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Ahmed Shehzad's poor SR even after playing 200 deliveries

A player bats for 3 sessions on day 1 against fresh bowlers, who are regarded as arguably the best new ball pair in the world.

Let's criticize him!
 
loool.

I dont know what you wanted. 270 in one day's play is quite decent. especially with only 1 wkt loss
 
Needs a partner like Babar or Umar, I don't mind his crease occupation and greed for runs.
 
How people have answered to this thread:

1) A small fraction agreed with me that his SR should be better.
2) Go watch Afridi, OP wants Sharjeel to open blah blah...
3) Responded as if I have called for Shehzad to be dropped.
4) Responded that yes his SR should have been better but my thread is unwarranted.

My response to

2) I don't want Afridis in my team. I don't even support Afridi and want him dropped from the ODI team much less be included in the test team. If I was going to watch some old innings they would be of SRT, Lara or Ponting. How does playing at a SR of 55-60 equal tullay bazi.

3) I appreciate Shehzad's innings. He played well, go and read my other posts in this thread and other threads where I have openly praised his hunger for runs. I merely pointed out that his SR should have been better.

4) Perhaps you are right but this problem is not a new one. Azhar does the same. Shehzad has done this before and needs to improve.
 
It is a test match, stop moaning. He is scoring runs, he doesn't trust other hacks who play retarded shots. People need to stop expecting players to score centuries with strike rate of 90 all the time. I nominate this thread for the Worst Post Of the Week.
 
Wow. Absolutely stunned at this thread. Just look at the pattern of play so far today and vs Australia.

1. Play yourself in against the quicks
2. Play yourself in against the spinners
3. Attack the spinners post lunch and pre-tea
4. Consolidate and don't lose wickets before the end of the day
5. Next day, push on
 
Thivagar said:
It is a test match, stop moaning. He is scoring runs, he doesn't trust other hacks who play retarded shots. People need to stop expecting players to score centuries with strike rate of 90 all the time. I nominate this thread for the Worst Post Of the Week.
Click to expand...

I never said I wanted him to bat at a SR of 90. I said SR of around 55(sometimes said 50-55 and sometimes 55-60).
 
Well yes at a less strike rate.. But still acceptable... Good innings nevertheless.. They must gear up tomorrow...
 
Pakistani fans need to stop criticising this guy. It seems to me you guys want perfection which is just impossible. He's a very good young cricketer and let him develop in his own way. His weaknesses will gradually improve and one day will score tons like its nothing.
 
People need to understand this is how Pakistan bats and this is the limit of most of our batsman's they are no world beaters but they score runs which is needed , and there is nothing wrong in it at all. We will bat slow and pile runs and this is absolutely fine. When needed Misbah came out and score a quick fire 100 we saw Shahzad playing positive cricket when needed and for the moment he is batting fine.

What is better 100 at SR of 50 or 25 at SR of 150 make up your mind, when your team is winning be happy about it very poor to criticize all the time.
 
Pakistani fans are biggest whiners amongst all the nations.

A batsman scores an uneaten hundred.. Can't whine about his performance.. Let's moan about the SR!! And that too in test match!! It was the first day of a 3 test match series, do you realize how important this ton and foundation is? It would demolarize the kiwis and lift Pakistan.
 
He has played a good innings, its great to see a youngster constantly making hundreds. He is way better than Umar Akmal, who is just thoriwng his wicket in every match. At least shehzad is scoring runs (& centuries). Although at the end of day he played slowly, It would have been great if pak had ended with 300-1 on day 1. But still a very good job, tomorrow inshALLAH we can go to score 500+ runs and that will be a winning total.
 
sh47 said:
:))) i can't believe this thread and some of the posts here. Am i dreaming or did shehzad just get a hundred while our team run rate was just under 3? those criticizing him should go support another team :facepalm: never have i seen so man disgraceful fans not giving the opener a break. It's not like we've had saeed anwar playing for us in the last 5 years or so maybe longer.
Click to expand...

I first thought it was one of those sarcastic misleading title before i read the whole damn thing.
 
OP is one of the best poster on the forum and one of the few who don't shy away from speaking his mind and that's why we are here; to exchange dies, not follow the person ahead of us like sheep but of course according the dictionary of PP, that's trolling and attention seeking.

