Kamran's form had to be cashed in the short-term, but we need to adopt a policy of drafting batsmen from the U-19s straight into the national setup before they regress in domestic cricket, i.e. batsmen like Ahsan Ali, Saad Ali, Zeeshan Malik etc. This is something Bangladesh has done and it has paid dividends. It is a low-risk policy: these young players will either sink or swim - if they sink, they can always go back and improve because they are at an age where the learning curve is going up.
However, the likes of Fakhar Zaman and Asif Zakir are bound to fail. The former represents everything that is wrong with Pakistan domestic cricket. Things could have been different had he been picked early, but now the damage has been done. He is officially 27 and unofficially close to 30, which means it is too late to reconstruct his batting and teach him new tricks. Had he been given international exposure, when he was unofficially 25-26, i.e. 4-5 years ago, things could have been different.
Unfortunately Inzamam hasn't proved to be any better than the previous selectors. He lacks vision and that was clear during his captaincy days as well. Anyone with a good understand and feel for the game can see that Hussain Talat at an official age of 21 and unofficial age of 23-24 is a much better investment than Fakhar. He can make it at the top level if he is picked now. However, let him rot in domestic cricket for another 4-5 years and he will get into the incorrect habits that you need to score runs in our domestic cricket, which means that if he is picked for Pakistan at an unofficial age of 29-30, he will be another Fakhar.
As far Asif Zakir is concerned, I saw the highlights of his batting posted in another thread and some of the shots that he played showcases his natural ability. However, I can categorically tell you that he is bound to fail in international cricket against quality opposition. Someone who is unofficially 36-37 and has had no exposure to international while playing all his cricket in the Pakistan domestic circuit has no chance of performing against teams like Australia, England, South Africa, India etc. Much like Fakhar, it could have been a different story had he been identified and picked 10 years ago.
As long as our domestic pitches don't improve (and we got a glimpse of it in the PSL final), the modus operandi should be to fast-track U-19 talents. The U-19 World Cup is a much better gauge than the F/C cricket of Pakistan because it is a test of skill and temperament against opposition that is playing in a far superior setup at the same age (cheating age has become quite difficult at the U-19 level these days, even for Pakistanis), some of whom will become world class players for the countries in the next few years.
You are right that domestic selection also needs improvement, but it won't make a difference unless these kids are given early exposure. Apologies for the long post, but you brought up an interest point.
