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Why is Azhar Ali being overly criticised by everyone here?

M

Major

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The guy gets a 300 against west indies, scores an important 50 in a grassy nz wicket and today scored a very good 70 on an australian wicket, yet people here are not satisfied with him and want to drop him from the team
 
Because he throws away good starts and gets out in soft ways

He negotiates some good spells and then gets out on easy deliveries which is a crime

You saying that we should be happy with his fifties and 70s makes it seem that we should be happy with mediocrity
 
So, scoring 300 against the minnow windies attack in UAE where our alternative options have superior averages: Shehzad @ 57.15 in UAE (something close to that figure) against superior opposition which includes NZ and Australia, Salman Butt (better average than any of our openers in Australia) and you think people are unjustly criticizing him?

I do agree that the talks of him dropping immediately are wrong, however, but i don't think he is the best test opener we have therefore should be lowered to the middle order.
 
Tell me any other batsmen who gets 50s or 70s on australian wickets.

Azhar ali is just as good as younis with his conversions.
 
Slog said:
Because he throws away good starts and gets out in soft ways

He negotiates some good spells and then gets out on easy deliveries which is a crime

You saying that we should be happy with his fifties and 70s makes it seem that we should be happy with mediocrity
Click to expand...

Agree. Well put. Also, the way he bats is extremely negative. The other guy Sami Aslam is the same.
 
StarWolf said:
So, scoring 300 against the minnow windies attack in UAE where our alternative options have superior averages: Shehzad @ 57.15 in UAE (something close to that figure) against superior opposition which includes NZ and Australia, Salman Butt (better average than any of our openers in Australia) and you think people are unjustly criticizing him?

I do agree that the talks of him dropping immediately are wrong, however, but i don't think he is the best test opener we have therefore should be lowered to the middle order.
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Damn if you do damn if you dont

West indies arnt a minnow.
Plus scoring a 300 is very tough job. You could never take away credit from someone for a 300
 
Major said:
Damn if you do damn if you dont

West indies arnt a minnow.
Plus scoring a 300 is very tough job. You could never take away credit from someone for a 300
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You are right. Maybe the way i put it was wrong. I didnt discredit his 300. I just quoted the averages of our alternate options.
 
No one criticizes him in test cricket. He's a quality opener. The few that do are a clueless fickle lot who change their opinion every 10 minutes.
 
Zohaib Shah said:
Test Cricket is played like One day cricket now. We need players who can go big or go home.
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?

Please come up with a better reason to hate him

Test cricket is not played like one day cricket, i dont know whatatvhes you have been watching lately.
 
Major said:
?

Please come up with a better reason to hate him

Test cricket is not played like one day cricket, i dont know whatatvhes you have been watching lately.
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It really is. In order to make big scores you need to acculurate once you get an eye in. Test cricket now a days is played a lot faster than before. Azhar's style of play hinders the team from getting bigger scores.
 
Slog said:
Because he throws away good starts and gets out in soft ways

He negotiates some good spells and then gets out on easy deliveries which is a crime

You saying that we should be happy with his fifties and 70s makes it seem that we should be happy with mediocrity
Click to expand...

This and the fact that he doesn't have another gear besides the usual.
 
His selfish desire of captaining Pakistan's one day side is the reason behind all the criticism he gets.

I don't think anyone criticizes his Test performances though.
 
there ahouldn't be any question of dropping him.. he plays in his way scores quite often.. the consistency he shows is seen rarely in pakistani openers. even sami aslam too.

now we have to compromise with either strike rates or consistency. i will go with consistency..
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Red Devil said:
Who cares about strike rate in Test cricket lmao.
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In contemporary test cricket when teams are scoring at around 4 runs an over his strikerate does hinder a team from having the opposition on mat while putting his partner under unnecessary pressure to keep the scoreboard ticking.
 
70 off 170 odd is fine from an opening batsman trying to save a match. In that situation a strike rate of around 40 is ideal. Obviously if you want perfection he would make 150 off 350 or something, but give him a break, he batted really well last night and today.
 
His one dsy strike rate is 75. How is that bad for anopener? Point is most of you are tulla tulla fans. Where in tulla tulla(t20) you go for tullas to excite everyone

Point is, most of the people are
 
I think a lot of the criticism of his ODI captaincy has carried over to test cricket.

It's unfair as he's a solid test batsman and deserves his spot in the team. Plus, the "strike rate" concern tends to be lessened in test cricket.

In Australian conditions, it's best to accept reality. It doesn't matter who you put in there, these guys are just not prepared.

They need at least 2-3 tour matches of preparation. 1 tour match is rubbish.
 
Averaging 53 this year.

People just don't like him because he isn't flashy. Plus, criticism of his play in ODIs overboils in to when he turns up in whites. Doesn't deserve the hate and criticism though at all. One of the nicest, most hard working cricketers we've produced and the temperament he shows needs to be given respect. Unfortunately, the value of all those three attributes are never really appreciated by Pakistan cricket and its fans.
 
Slog said:
Because he throws away good starts and gets out in soft ways

He negotiates some good spells and then gets out on easy deliveries which is a crime

You saying that we should be happy with his fifties and 70s makes it seem that we should be happy with mediocrity
Click to expand...

You're right.

However, the standard should be the same for everyone, including Shafiq, who is way worse in this regard.

Both Azhar and Shafiq (who is worse) are rightly being criticized.
 
