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Would Babar Azam make it into the Indian cricket team?

My guy [MENTION=8597]kingusama92[/MENTION] has been bang on with his posts in this thread. :nehra

Babar would most definitely start in the Indian XI at #4.
 
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Won't make it to any of tests or ODI team or might just make to a second string Indian Odi XI as someone like Rahane is there for bilaterals.
 
He only makes it into the Pakistan team because we are so obssessed with bringing an answer in for Virat Kohli, that we are desperate to make any tom dick harry, Ahmed Shehzad type player into a World beater, and all players are batting around our accumulator, who just gets out the ball right after he gets to a 100.
 
Abdullah719 said:
Why is Rahane's ODI SR 78 while Babar's is 88? :srini
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That's because he is a nervous starter. But whenever he gets a start, he makes it count and makes up for the dot balls in the beginning of the innings. You will never see him make a 130 ball century in Odis
 
Every player in Indian team can play the anchor role as well as slog when needed. A player like Azam just doesn't fit in.
 
LastManstanding said:
Even Rahane plays faster than Babar. There is no way he is getting into Indian middle order.
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I think he gets in easily at #4. India don't have a stable option there.
Currently, Rahul and Yuvi were dropped, Pandey is in poor form and Karthik is the replacement.

In fact, I think Babar, Malik and even Hafeez would all get into the Indian team at #4.
 
Babar at 4 would ensure all the others can play crazy risk cricket. With pak they dont have the players to take advantage, they got dot ball kings instead
 
Rayyman said:
I think he gets in easily at #4. India don't have a stable option there.
Currently, Rahul and Yuvi were dropped, Pandey is in poor form and Karthik is the replacement.

In fact, I think Babar, Malik and even Hafeez would all get into the Indian team at #4.
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3 is better spot for him, Kohli was a beast when Gambhir came in before him. Hate to admit it but an in form Babar makes it into the Indian squad, we need that kind of a player atm, can throw out MSD after that & bring someone like Pant or even Krunal in for the latter overs.
 
R0H1T said:
3 is better spot for him, Kohli was a beast when Gambhir came in before him. Hate to admit it but an in form Babar makes it into the Indian squad, we need that kind of a player atm, can throw out MSD after that & bring someone like Pant or even Krunal in for the latter overs.
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And our selectors have dropped Rahul for TTF Karthik :facepalm:
Seriously when are we gonna get rid off Jadhav and Dhoni.
 
A team where nobodies like Yuvraj and Karthik come and go,There is definitely a place for Babar there
 
Of course yes. On pacer friendly pitches, there is no one in Indian side who is better than Babar against seam and swing who can hold one end in a collapse. May be Rahane but his average is in the low 30s and wont make the side. You need one player for such conditions. Also Babar has other qualities too of a top odi batsman too.
 
SarfiBabarHaris said:
Of course yes. On pacer friendly pitches, there is no one in Indian side who is better than Babar against seam and swing who can hold one end in a collapse. May be Rahane but his average is in the low 30s and wont make the side. You need one player for such conditions. Also Babar has other qualities too of a top odi batsman too.
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When was the last time an ODI was played on seam and swing friendly conditions, i dont seem to recall any?

Fact is Babar will suck the life out of momentum an Indian opener will provide with his tuk tuk. Id rather have Jadhav than him, knowing i really want Jadhav to be dropped. We have no shortage of batting talent, even in our A side we have batsmen toying international bowlers for fun( Nz A). It just we always seem to be struggling with bowlers.
 
CanadianG00se said:
When was the last time an ODI was played on seam and swing friendly conditions, i dont seem to recall any?

Fact is Babar will suck the life out of momentum an Indian opener will provide with his tuk tuk. Id rather have Jadhav than him, knowing i really want Jadhav to be dropped. We have no shortage of batting talent, even in our A side we have batsmen toying international bowlers for fun( Nz A). It just we always seem to be struggling with bowlers.
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Babar’s career strike rate is 88...

Hardly momentum sucking.
 
CanadianG00se said:
When he is up against quality side we know how he bats. His career stats are inflated playing against Windies.
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He's scored quickly against India,NZ and Australia.Comparing him with Jadhav is an insult to the whole Akmal-Azam clan
 
babajee said:
Averages a very respectable 45.76 against non minnows

:salute

He’s only going to get better
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Im not doubting his average, he is someone who will hold up one end, but those kinda batsmen dont last in Indian line up. You also need to up the tempo at will which at the moment is lacking in Babar. He may very well recitfy that and become better batsman in future, however as of now he do have massive flaw in his batting.
 
