Is Babar Azam the most overrated batsman since 2000?

[Tillu]

2 hours ago, crictime said:

Babar Azam - 43.38

Gautam Gambhir - 41.95

Rohit Sharma - 40.57

 

Opening against pace bowlers in test is tougher than batting at No.3. The odd extra runs that Babar Azam scores in comparison to Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir, does not makes him any better than them. The extra runs doesnt say much as Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma are not considered top class test batsman. By the end of Babar Azam's test career, he could well average less than both. 

 

That is his average after playing on the flattest pitches known to mankind. It's disrespectful to Gambhir and Rohit for putting him beside them. He is a lesser batsman than Rahane and KL Rahul.

Edited March 26 by Tillu

[crictime]

1 hour ago, Tillu said:

 

That is his average after playing on the flattest pitches known to mankind. It's disrespectful to Gambhir and Rohit by putting him beside them. He is a lesser batsman than Rahane and KL Rahul.

 

Javed Miandad was Pakistan's best player of spin whom I watched. Inzamam was their next best player of spin. Saleem Malik was also very good against spin and his wicket was priceless for India. Babar Azam is not in their league at all. 

 

Would have watched Javed Maindad and Saleem Malik bat at Wankhede (1991) but then the wicket was dug up and that test series got cancelled. Imran, Wasim , Waqar were also playing those days. Ramiz Raja was a bore though. Babar Azam's batting in LOI reminds me of the slow paced batting of Ramiz Raja. No wonder Ramiz hypes him so much. 

Edited March 26 by crictime

[tapandrun]

babar's usecase for overextension of the narrative and drinking own cool-aid. Its like big fish in small pound to small fish in big ocean realization.

 

1. The "Big Fish" (The Real Skill)

In the "small pond" of flat home tracks and weakened opposition, Babar was a shark. He was technically superior to almost everyone else in that specific environment. He didn't just survive; he dominated.

2. The "Digital Mirage" (The Overextension)

Usually, a big fish in a small pond is recognized as such. However, social media and sports agents used his "pond stats" to claim he was the biggest fish in the entire ocean (comparing him to the "Fab Four"). They edited the footage and manipulated the data to make the "pond" look like the "deep sea."

3. The "Large Ocean" (The Correction)

When he was finally forced into the "large ocean"—facing elite pace in Australia, quality spin on turning tracks, or high-pressure World Cup chases—he became a "small fish" almost instantly.

• The Struggle: In the deep ocean, the water is colder, the predators (bowlers) are smarter, and there is nowhere to hide.
• The Result: His "pond-perfect" technique (like his cover drive) became a liability because it wasn't adaptable to the ocean's currents (movement and bounce).

The "Babar Twist"

The tragedy of this analogy is that Babar started believing the digital mirage. <-- drinking cool-aid.

 

Think his case has to be studied in media and business domain.

  

Edited March 26 by tapandrun

[BCCISelector]

On 3/19/2026 at 1:33 PM, Sean Bradley said:

If he was an Indian, would he ever make it to the Indian test or ODI Team? The answere is a resounding NO, He is a Manoj Tiwari level talent, on the other hand of if Manish Pandey was a Pakistani, he would have already been a Pakistani hall of famer. 

Tiwary was a decent batter for his generation. Babar is on the same skill level as Ankit Bawne and dozens of others in Indian domestic circuit who can never get into the Indian team.

[Ultimate_Game]

4 hours ago, BCCISelector said:

Tiwary was a decent batter for his generation. Babar is on the same skill level as Ankit Bawne and dozens of others in Indian domestic circuit who can never get into the Indian team.

 

I'm more than sure had Manish Panday been born in Pakistan he would've out-performed Babar by a distance and would probably be their one of the ATGs.

[Texy]

they made him captain of a T20 team in PSL 

[bsriharsha]

The renaissance of King Babar-E-Azam begins.

[New guy]

On 3/29/2026 at 8:59 PM, Texy said:

they made him captain of a T20 team in PSL 

Not much they can do with what's available 

 

In this year's IPL, 10 out of 10 teams have Indian captains

 

In this year's PSL, they have nearly half overseas captain. They have non T20 players like Labuschange or nobodies like Ashton Turner captian of franchise 

 

So they are forced to have Babar and Rizwan captain their franchise.

Edited March 31 by New guy

[tapandrun]

On 3/29/2026 at 11:29 AM, Texy said:

they made him captain of a T20 team in PSL 

Babar enjoys same kind of stardom and status as kolhi/dhoni does in Ind. He also brings alot of fan-base and in turn sponsors.

Most team would like to have such players.

 

He was pak captain for a long time so bring alot of captaincy experience too and he is the highest run getter in psl.

[bsriharsha]

If he continues like this, he will end up with a test average of under 40. 

There would be many indian domestic batsmen who would have been ATG's for Pakistan. People who wouldn't even get a game for India. I'm talking of the likes of cricketers like Baba Indrajith , Sheldon Jackson among the current lot. I'm not even including the guys who did make their India debut in any formats. 

 

[tapandrun]

3 hours ago, bsriharsha said:

If he continues like this, he will end up with a test average of under 40. 

There would be many indian domestic batsmen who would have been ATG's for Pakistan. People who wouldn't even get a game for India. I'm talking of the likes of cricketers like Baba Indrajith , Sheldon Jackson among the current lot. I'm not even including the guys who did make their India debut in any formats. 

 

Pak cricket was getting batters like Shahid Afridi who were slogging rather than batting, so they over-corrected got players like Mishbah and Younis in white-ball and then there were couple of good white-ball batter who came but got banned.

 

Then they developed same babar kind of batters:: Imam, babar,rizwan,etc...

[tapandrun]

On 3/29/2026 at 6:30 AM, BCCISelector said:

Tiwary was a decent batter for his generation. Babar is on the same skill level as Ankit Bawne and dozens of others in Indian domestic circuit who can never get into the Indian team.

Think they gave Tiwari debut vs Aus with Lee firing all cylinders. 

[bsriharsha]

2 hours ago, tapandrun said:

Pak cricket was getting batters like Shahid Afridi who were slogging rather than batting, so they over-corrected got players like Mishbah and Younis in white-ball and then there were couple of good white-ball batter who came but got banned.

 

Then they developed same babar kind of batters:: Imam, babar,rizwan,etc...

And the Pakistani batsmen generally bat on those wickets in UAE and pakistan which are extremely batting friendly. Babar's stats would look far worse if he had been playing in the Indian ranji teams.