He has made a valid point but people are leaving no room for criticism because everything looks so wonderful when Pakistan performs well but only if this was long term.

This team is mediocre and so are these players. Won't be long before the truth with this team comes to the fore. We are no more than a 5th/6th ranked team and neither is Shehzad more than a 35 average batsman and once normal business resumes, more people will agree with OP.

For now, enjoy.
 
Don't rate this kid at all. Technical flaw galore in his game. Plays on the move which is big no no for an opner. Plays half foward most of times leaving a gap because feet and bat angle aren't in sync. Plays spinners with heavy feet and good spinners will get through his defence with ease.
 
The thing is yes it should have been higher but we need to remember that we are not producing ATG,s here. I mean you bring me a saeed anwar and i will kick shezad out today but wqe dont have those openers nor batsmen and dont look like we will produce a few in the future. For now shezad is the best we got and he is decent enough. Has massive flaws especially against spin but he has a great hunger for runs and a knack for scoring big. He is 22. If he goes like this then there is a very good chance he will become our highest centurion in all formats by the time he retires.

Todays knock was a good knock and yes SR was slow but he stuck to it and batted well to score a hundred. I will take a slow hundred in tests than a quicker 40 to 60. You need such batsmen who sit around for a while and score runs and shezad is a good addition for it. Great knock today and we need him tomorrow as well. We dont have those dynamic batsmen so i will take this knock. :D :D :D :D

Besides if he makes a slow double tomorrow then our dominance becomes complete as there is a good chance we will reach 500.
 
Disgraceful thread. This is the reason some people shouldnt watch test cricket. Watch T20. Tamasha.
 
saeed-sohail said:
Don't rate this kid at all. Technical flaw galore in his game. Plays on the move which is big no no for an opner. Plays half foward most of times leaving a gap because feet and bat angle aren't in sync. Plays spinners with heavy feet and good spinners will get through his defence with ease.
Click to expand...
He's scored outside of Asia (in ODIs) with all these flaws.

Our technically correct batsmen can't score ten runs.

People act as though we have so many good batsmen and one who plays with his weaknesses and his pretty much the best scorer we've had in 5-6 years and he gets the most hate.
 
saiyan0312 said:
The thing is yes it should have been higher but we need to remember that we are not producing ATG,s here. I mean you bring me a saeed anwar and i will kick shezad out today but wqe dont have those openers nor batsmen and dont look like we will produce a few in the future. For now shezad is the best we got and he is decent enough. Has massive flaws especially against spin but he has a great hunger for runs and a knack for scoring big. He is 22. If he goes like this then there is a very good chance he will become our highest centurion in all formats by the time he retires.

Todays knock was a good knock and yes SR was slow but he stuck to it and batted well to score a hundred. I will take a slow hundred in tests than a quicker 40 to 60. You need such batsmen who sit around for a while and score runs and shezad is a good addition for it. Great knock today and we need him tomorrow as well. We dont have those dynamic batsmen so i will take this knock. :D :D :D :D

Besides if he makes a slow double tomorrow then our dominance becomes complete as there is a good chance we will reach 500.
Click to expand...

This is true enough, I will grant Shehzad the fact that he knows how to grind it out and values his wicket more than any young Pakistani batsman since Azhar Ali emerged onto the scene in 2010. He looks really scratchy at times, played poorly in the first session and got lucky as well, but he hung in there and if you occupy the crease, you will score runs. That's the golden and timeless rule of batting.

He has his shortcomings but unlike Umar and Maqsood (who have more ability) he has a brain and you don't fear that he'll will be out any time and there is no substitute for that, no matter how gifted you are.

He struggles against spin, doesn't find the gaps against the pacers and neither is he great timer of the ball but he hates getting out which definitely has to be respected.
 
This puts Akmal and Afridi's persecution in perspective for me.

Even when you are scoring centuries in Test Cricket for fun, there will still be some one there to criticize something.

Unbelievable that this thread can exist.
 
i think more concerning was his obvious discomfort against okayish spinners like sodhi and craig....mamoons pointed this out a few times and i sometimes thought...come on mamoon is being a bit excessive with his criticism. but he has got the lack of ability against spin absolutely correct.

nonetheless a good innings....he needs way way better footwork he will be a walking wicket in england and Aus.
 