Jave said:
He's scored quickly against India,NZ and Australia.Comparing him with Jadhav is an insult to the whole Akmal-Azam clan
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Jadhav Ave 45 SR 110.

Despite this record most Indians want him dropped and here you talkin about Babar making it into India’s lower order, so that he can tuk tuk his way to his personal record :babar
 
babajee said:
Averages a very respectable 45.76 against non minnows

:salute

He’s only going to get better
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Even K Jadhav have similar avg of 45 with much higer strikerate of 110, yet most of us want him dropped. You see we Indians have very high standard when it comes to batting :kohli2
 
CanadianG00se said:
Even K Jadhav have similar avg of 45 with much higer strikerate of 110, yet most of us want him dropped. You see we Indians have very high standard when it comes to batting :kohli2
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Babar averages 55 :afridi

If this doesn’t fit indian high standards then ....
 
babajee said:
Babar averages 55 :afridi

If this doesn’t fit indian high standards then ....
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Thats where you guys are so wrong. His stats doesnt tell u the actual story, but then if ur happy with it then i guess not my concern. Glad he aint part of Indian lineup, id give up on my team if we had player like him.
 
CanadianG00se said:
Thats where you guys are so wrong. His stats doesnt tell u the actual story, but then if ur happy with it then i guess not my concern. Glad he aint part of Indian lineup, id give up on my team if we had player like him.
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Well then unlucky. Indians don’t want dynamic and reliable batsmen in their ranks :afridi
 
Well we know Indian players are usually checking up on him. He's caught their attention unlike the rest of our Batsmen. Also, he will probably average 50 on Indian tracks. There is no reason why he wouldn't make that side.
 
Rana said:
Well we know Indian players are usually checking up on him. He's caught their attention unlike the rest of our Batsmen. Also, he will probably average 50 on Indian tracks. There is no reason why he wouldn't make that side.
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Avg with strike rate of 70s like he did against SL, no thanks we are better off not having him :afridi1
 
CanadianG00se said:
Avg with strike rate of 70s like he did against SL, no thanks we are better off not having him :afridi1
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The last time Indian batsmen who strike at 100 played against us, they were 50-5. Not sure what kind of Batting supremacy you are trying to impose over here. It's liked me saying Dravid would never make the Australian side of the 2000-2007
 
Rana said:
The last time Indian batsmen who strike at 100 played against us, they were 50-5. Not sure what kind of Batting supremacy you are trying to impose over here. It's liked me saying Dravid would never make the Australian side of the 2000-2007
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So, one match is all you remember? What about group stages match? What about Worldcup 15?

Yes, Dravid wouldnt even make it to current Indian batting line up let alone legendary Aussie side of 2000s. The only reason Dravid played so many games for India was because he was asked to do keeping in order to stay in team. As soon as Dhoni arrived we all know what happend to Dravid in odis.
 
CanadianG00se said:
So, one match is all you remember? What about group stages match? What about Worldcup 15?

Yes, Dravid wouldnt even make it to current Indian batting line up let alone legendary Aussie side of 2000s. The only reason Dravid played so many games for India was because he was asked to do keeping in order to stay in team. As soon as Dhoni arrived we all know what happend to Dravid in odis.
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I'm applying your logic on you. You referred to Babar's one match where he had a sr of 70, but you forgot over all he averages around 90, has an average of 55 plus 1558 runs at the age of 23. The guys you named such as Pant would not have achieved these stats as long as your powerhouse top 3 are doing all the hard work for you. So in Hindsight, Babar has already excelled a large majority of current and potential Indian batsman who will never exhibit what they can do as long as King Kohli is running the show and dominating 75% of the innings
 
And how would Dravid not make the Australian side of 2000? He was equally if not a better player than Damien Martyn.
 
Rana said:
I'm applying your logic on you. You referred to Babar's one match where he had a sr of 70, but you forgot over all he averages around 90, has an average of 55 plus 1558 runs at the age of 23. The guys you named such as Pant would not have achieved these stats as long as your powerhouse top 3 are doing all the hard work for you. So in Hindsight, Babar has already excelled a large majority of current and potential Indian batsman who will never exhibit what they can do as long as King Kohli is running the show and dominating 75% of the innings
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That is my point, Babar strength is batting in top order as he takes his time to settle in, and once he’s settled he could hit few boundaries. But Babar is not your man if you want someone to come and start hitting around, that just not his game. Now, looking at India’s top 3, there is no way he would replace any of Sharma, Dhawan, and Kohli. So, his best chance is at #4 that too he would need to compete with KL Rahul/Pandey. So at best he would take Jadhav’s spot at # 5.

