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Does Babar Azam have a chance as going down as the best ODI batsmen ever?
- Thread starter mr_mister
- Start date
CricAddict
Cricketer Of The Year
That mantle will belong to Viv or Sachin always. A Rassie or Imam or Bairstow averages 60 odd or more too nowadays. So can't read much into odi stats nowadays.
ParwazHaiJunoon
First Class Debutant
No.
Stop it now
I have seen similar thread about Shaheen Afridi in ICF before 2022WC SF. We all know what happened afterwards.
Babar is captaining Pak team, the most difficult job in this world. Mental pressure would affect his batting at some point.
& He doesn't know how to chase 300+ totals against a full strength team. He can't chase 276 vs Zimbabwe 2years ago in RWP, Pak.
Kohli had more successful chases in his first 50 ODIs than Babar in 86 ODIs.
In this regard, Babar is a bit like Hashim Amla. Players like these score pretty fifties or centuries but fail under pressure most of the times.
Stop it now
I have seen similar thread about Shaheen Afridi in ICF before 2022WC SF. We all know what happened afterwards.
Babar is captaining Pak team, the most difficult job in this world. Mental pressure would affect his batting at some point.
& He doesn't know how to chase 300+ totals against a full strength team. He can't chase 276 vs Zimbabwe 2years ago in RWP, Pak.
Kohli had more successful chases in his first 50 ODIs than Babar in 86 ODIs.
In this regard, Babar is a bit like Hashim Amla. Players like these score pretty fifties or centuries but fail under pressure most of the times.
TheJediBrah
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Absolutely a chance
honestbharani
Whatever it takes!!!
TheJediBrah
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It's true those guys working on an oil rig for months at a time in the middle of the ocean always talk about how lucky they are not to be captaining a cricket teamI get the hyperbole but still...
honestbharani
Whatever it takes!!!
The thing about Babar is, and I have said it elsewhere, I have not seen a player pick up both length and line as quickly as Babar since Sachin and Lara. Many players can pick either length or line, and usually the best ones pick length early like Ponting, Fab 4 etc., but he seems to stand out as a more old school great batsman. I do think he has more natural attributes to be an ATG batsman across formats than any of the Fab 4 did. What was great about the Fab 4, especially Smith, was the way they eschewed risks totally to just accumulate runs and scores. Dunno if Babar will have the mental aspects and the support around him to fulfill this immense potential but so far, he has shown more attributes of MisYou era batsmen than the Kakmal clan he comes from. If he keeps this up and his management and board ensures he is in the best mental space, no reason he cant be one of the best batsmen of all time. Its a lot of provisos but they pretty much apply to anyone making their mark these days.
trundler
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Still better than when moms claim it amirite Mr Burr
TheJediBrah
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*Upper-class white american girl accent* "The most difficult job in the world"
nightprowler10
Global Moderator
He's on pace to be the best overall LO batsman from Pakistan. That's about it right now.
_00_deathscar
International Regular
If going only by average, then no. Needs some real accomplishments. Kohli is no longer in the discussion until he absolutely dominates/owns a World Cup anymore. And he has an average just shy of Babar's (and was higher at many points) at 3x the sample size and at least with some accomplishments although they really came in JAMLOIs. Still never seen a chaser like him though.
Re: ODI stats, look at this list:
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OverratedSanity
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Has a chance to surpass Virat "never been in the top 10 runscorers at any world cup" Kohli and enter the top tier if he dominates a WC.
Modern ODI stats are very memey though. So he's working from behind.
Modern ODI stats are very memey though. So he's working from behind.
nightprowler10
Global Moderator
Just looked it up and Babar had a better WC than I remembered. Didn't dominate aside from the New Zealand match but pretty solid overall with an average of ~68 @ ~90 SR. Not counting cameos, our next best bat was Imam averaging 38 ffs.
srbhkshk
International Captain
Will preface this by saying that Babar absolutely has a chance for this.
But Kohli's name as a top tier ODI bat came up less because of his average and more because of a huge period of time where he was a chasing god and basically made every total unsafe if you were batting first against India. There are just soooo many crazy chases he aced during that time.
But Kohli's name as a top tier ODI bat came up less because of his average and more because of a huge period of time where he was a chasing god and basically made every total unsafe if you were batting first against India. There are just soooo many crazy chases he aced during that time.
Bairstow averages less than 50
Rassie has a very small sample size and Imam is actually a damn good opening bat in the limited format but obviously not a great.
But we're discussing Babar Azam here, who has already played killer knocks in global tournaments (the same can't be said for Kohli) and is exceptional in any other series format. Obviously he needs another 3-4 years in the game for longevity but he isn't too far from being one of the very best at this rate.
That's not a solid world cup, that's a great one. That average + SR combo is exceptional. I think Pakistan were let down by that horror show against WI. Babar has also added exceptional T20 performances to his LO credentials.
His innings in Karachi just showed he can bat very very long and has the mental capacity for it.
