Pakistan Team Discussion

[LiveLoveABD]

Babar Azam is ranked no.1 in T20Is since October 29th, 2018. He has been the best T20 batsman since 2017. Nobody has been averaging higher and scoring more than him in T20Is since then. He is also the fastest to 1000 T20 runs in the entire world.

As far as his strike rate is concerned, he has increased it from 115 to 128 in last 1 and half year or so. His average strike rate in last 4 T20 series is 148.52 (excluding the Sri Lanka series). I do agree with your point that he needs to improve even further, but he has improved a lot and he is improving with every passing day. Also, consider the fact that he isn't the agressor and his role is to play till the end.

He averages 57.50 in Australia, 80 in England, 54 in Pakistan and New Zealand, 50 in South Africa and 49 in UAE and 60.33 while captaining the Pakistan T20 team. His T20 career's average is 50.72.

Babar scored 3 T20 hundreds last year; against Sindh, Hampshire and Leicestershire. Babar also has a 90 at Wanderers against South Africa, 97* in Karachi against West Indies and 90 against World Xi at Gadaffi Stadium Lahore as well.

The 25-year-old was the leading run scorer in the 2019 Vitality Blast (his first Vitality Blast tournament), amassing an incredible 578 runs at an average of 52.54. He struck a sublime 102 not out at the Ageas Bowl and boasted an impressive tournament strike rate of 149.35.

This is all when he is only 25 years old and debuted just 3 and half years earlier. It is astonishing to see how you are making claims without any proof.

There is no question that Azam is improving and it looks like he has all the makings. The ICC rankings are worth cow dung. There is no proof needed for it, it's just a fact. There are 10 batsmen in the world who are better T20 batsmen than Babar at the moment.

Stats will tell you Kohli is India's best batsman in T20's and that is far far from the truth.

Stats are just stats. They give clues, but the entire picture is always skewed.

I really simply hope that Azam just continues on this road and world cricket can do with a Pakistan that challenges the top 3. Too much talent not to. I also hope they don't discard Zaman completely. I think that Haider Ali fellow can really bat. Again, depends on his growth.

Bowling? Yeah, they fall off like apples in an orchard in Pakistan. Hope they make Shadab VC in LOI. He's another gem.

EDIT- Hope then ban Umar Akmal for life.

 

[The Cricket Story]

International cricket in the 1990s was rife with corruption/match-fixing activities. A few got caught (such as Hansie Cronje and M Azharuddin) and made into an example but my personal belief is that a lot more players from a lot more teams would have been involved and were never sanctioned. So I am not surprised at all when I hear accusations about Akram, etc from the 1990s. However, what use is digging all that up now?

What is more alarming to me is why present day Pakistani players (such as Akmal) have failed to learn from the tougher punishments handed out to M Amir, M Asif, Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, Sharjeel, etc. Why do they think a bit of money is worth cutting down your career by 3 to 5 years?

 

[Ahmad94]

International cricket in the 1990s was rife with corruption/match-fixing activities. A few got caught (such as Hansie Cronje and M Azharuddin) and made into an example but my personal belief is that a lot more players from a lot more teams would have been involved and were never sanctioned. So I am not surprised at all when I hear accusations about Akram, etc from the 1990s. However, what use is digging all that up now?

What is more alarming to me is why present day Pakistani players (such as Akmal) have failed to learn from the tougher punishments handed out to M Amir, M Asif, Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, Sharjeel, etc. Why do they think a bit of money is worth cutting down your career by 3 to 5 years?

My feeling is that either a) cricket itself is still quite rife with fixing that goes unnoticed as hence they feel that they can make a quick buck or two quickly - it only seems logical that if others have gotten away with it in this climate, you assume you can too. Or b) The likes of Jamshed and Sharjeel feel they won't make it back into international cricket due to the competition for spots and the increase in the quality of cricket, hence once again an easy buck or two. I mean the likes of Akmal and Sharjeel both got caught in the domestic circuit.

Really makes me think that the level of corruption is still quite prevalent even in this age of cricket - I mean the fact that there are still agents reaching out to players shows that the market is still going strong. On top of that, maybe some don't even report the corruption attempt due to the person reaching out to them may be close/ex-player or just don't want to deal with the hassle or media attention associated with it.

 

[NILAYSHAH60]

On top of that, maybe some don't even report the corruption attempt due to the person reaching out to them may be close/ex-player or just don't want to deal with the hassle or media attention associated with it.

Shakib got banned due to this. He was approached by a bookie but he did not report it earlier.

 

[Ahmad94]

Shakib got banned due to this. He was approached by a bookie but he did not report it earlier.

True - but he must have thought he could get away with it. Being the kingpin of Bangladesh cricket seems almost stupid not to report - especially when he is at the peak of career and making so much from international and IPL.

I honestly feel that fixing, or attempting at fixing games, is far more prevalent than it's made out to be - which is why I really support the ICC stomping down on it so sharply

 

[LiveLoveABD]

Shakib's ban has got to be the greatest escape in this field. I think the cricket he missed would have been a welcome break and just when I think he would have been refreshed, this pandemic happened. Good for him. Hope they start Umar Akmal's tenure from the first day Pakistan take the field.

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

[HASHTAG]#OnThisDay[/HASHTAG]

 

[ahmedleo414]

This was during the period when I had stopped watching cricket. Cricket wasn't even on my radar as I was busy with other things at the time. I wish I could've watched it live

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

what the hell

 

[ahmedleo414]

As bad as that is, I hope they stay asymptomatic and stay isolated for 14 days and this will pass

 

[wasteyouryouth]

As bad as that is, I hope they stay asymptomatic and stay isolated for 14 days and this will pass

I think they've only tested 5 players and 3 are positive. Hopefully when more of the squad are tested the results will be better.

 

[AsadRM]

I think they've only tested 5 players and 3 are positive. Hopefully when more of the squad are tested the results will be better.

These 5 players were tested in Rawalpindi and other players were tested in Peshawar, Lahore, and Karachi. The results of the other tests are expected to be out today or tomorrow. All 29 players of the squad were tested, excluding Shoaib Malik who would get tested at a later date as he'll join the team on 24th of July in England.

 

[AsadRM]

Deeply saddened by the news of the 3 players being tested positive. This could just be the start as far as the positive cases in the Pakistan team are concerned. Shaheen Afridi, Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq, Naseem Shah, Imran Khan, and Fakhar Zaman were found practicing without any social distancing measures. Shaheen was also touring around Peshawar and Tarbela dam. What is most worrying is that Imran Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Mohammad Rizwan were having dinners with Haris Rauf a couple of weeks earlier, that too without any mask or social distancing protocols, and Haris has been tested positive.

This is a huge failure of PCB's medical department, the government's confusing policies regarding the virus, e.g. saying it is a flu and most importantly this can (God forbid) be a deadly mistake by the players. Also, these players aren't doing anything different from the masses in Pakistan. Masses believe that this is a Jewish conspiracy to reduce the world's population or the doctors are injecting the virus into the patients (obviously I don't). Recently, 2 scholars of different schools of thought died and there were thousands at their funeral without any social distancing protocols followed.

The tests should have been done 3 weeks before the departure date (28 June). Now there isn't time left for them to recover and board the plane to England. Maybe they would be flown to England at a later date? This tour could be canceled even due to these idiotic actions of these few players (not blaming Shadab and Haider because they were not touring around like others).

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

Masses believe that this is a Jewish conspiracy to reduce the world's population or the doctors are injecting the virus into the patients (obviously I don't).

Nothing infuriates me more than this. Fukcin' morons.

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

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