Now as an # 5 batsman 8 out of 10 ten times, he would be required to have a go at the bowlers from ball one. Now, do you expect Babar is the man if your team is trying to score at 10-11 an over? Probably not. He is good to hold up one end and rotate and hit odd boundary.



My point is that Babar is suitable to bat in top 3 but due to India already have far superior batsman he cant make it into Indian team on its original batting position. You also need to understand, some top order batsman are not ideal for lower order slogging, which is why Kohli is not so good at slogging while peak Dhoni and peak Raina were beast when it comes to slogging at the end.

Coming to Pant, he is young and already showing the sign of aggressive batsman that Indian team need, plus he can also keep. He’s already toying with International level bowlers in List A ans first class circuit. He is also beast in IPl up against some of the top bowlers.
 
Rana said:
And how would Dravid not make the Australian side of 2000? He was equally if not a better player than Damien Martyn.
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Martyn could score more than run a ball from ball one if needed( see WC 2003Final). Like i mentioned, the only reason Dravid was even in Indian side due to him being keeper. That wouldnt be the case for the Aussies, because they had arguably worlds best keeper batsmen of all time.
 
CanadianG00se said:
Martyn could score more than run a ball from ball one if needed( see WC 2003Final). Like i mentioned, the only reason Dravid was even in Indian side due to him being keeper. That wouldnt be the case for the Aussies, because they had arguably worlds best keeper batsmen of all time.
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Do you know Dravid has the second fastest ODI fifty by an Indian? He scored 50 of 22 balls against New Zealand. Have you watched his brilliant batting against SL in Taunton? 145 of 129 balls? Dravid Scoring 153 at a run a ball against NZ in a 331 partnership with Sachin in 1999? Dravid could score fast when required and has guided India in lots of chases after he started batting in the middle overs. He also was very crucial for India when things got tough on difficult wickets as your so called hitters were back in the hut. Dravid was there in the Indian team on merit and he agreed to keep as India did not have a good wicket keeper batsman in ODI. He wasn't comfortable in that role but still did it because the team required the same.

Lots of people post on just the cricinfo stats page..I have followed Dravid's career from his debut in 1996. He might not be an ATG in ODI's but was a very useful player for India.
 
Nope, the Indian team is too good for him right now. To be fair, that is true of a lot of cricketers.
 
Nope, he's another Ahmed Shehzad who's faced weak bowing attacks more often than not

Will have his bloated avg come down soon
 
CanadianG00se said:
When was the last time an ODI was played on seam and swing friendly conditions, i dont seem to recall any?

Fact is Babar will suck the life out of momentum an Indian opener will provide with his tuk tuk. Id rather have Jadhav than him, knowing i really want Jadhav to be dropped. We have no shortage of batting talent, even in our A side we have batsmen toying international bowlers for fun( Nz A). It just we always seem to be struggling with bowlers.
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Sir India has the lowest runrate amongst all test playing nations in the first 10 overs since 2015 WC... Momentum by openers :))


Delusions of grandeur :ashwin
 
Indian selectors seem to put a lot of emphasis on first-class averages when selecting batsmen. On that count, Babar wouldn't get into the Indian team.
However, even a first class average of 30 something doesn't seem to stop Babar from playing classy knocks against some of the best bowling in the world. So I wonder whether first-class averages are a good metric for judging batsmen, particularly for ODIs. Pakistani selectors seem to be much more flexible in this.

On that count, Happy Birthday, Babar Azam!
 
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The real question should be, have India got a better ODI batsman than Babar Azam?

It's not so sure anymore.
Wonderful performance in Australia vs Starc Cimmins and Hazlewood, winning the champions trophy with a crucial 40 in the final.
He is right on his way to become the best current ODI batsman.
 
KyoOne said:
Nope, he's another Ahmed Shehzad who's faced weak bowing attacks more often than not

Will have his bloated avg come down soon
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No one has played so well in Australia against Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood.
Kohli is averaging around 10-20 in Australia when these guys are playing.
 
CanadianG00se said:
That is my point, Babar strength is batting in top order as he takes his time to settle in, and once he’s settled he could hit few boundaries. But Babar is not your man if you want someone to come and start hitting around, that just not his game. Now, looking at India’s top 3, there is no way he would replace any of Sharma, Dhawan, and Kohli. So, his best chance is at #4 that too he would need to compete with KL Rahul/Pandey. So at best he would take Jadhav’s spot at # 5.

Now as an # 5 batsman 8 out of 10 ten times, he would be required to have a go at the bowlers from ball one. Now, do you expect Babar is the man if your team is trying to score at 10-11 an over? Probably not. He is good to hold up one end and rotate and hit odd boundary.



