A clever way to increase Pakistan’s Test batting depth

[Thunderbolt14]

We need a stronger backbone to our test line up.

Here’s my strategy: drop Rizwan (in my opinion the weakest link in the entire squad) and get Fawad Alam in. In my opinion, if Rizwan wasn’t a keeper, this would already have happened. So who will keep, you might ask? Abid Ali. He’s shown he can do this in the Aus A games. We can have a potential line up of:

Shan
Abid
Azhar
Babar
Asad
Haris
Fawad


I would keep Haris as even though he has been out of form he is returning to it and should be given the backing to grow. He is technically correct and had only been getting out to bad shots under pressure. Can bat better than Rizwan who has nothing to show except for the 100 in Aus, even though pakistan has had very flat batting tracks where even Azhar made a century. I am also not dropping Azhar as he is captain and there is no replacement. This isn’t meant to be an “ideal” squad, but rather one that takes in the current constraints and Misbah’s baking for Asad Shafiq and Haris Sohail under consideration.

A quick change that can be implemented in the very next match. Thoughts?

 

[Danyaalr01]

Abid Ali looks like a village keeper.

 

[Mamoon]

Abid Ali is a goalkeeper not a wicketkeeper. This is a clever idea to ensure that Pakistan becomes the bottom ranked team in Test cricket.

 

[Kaddy]

I think even in domestic cricket, Abid Ali is not a regular wicket keeper so it will be a huge risk because if there is any format where you need a specialist wicket keeper, its test cricket. Make shift wicket keepers can be useful in shorter format i.e. T20 or may be in ODI but for a test match you should have a keeper who is very good in his primary skill which is keeping.
Now just imagine you are playing a test match against Australia and your keeper drops the catch of the players like Steve Smith or Warner…… be ready for a daddy hundred.
Moral of the story is, a bad wicket keeper can cost you the whole test match (Remember Sydney 2010)

 

[AFM]

Plus Rizwan is not the weakest link

It’s Kaptaan saab

 

[ARK Rafay]

Lol Abid Ali as a keeper that too in the longest format of the game. No sane person would drop a proper wicket keeper from Test XI.

 

[angrypathan]

Abid Ali's keeping isn't good enough for club cricket

 

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

Good thought OP. However, hard to take a non-specialist keeper to test matches. A recipe for much disaster as we saw with Karman Akmal

 

[gazza619]

Not seen Abid keep wickets but you cannot have a part time w/k in tests.

The best way to extend the batting order is to ask the likes of Shaheen Shah and Naseem Shah to work on their batting.

Yasir Shah has improved his batting in recent times but then his bowling has been mostly a flop.

 

[Omer2002]

Abid Ali should definately be keeping 20 20s and one days that way you can get rid of rizwan as he isnt needed in white ball format yet abid ali can open with Babz and get to us a good start.

For Tests we need a specialist keeper

 

[Mamoon]

Abid Ali should definately be keeping 20 20s and one days that way you can get rid of rizwan as he isnt needed in white ball format yet abid ali can open with Babz and get to us a good start.

For Tests we need a specialist keeper

Abid is as much of a WK as Babar or Imam. You can’t take a risk with him even in a 5 overs match.

He was fumbling nearly every delivery and he didn’t have the mannerism or the approach of a WK.

Rizwan will never be world class but he remains the best choice in all formats.

 

[Mobashir]

It's not like Abid Ali himself is a T20 or ODI player.
Despite his brilliant start I have high doubts over him and will surely not select him in any other format.

 

[Titan24]

I think Rizwan can be a good keeper batsman in tests and ODIs. He is 27, has an amazing domestic record, pretty safe behind the stumps, good with DRS and showed his batting skills in Aus as well.

He is the best keeper batsman we have and should be given a long haul in tests and ODIs.

Coming to Abid Ali, he hasnt been a regular keeper and in tests it would be asking too much from him to first keep throughout the innings and then come and open the batting as well. There is a reason the wicket keepers in tests are rarely played as opener or even top 4 as keeping for 90 plus overs and then coming onto bat early is too much workload for anyone.

