Latest News Today || Babar changes gear with ruthless precision to ensure familiarity does not breed Contempt
One of science fiction's greatest
authors Arthur C. Clarke said the supreme enemy of all utopias is boredom. The
same can be said for consistent dominance at the top level of any sport.
One of the unique hurdles that only
the greatest must overcome is that the familiarity of their greatness can breed
contemplation. The casual dominance that defines the very best can lead to a
'yeah so what' mentality among onlookers and fans. When the unheard of becomes
common then the magical becomes expected. You just pushed the boundaries of
what we thought was humanly possible, yeah well you did that last week too,
come back when you have something new to offer.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam is pictured during the second t20 match against New Zealand in Lahore on April 15 || Photo courtesy PCB |
Perhaps that is the problem that
Messrs Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan face as people question the skipper's
decision to stick with their opening partnership. The two fell early in the
first T20I against New Zealand in Lahore and you could almost hear the gleeful
sharpening of collective knives. In the second game, like clockwork, they once
again forced their critics to stow away their knives and pitchforks as they
combined for a 99-run opening stand that ensured New Zealand was never able to
get a true foothold in the game.
When Rizwan fell for 50, the two
were just one run away from becoming the first partnership in T20I history to
combine for 10-century stands. No other duo has managed more than five. Their
tally of 2,651 partnership runs is 754 runs more than the second most prolific
T20I partnership, dwarfing the efforts of India's Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul.
Theirs is the only partnership with more than 1,000 runs to average more than
50. All this for a Pakistan side that saw an entire generation of fans grow old
without a proper opening partnership to speak of in any format.
Their critics ignore their
remarkable consistency and instead point to their slow accumulation of runs,
especially in the first six powerplay overs. The argument goes that Babar and
Rizwan's strengths and weaknesses are too similar, and it would be better to
let a more aggressive batsman open the innings alongside one of them. That is
not an invalid criticism, considering that Pakistan's openers do not usually
hit the opposition out of the contest in the manner that openers from other
international sides can and do.
The counterargument goes that
Pakistan's middle order is so brittle that if Babar and Rizwan were to get out
early trying to force the issue then Pakistan can crumble very easily. The fact
that Pakistan went from 99-0 to 105-4 in 13 deliveries in the second T20I
lends, even more, credence to that line of thinking.
And yet there is an increasing
feeling that this batting attack no longer needs its best two batsmen to coddle
them. For the first time in living memory, Pakistan has more than a couple of
batsmen in their line-up who can win a match on their own, and the openers must
adapt accordingly. A steady century opening stand is no longer enough when the
requirement is an explosive start.
While Rizwan is more adept at increasing his scoring rate, this new requirement is now Babar's biggest challenge as Pakistan's greatest-ever all-format batsman is forced to wade even further away from his comfort zone. Whether the strike-rate stick which Babar is often beaten with is justified or not depends on how you see the game of cricket, but it is clear that Babar is more comfortable playing traditional cricketing shots than the kind that T20's more destructive willow-wielders pull off.
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