My point is that Babar is suitable to bat in top 3 but due to India already have far superior batsman he cant make it into Indian team on its original batting position. You also need to understand, some top order batsman are not ideal for lower order slogging, which is why Kohli is not so good at slogging while peak Dhoni and peak Raina were beast when it comes to slogging at the end.

Coming to Pant, he is young and already showing the sign of aggressive batsman that Indian team need, plus he can also keep. He’s already toying with International level bowlers in List A ans first class circuit. He is also beast in IPl up against some of the top bowlers.
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Who exactly are Pandey and KL Rahul in ODI's for their name to be mentionned with Babar Azam?

And also can you show me the peak years of Dhoni at hitting from ball one? Thanks
 
Mobashir said:
Who exactly are Pandey and KL Rahul in ODI's for their name to be mentionned with Babar Azam?

And also can you show me the peak years of Dhoni at hitting from ball one? Thanks
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Someone who successfully chased down more than 300 in Australia.
 
LastManstanding said:
Someone who successfully chased down more than 300 in Australia.
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What was the bowling line up for Australia in the match? I bet he pulled Jhonson/Cummins and drove Hazlewood/Starc.

It counts for nothing 'in Australia' if you are facing Boland, Tye and Richardson. If you don't believe me look at Kohli's record when facing both sets. Once he averages around 10-20, and agains the lesser bowler he averages around 80 I think.
 
Mobashir said:
What was the bowling line up for Australia in the match? I bet he pulled Jhonson/Cummins and drove Hazlewood/Starc.

It counts for nothing 'in Australia' if you are facing Boland, Tye and Richardson. If you don't believe me look at Kohli's record when facing both sets. Once he averages around 10-20, and agains the lesser bowler he averages around 80 I think.
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So what are u supposed to do, just surrender because Hazlewood/Starc aint playing? They will face whatever they are up against.
Not so long ago some fans said ‘Runs against Lanka dont count’, lol now some ‘Top team’ got whitewashed at home by same Lanka.
 
CanadianG00se said:
So what are u supposed to do, just surrender because Hazlewood/Starc aint playing? They will face whatever they are up against.
Not so long ago some fans said ‘Runs against Lanka dont count’, lol now some ‘Top team’ got whitewashed at home by same Lanka.
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Every runs count but every run doesn't value as much. It all depends on the quality of the bowling.

I am sure it's more prestigious to score against Starc/Cummins/Hazlewood than Boland/Tye/Richardson.

Look at the records of your best ODI batsman against both sets. He has played against boths.
 
You know Rahane won man of the series recently lol. Nobody wants him because he doesn't fit. Pretty sure Pujara can average 40 plus in one day game. We don't want him either. Limited overs is all about getting the balance right. Pandey/Jadhav both had some outings in doing the repair job. Babar is not that kind of a batsman.
 
Mobashir said:
The real question should be, have India got a better ODI batsman than Babar Azam?

It's not so sure anymore.
Wonderful performance in Australia vs Starc Cimmins and Hazlewood, winning the champions trophy with a crucial 40 in the final.
He is right on his way to become the best current ODI batsman.
Click to expand...


Kohli is better than Babar.

Stop being so biased. How can a player who has nearly 30 centuries not be better than a player who has played 30 games?

Unbelievable biased. There is nothing wrong in admitting an Indian player is better than a Pakistan player. Pakistan fans egos are too big.
 
Ok even if we exclude overall stats, Babar has played 1 global tournament and in 3 out of 5 matches he played important innings.

But yes, Jadhav, Rahul, Pandey, Rahane and other Indian world beaters are better than him.
 
Hasan123 said:
Kohli is better than Babar.

Stop being so biased. How can a player who has nearly 30 centuries not be better than a player who has played 30 games?

Unbelievable biased. There is nothing wrong in admitting an Indian player is better than a Pakistan player. Pakistan fans egos are too big.
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Kohlis record after 30 odis vs babar azams record in first odis is the only comparison that can be made. Pakistani fans ego r only what the stats tell us.
 
SarfiBabarHaris said:
Ok even if we exclude overall stats, Babar has played 1 global tournament and in 3 out of 5 matches he played important innings.

But yes, Jadhav, Rahul, Pandey, Rahane and other Indian world beaters are better than him.
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Exactly, in what world are pandey, jhadav, Rahul and rahane better than babar. Indian fans r so delusional.
 
