we players are not given enough opportunities once tgey debut, unfortunately Iftikhar became even more Anchor than others and Khushdil flopped completely but Khushdil is getting max chances in this series to prove himself else he be written off for good like Maqsood.

 

[Jazx]

Shan Masood and Rizwan failed to hit full toses. They dabbed them for singles and played a selfish innings.

Shan Masood got out and the crowd cheered. Now before the next batter cane out, everyone chatted asif alis name, because we all know that asif has the ability to hit a six off the very first ball, he doesnt need to warm up.

And guess who Babar sends in?

Khushdil shah.

Shah saab fails to hit anything. He gets out along woth Rizwan and finally Asif Ali comes in the last over. Gues ehat Asif does, first ball six. In the three balls he faced, he hit two sixes. Crowd cheered as they knew they were proven right.

Makes you think how dumb is Babar Azam as a captain.

We have been bashing our batting, buts its babars captaincy which is the issue

Same mistake was made in asia cup final too, when ifti got out the required run rate was around 13. At that time asif would have sent in to counter attack as he can play his shots from ball one. A little camio from him would have made pakistan right back into the game. Then the run rate could have been somewhat manageable with khushdil, shadab etc who are usually slow starters.

 

[shamaan]

Shan Masood and Rizwan failed to hit full toses. They dabbed them for singles and played a selfish innings.

Shan Masood got out and the crowd cheered. Now before the next batter cane out, everyone chatted asif alis name, because we all know that asif has the ability to hit a six off the very first ball, he doesnt need to warm up.

And guess who Babar sends in?

Khushdil shah.

Shah saab fails to hit anything. He gets out along woth Rizwan and finally Asif Ali comes in the last over. Gues ehat Asif does, first ball six. In the three balls he faced, he hit two sixes. Crowd cheered as they knew they were proven right.

Makes you think how dumb is Babar Azam as a captain.

We have been bashing our batting, buts its babars captaincy which is the issue

The only thing I can think off is that they were trying to see if he can perform the role as a hitter hence why they put him in to bat.

 

[ArabKnight]

I miss the days when Asif’s name was chanted by the crowd.

This clutch man is very much missed in the team right now.

Saud, Nawaz, Shadab, Mir are useless.

 

[Mamoon]

I miss the days when Asif’s name was chanted by the crowd.

This clutch man is very much missed in the team right now.

Saud, Nawaz, Shadab, Mir are useless.

As useful as the clutch of a tanked Mehran. One of the most terrible batsmen to ever play international cricket.

He makes Shahid Afridi look like Viv Richards.

But this is normal for Pakistani fans. The players who are not selected or who are injured are always the solution.

If Asif was playing and flopping as usual, then the narrative would have been that a proper batsman like Saud who would helped strengthen the middle-order by averting collapses etc.

 

[ArabKnight]

As useful as the clutch of a tanked Mehran. One of the most terrible batsmen to ever play international cricket.

He makes Shahid Afridi look like Viv Richards.

But this is normal for Pakistani fans. The players who are not selected or who are injured are always the solution.

If Asif was playing and flopping as usual, then the narrative would have been that a proper batsman like Saud who would helped strengthen the middle-order by averting collapses etc.

You can’t lie that Asif used to walk the talk.

People used to yell that man’s name “ASIF ASIF ASIF” when a Pakistan wicket fell. They knew cricket. They wanted Asif in to bat.

Oh man, what a batter he was.

Date	Versus	Ground	How Dismissed	Runs	B/F	S/R
26/10/2021​	New Zealand​	Sharjah Cricket Stadium​	not out​	27*​	12​	225.00​
29/10/2021​	Afghanistan​	Dubai International Cricket Stadium​	not out​	25*​	7​	357.14​

He is responsible for many six blitzes because he’s a true smasher of the ball.

A MOTM off just 7 balls faced. You can’t beat that.

 

[Mamoon]

You can’t lie that Asif used to walk the talk.

People used to yell that man’s name “ASIF ASIF ASIF” when a Pakistan wicket fell. They knew cricket. They wanted Asif in to bat.

Oh man, what a batter he was.

Date	Versus	Ground	How Dismissed	Runs	B/F	S/R
26/10/2021​	New Zealand​	Sharjah Cricket Stadium​	not out​	27*​	12​	225.00​
29/10/2021​	Afghanistan​	Dubai International Cricket Stadium​	not out​	25*​	7​	357.14​

He is responsible for many six blitzes because he’s a true smasher of the ball.

A MOTM off just 7 balls faced. You can’t beat that.

Only person who is lying is you by quoting 2 matches over a 4 year period.

Asif was trash. Those two knocks were flukes.

 

[ArabKnight]

Only person who is lying is you by quoting 2 matches over a 4 year period.

Asif was trash. Those two knocks were flukes.

Honestly you can’t do much when you’re asked to bat at #6 or #7. There’s a limit of deliveries you are facing.

When you’re Pakistan, you are always set to make a garbage total because the top order did nothing. Asif Ali was always given the dirty job to play slogger. Babar follows a very Misbah-esque low IQ game-plan. Have tuk-tuks & accumulators at top, then have a couple sloggers at bottom.

Since you’re saying that I only posted 2 performances. Those were the only 2 out of 3 times he batted in the World T20 2021. He also had an innings of 4(3)* against Scotland. I omitted that for obvious reasons because who cares about Scotland? Asif Ali is a true clutch match winner & single-handily got us to be successful in that tournament.

Going back to batting positions. Asif Ali shouldn’t bat low and absolutely needs to bat higher. He will succeed more if he bats at #3/4.

In ODIs, Asif averages:

- 50 at 227 SR @ #3
- 51 at 143 SR @ #4

Granted he only played one innings each at those positions—one against Zimbabwe & one against England—the numbers are definitely impressive. Not sure how you can justify not giving him more chances at those spots.

 

[chinaman00]

Asif Ali averages 25 from 21 ODIs with the highest score of 52.

He averages 15 from 58 T20I.

Those are horrific numbers and anyone that thinks he’s the solution Pakistan needs is delusional.

Pakistan requires a batsman that can match or exceed Iftikhar. Nothing less.

 

[W63L35]

If those 30K people were so cricket-knowledgeable, then why did they pay to watch Babar bat/play? They must not be smart enough to take care of their hard-earned money.

 

[Major]

If those 30K people were so cricket-knowledgeable, then why did they pay to watch Babar bat/play? They must not be smart enough to take care of their hard-earned money.

check the dates before commentating and knowing the context.
thanks