Did you even read what i wrote wrote about the "batting line up being rebuilt". We have had a WTC cycle where apart from WI we had all our games in Asian conditions. We should have dumped Azhar and Fawad before the Aussies series and given Ghulam and Saud Shakeel 8 or 9 tests in Asian conditions to slot into the teams middle order. I cudnt care less if Ghulam has a dip in form domestically, the whole point of building a test sqaud is you identify a group of future players and blood them into the side, you dont just chop and change the players in sqaud due to flavour of the month every series.
Azhar and Fawad were useless in Aus and SL series and we could have blooded both batsmen. Shan masood has been picked again and again, he fails go back to domestics scores a few runs gets selected again and then fails again. Mo Wasim asks Salluddin to open, hes scores loads of runs then doesnt pick the guy, its just plain dumb.
In regards to Hasan and Abbas, under normal circumstances i would not have picked them for this series vs England, however as soon as Shaheen was injured we were in need of atleast 1 exeperienced pacer in the squad, in pakistan conditions if you are going to play 2 or 3 spinners and only 2 seamers then pick bowlers that can do damage with new ball and also reverse swing, Hasan even though he has been poor is still miles better then the garbage seamers picked for this series. It use to be the same in UAE, Misbah would pick 2 spinners and 2 pacers (Gul, Wahab etc...) these type of bowlers used with new ball and then brought back for reverse swing.
Naseem is the only other bowler who could be used in a similar way. In stead we picked a load of T20 bowlers and a domestic trunder who in tests conditions were never going to do damage with new or old ball. Have a look at how england used Anderson, wood and Robinson, these bowlers were given new ball and the reversing ball to do the damage, we havent done that.
Finally no it could not have been easily 2-0 the other way, lets be real we were outplayed for the entire 1st test and its only englands sporting declaration that made it look like a competitive game and once Babar / Abduallah were out it was game done.
Also the 2nd test again Englands out played pakistan and then margin of defeat wasnt a reflection of the difference between the 2 sides as pakistan were never going to chase that total down.
Pakistan picked a poor unbalanced sqaud, to many passengers, mediocre captain, clueless coach as well. Pakistan performances this year have been that of a minnow, all because of poor sqaud selections, dumb captain, coach and negative mindset.
First, you are speaking from the benefit of hindsight. Lets take this one by one.
Rebuilding - I hate this word. We should never be rebuilding. We should be evolving. A good test team has a mix of experience and youth.
Fawad Alam - he scored 5 centuries last year. He was not droppable before he failed vs Aus and SL. Youre speaking with the benefit of hindsight. Fawad was dropped after this season, which made sense. TM doesnt have crystal balls.
Kamran Ghulam - current forum does matter. The players who were selected did better than him including Abdullah, Agha and Saud. Babar and rizwan were gonna be selected anyway. So there was no slot available for him. They cant pick 13 middle order batsmen.
Azhar Ali - he averaged 42 in last 3 years at the no3 spot. A stat was shown on TV that he actually has been one of the best in the world during this period at that spot. Azhar Ali is leaving at the right time, he could not have been dropped any sooner as Pakistan already had several other issues in batting, specially with struggling openers.
Shan Masood - there are several examples of players making comebacks and finding their feet at the end of their careers. Misbah made a come back around the same age. Shan Masood is a technically sound batsman and he brings a lot of experience and Id take him over a total newbie in test cricket any day of the week. 33 is nominal age in test cricket.
Usman Salahuddin - I agree he was hard done but he is very likely next in line. He didnt open in FC this year, just FYI he played 1 down.
Hassan Ali/Seamers - youre speaking in hindsight. Hassan Ali was dross and totally shot internationally and regressed further in domestic. Did you watch him bowl?
Also your reverse logic doesnt apply to Abbas and am not sure how the likes of Crawley and Duckett and Brook would have treated Abbas on these highways.
Muhammad Ali was duly rewarded but he didnt do well, and that can happen, but he was the best bowler in FC flat wickets in the last 2 seasons. Not all debutants will do well and thats part and parcel of this game. Again, no one has crystal balls.
What really happened is that Pak was dented badly due to injuries to Naseem, Rauf and Shaheen who can all reverse. They have the pace and have shown ability to reverse. They were injured in fielding not due to bowling as many here are making it sound like. That is not the fault of TM not managing workload. How are these guys supposed to play FC if they are on tour? They cant be in 2 places at once. They will have to be dropped from LOI during FC season then, and can we afford that?
I dont think they expected to play Wasim Junior but so many injuries in the camp forced this choice.
Of course, Anderson/Robinson/Wood are their first choice. If they were all injured, we would not be having this discussion.
Both tests were competitive and went down to the wire despite Pakistan missing its first choice bowling attack. England has also played poorly at times. Lets be fair.
Again. I am not defending this team management but criticism should be constructive.
The only part I agree with is negative captaincy and coach, selection of Zahid Mehmood over Abrar in first test, too many allrounders in playing 11. Lack of planning and overall negative tactics.
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