CanadianG00se said:
So what are u supposed to do, just surrender because Hazlewood/Starc aint playing? They will face whatever they are up against.
Not so long ago some fans said ‘Runs against Lanka dont count’, lol now some ‘Top team’ got whitewashed at home by same Lanka.
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We are talking about odis clever kid. Bringing up test series against Sri Lanka when discussion is about babar azam. Typical Indian fan.
 
htariq25 said:
We are talking about odis clever kid. Bringing up test series against Sri Lanka when discussion is about babar azam. Typical Indian fan.
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If you haven’t noticed i wasnt comparing Odis or Test, all i was saying that some fans tend to put down the achivements because XYZ player wasnt playing, or XYZ team is bad. In this case, many fans were writing off the performances of Indian team against Lanks saying they are poor and what not, now when they have done something that no team have done in past 8-9 years, fans have different opinion.
 
SarfiBabarHaris said:
Ok even if we exclude overall stats, Babar has played 1 global tournament and in 3 out of 5 matches he played important innings.

But yes, Jadhav, Rahul, Pandey, Rahane and other Indian world beaters are better than him.
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So going by that Logic Yuvraj Singh >>>>>> Imran Khan
 
htariq25 said:
Exactly, in what world are pandey, jhadav, Rahul and rahane better than babar. Indian fans r so delusional.
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In some of Indian fans and their delusional world. Babar is a special player and I back him even more than Kohli and other Indian batsmen against quality seam/swing. In tournaments you do find such conditions once in a while against quality bowling and that is where tournaments are won.

as a recent example, I thought Babar's innings vs South Africa o 31* was very good against a lively Morkel.
 
htariq25 said:
Kohlis record after 30 odis vs babar azams record in first odis is the only comparison that can be made. Pakistani fans ego r only what the stats tell us.
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He wasn't talking about the comparison after 30 games. He was talking about Babar being better than all Indian ODI batsmen currently playing.

Stop shifting the goal posts.
 
Hasan123 said:
He wasn't talking about the comparison after 30 games. He was talking about Babar being better than all Indian ODI batsmen currently playing.

Stop shifting the goal posts.
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And he also said Babar is on his way to become the best current ODI batsman.
Which means he isn't there yet.
 
Rayyman said:
And he also said Babar is on his way to become the best current ODI batsman.
Which means he isn't there yet.
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He is far away from being best, let say he is not even in top 5 yet.

Dhawan
Sharma
Tamim
Kohli
Smith
Root
Warner
Amla
QDK
Abd

These are some of the batsmen that are better than Babar in Odis.
 
CanadianG00se said:
He is far away from being best, let say he is not even in top 5 yet.

Dhawan
Sharma
Tamim
Kohli
Smith
Root
Warner
Amla
QDK
Abd

These are some of the batsmen that are better than Babar in Odis.
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I think he will get there though, once Fab 4 are 30+ in age. It will be between QDK and Babar imo.
 
SarfiBabarHaris said:
In some of Indian fans and their delusional world. Babar is a special player and I back him even more than Kohli and other Indian batsmen against quality seam/swing. In tournaments you do find such conditions once in a while against quality bowling and that is where tournaments are won.

as a recent example, I thought Babar's innings vs South Africa o 31* was very good against a lively Morkel.
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Don't you think they would go with a player like Rahane for such speicfic scenario? He would bat at no.4, no.5. Quite often he will be batting only in the last 10 overs where bit of slogging is what they need. Fans gun for Dhoni's head precisely for that as he doesn't get quick runs anymore. Sure they arenot happy with Pandey, Jadhav either. But Babar is not the kind of player India needs now. They need someone like Yuvraj singh, Cory Anderson.
 
SarfiBabarHaris said:
In some of Indian fans and their delusional world. Babar is a special player and I back him even more than Kohli and other Indian batsmen against quality seam/swing. In tournaments you do find such conditions once in a while against quality bowling and that is where tournaments are won.

as a recent example, I thought Babar's innings vs South Africa o 31* was very good against a lively Morkel.
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Lol.If anybody is delusional here, its you , my dear friend.Dude, your Babar couldnt even handle the swing and seam of SL trundlers whom our boys massacred and scored a selfish 100 at a tuk-tuk strike rate of 75 on a super patta.And boy, if 30 runs make somebody good against fast bowlers, our Harbhajan and Ashwin would be world class batsmen.
 
htariq25 said:
Exactly, in what world are pandey, jhadav, Rahul and rahane better than babar. Indian fans r so delusional.
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Both Pandey and Jadhav helped us successfully chase 300 plus scores successfully that too scoring with a strike rate more than 100.Forget about Babar, apart from may be Inzamam at his peak, you have not produced an ODI batsman in your entire history who can do that feat.Dude, you guys still sweat to chase anything over 250 even in this era of super-pattas.
 
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