 

[warcry]

We need a stronger backbone to our test line up.

Here’s my strategy: drop Rizwan (in my opinion the weakest link in the entire squad) and get Fawad Alam in. In my opinion, if Rizwan wasn’t a keeper, this would already have happened. So who will keep, you might ask? Abid Ali. He’s shown he can do this in the Aus A games. We can have a potential line up of:

Shan
Abid
Azhar
Babar
Asad
Haris
Fawad


I would keep Haris as even though he has been out of form he is returning to it and should be given the backing to grow. He is technically correct and had only been getting out to bad shots under pressure. Can bat better than Rizwan who has nothing to show except for the 100 in Aus, even though pakistan has had very flat batting tracks where even Azhar made a century. I am also not dropping Azhar as he is captain and there is no replacement. This isn’t meant to be an “ideal” squad, but rather one that takes in the current constraints and Misbah’s baking for Asad Shafiq and Haris Sohail under consideration.

A quick change that can be implemented in the very next match. Thoughts?

a stupid idea. in fact a really stupid one.
DO NOT MAKE YOUR KEEPER OPEN IN A TEST MATCH!!!!

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Rizwan is probably the best keeper in Pakistan. In test cricket you simply can't play without a specialist keeper. What Rizwan brings to the team with the gloves is incredibly vital.

 

[Hasan123]

Batting depth is ovverated. Test matches are about specialists doing their job.

 

[zulfiqar]

The real way to improve our test batting is if our players start batting better. The two people that are in my crossheir are Shafiq and Azhar Ali. I really backed these two guys back in Misbah's captaincy and I really want them to perform. They are two examples where even if groomed correctly, nothing can replace a player's own natural talent and work ethic. I don't need them to average 50+. Pakistan just needs them to show up when chips are down - they need to be the first ones to answer the call when someone is required to bat big.

If these two can up their game, our batting can start resembling what it did when we rose to #1 (though we're quite a ways from there).

 

[Mirpur express]

lol NO we might get away with while playing Bangladesh & SriLanka with all due respect to them but will be found out against the big boys hence a specialist keeper is a must

 

[silent ischemia]

Rizwan was your second best batsman Down Under and is the best glove man in the country. And secondly if Abid Ali keeps how can he open. It's not T20 or ODI that he can keep and open. In Tests you might have to bat after 4-6 sessions on the average which is physically demanding

 

[MenInG]

Fawad Alam - is he so necessary for the side that we come up with innovative combinations like these?

 

[Kroll]

We need a stronger backbone to our test line up.

Here’s my strategy: drop Rizwan (in my opinion the weakest link in the entire squad) and get Fawad Alam in. In my opinion, if Rizwan wasn’t a keeper, this would already have happened. So who will keep, you might ask? Abid Ali. He’s shown he can do this in the Aus A games. We can have a potential line up of:

Shan
Abid
Azhar
Babar
Asad
Haris
Fawad


I would keep Haris as even though he has been out of form he is returning to it and should be given the backing to grow. He is technically correct and had only been getting out to bad shots under pressure. Can bat better than Rizwan who has nothing to show except for the 100 in Aus, even though pakistan has had very flat batting tracks where even Azhar made a century. I am also not dropping Azhar as he is captain and there is no replacement. This isn’t meant to be an “ideal” squad, but rather one that takes in the current constraints and Misbah’s baking for Asad Shafiq and Haris Sohail under consideration.

A quick change that can be implemented in the very next match. Thoughts?

Azhar is no backbone for any team, maybe a liability though. Asad's had a good run now its time to get off the gravy train. Fawad might be worth talking about if he actually got a game but looks unlikely.

 

[Angrez Pakistani]

Fawad Alam - is he so necessary for the side that we come up with innovative combinations like these?

Short answer; yes. Long answer; also yes.

 

[hitthestump]

Rizwan is a much better batsman than this thread suggests btw, and clearly the best option in Pakistan for the foreseeable future. Rohail may have something to say about that in a few years.