I am all for a batsmen taking his time and scoring slow. Azhar Ali as an opener needs to put the fire into the innings, now that doesn't mean score him quickly but provide the impetus into the team. He needs to look to score as well and get the board ticking over. Instead just defends all day and puts the others under pressure. Look at the way Safraz bats, counterattack and shows aggression and shows that he's there to score and makes runs and outs the opposition under pressure
 
if he bats at 40 S/R in Test cricket i have no issue but when Azhar bats for 150 balls and makes 35 or 40 then gets out or a 90 ball 20 then that is poor Test match batting. All id like from Azhar at times is more intent but he still is one of our best Test bats.
 
Brilliant test match batsmen. Should have a century today in Odis he deserves criticism but in tests only idiots will critizce him.
 
Slog said:
Because he throws away good starts and gets out in soft ways

He negotiates some good spells and then gets out on easy deliveries which is a crime

You saying that we should be happy with his fifties and 70s makes it seem that we should be happy with mediocrity
Click to expand...

Difficult to take this line of think seriously considering who was occupying this spot before Azhar and of course when people plug for umar akmal (not necessarily you) in the same sentence.
 
StarWolf said:
So, scoring 300 against the minnow windies attack in UAE where our alternative options have superior averages: Shehzad @ 57.15 in UAE (something close to that figure) against superior opposition which includes NZ and Australia, Salman Butt (better average than any of our openers in Australia) and you think people are unjustly criticizing him?

I do agree that the talks of him dropping immediately are wrong, however, but i don't think he is the best test opener we have therefore should be lowered to the middle order.
Click to expand...

Bro... Shehzad wouoldn't have lasted 2 overs on the NZ wickets. I didn't like his slow approach either but you still have to applaud the fact that he made runs while the rest failed.
 
aloo paratha said:
Bro... Shehzad wouoldn't have lasted 2 overs on the NZ wickets. I didn't like his slow approach either but you still have to applaud the fact that he made runs while the rest failed.
Click to expand...

I am explaining that why Azhar is receiving criticism. The OP mentioned his 300 and i told him that his alternate has a superior average than him in the same country. Also, then i mentioned how Salman Butt who is the other alternative has a superior average in Australia.
 
StarWolf said:
I am explaining that why Azhar is receiving criticism. The OP mentioned his 300 and i told him that his alternate has a superior average than him in the same country. Also, then i mentioned how Salman Butt who is the other alternative has a superior average in Australia.
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Of course Salman is going to have a superior average in Australia than Azhar when Azhar has only played one game in Australia :facepalm: :facepalm:. Talk some sense at least.
 
Shafiq scored a century with a SR of 70, while batting in a much more pressure situation and a lot more difficult conditions


Azhar's atrocious SR is the only reason he gets some flack, otherwise he is a vital cog in our test side
 
Hasan123 said:
Of course Salman is going to have a superior average in Australia than Azhar when Azhar has only played one game in Australia :facepalm: :facepalm:. Talk some sense at least.
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Do you really think Azhar would average 40+ in Australia by the end of this series. hasan?
 
He is a good Test opener and the best Pakistan have, but he's rightfully criticized for his lack of impact/influence, because has absolutely no ability to exert himself on the opposition.

He bats the same way whether he is on 0 or 100. One of the few players that I have seen who don't grow into confidence as the innings progresses.

Most of the times his contributions are forgettable because they do not matter in the end.
 
Major said:
His one dsy strike rate is 75. How is that bad for an opener?
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Here are all openers in the last 5 years with 1200+ runs. How many do you see striking in 70s and how high they are rated?

opener.jpg
 
Red Devil said:
Who cares about strike rate in Test cricket lmao.
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Actually it does matter, which is why you will find that the majority of the top batsmen of the last 10-15 years maintained a 50+ SR in Tests because they were able to exert themselves on the opposition. In this day and age, it is not possible to become a top class Test batsman if you are consistently striking at 40-45. An exception can be made if you are very consistent, Kallis for example.
 
Syed1 said:
Shafiq scored a century with a SR of 70, while batting in a much more pressure situation and a lot more difficult conditions


Azhar's atrocious SR is the only reason he gets some flack, otherwise he is a vital cog in our test side
Click to expand...

Mamoon said:
Actually it does matter, which is why you will find that the majority of the top batsmen of the last 10-15 years maintained a 50+ SR in Tests because they were able to exert themselves on the opposition. In this day and age, it is not possible to become a top class Test batsman if you are consistently striking at 40-45. An exception can be made if you are very consistent, Kallis for example.
Click to expand...

His SR is only a problem on those days where he gets stuck in a rut and it's in the 25-35 range.

He is a very good Test batsman, not in the same class as the potential greats of this generation.

Some of the best openers nowadays have similar strike-rates including Cook, Vijay, Elgar, Latham, etc.
 
Abdullah719 said:
His SR is only a problem on those days where he gets stuck in a rut and it's in the 25-35 range.

He is a very good Test batsman, not in the same class as the potential greats of this generation.

Some of the best openers nowadays have similar strike-rates including Cook, Vijay, Elgar, Latham, etc.
Click to expand...

I'm taking a holistic look at his Test career. He has started to open only recently, but his SR was poor throughout his tenure as a number 3.
 
SR of 46 at an average in the mid 50s in the last 2 years, that is world class for any top order batsman, particularly so for someone who has batted as an opener in his last few matches.
 
Syed1 said:
Shafiq scored a century with a SR of 70, while batting in a much more pressure situation and a lot more difficult conditions


Azhar's atrocious SR is the only reason he gets some flack, otherwise he is a vital cog in our test side
Click to expand...

Honestly I give up..truly..I mean what's the point arguing with people who don't seem to get test cricket and the context of Pakistan cricket within the framework of modern test cricket..
 
I think the problem lies with his SR. He can definitely survive in difficult conditions but the amount of runs he score after playing such a large number of balls hurts his team.
 
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