Are you ever happy OP? This is a test match. Grinding out the bowlers is part of the openers job. Awful fan and a garbage thread
 
Shehzad really needs to amp it up. It's a highway out there, and he's scoring at 40. Hafeez scored his 96 @ a S/R of 70.

Nevertheless, a very good knock. He needs to kick on and get to 200 now.
 
Who is feeling like this after reading this thread?

4239930+_317b9ef64b78a39ef56b9a564392bf2e.jpg
 
So pathetic. The guy just scored a century and put his team on top. And these losers here are complaining about his SR. I guess its not that easy being a Pakistani cricketer coz the fans will always find a reason to bash you regardless of your performance. :moyo
 
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Hafeez's strike rate was superb in comparison, actually. By any standard, even.
The eventual score by stumps would have been worse if not for it.

After Leading up to and after Hafeez getting out, the RR dropped from ~3.3 to less than 3.
 
Fahdi said:
This thread existes believe it.

Nope he got a hundred played well. Should have gotten a 150, hope he gets a double ton tomorrow.

Nope I will continue supporting Pakistan thank you very much.

I want him to score at around 50-55. Which he should. You talk as if i want him dropped from the team.

So because the rest of the openers have been poor it absolves him of all criticism even if it's fair? Sorry I don't believe that.
Click to expand...

You know if we did not live in a era were T20 is seen as the real cricket or more entertaining then perhaps you would not have such opinion on Shehzad. Many..... AND MANY years ago, fans use to credit batsmen on how low their strike rate was when scoring big runs, how long they survived hours/days and how good of a defensive batsmen they were in the longer format of the game.

That's what test cricket still defines, not the strike rate.... But how long a player can survive. His strike rate is absolutely fine for test cricket... That factor should be a 'concern' if we are chasing a target and have a day or so left and limited overs, but otherwise, why worry when he is ticking the score-board and putting Pakistan in a better position?
 
Its a team game when the person playing with you is scoring quickly it on you to stay at the wicket. 3 runs per over on the first day of a Test match is fine specially if you haven't lost any wickets. He did his job people should stop complaining about it specially as this was what was asked of him of by Flower and Waqar.
I remember a few matches ago where he got out playing aggressively and Flower and Waqar seemed disappointed in his short selection.
 
waleed88 said:
Pacing an innings is a skill acquired with practice.

Inzamam became one of the best chasers by continuously being there in the same situation.

I think Shehzad has some way to go before he can be compared to Kohli.

Pacing an innings is a skill lacking generally in batsmen from Pakistan.

Either they are hard hitters like Maqsood Akmal and some of the others.

Or they are slow batters like Azhar Ali Shafiq and Fawad Alam.

In India, this skill has been acquired and is a part of every youngster's learning curve until they graduate to the International Level, when they play International Cricket they can bat at run a ball or 5 an over without getting out, it is like clock work to them.

Our general batting standard is 3 an over 3.5 an over, until the batsman starts hitting every ball. Our clock is set at a slower rate, meaning they take more time to adjust to conditions.

Hence players like Shehzad have to acquire this skill at the International level.

It will only come with practice, the more you play cricket and spend time on the field and bat, the more quickly you will acquire this. There is no substitute for practice in this case.

In the 90s and early 2000s, playing at 3-4 an over was acceptable.

Now Pakistani batsmen seem pretty out of date compared to the batting standards that are there abroad.

It is the main reason Pakistan struggles in ODIs the most, but can beat any team in Test Cricket, because Run rate is mostly a non issue in Test Cricket.
Click to expand...

You have summarized the approach Misbah ul Haq loves and demands from everyone.
 
We're at 3 runs an over, pretty decent SR on a dead pitch with a slow outfield, and against some disciplined bowlers.

You're greedy wanting more.

Plus, Shehzad has a habit of losing it shortly after his century (sometimes 50). I want him to make a big score, stay slow, and let us really push on after lunch. As a team.
 
This is such a massive non issue. 19 extra runs would have got him to a sr of 50. What difference does that make? Absolutely nothing. Far more important than an extra 19 runs was keeping his wicket and not exposing a new batsman to half an hour or so of end of day play.
 
The post is wrong that he didn't improve his strike rate he scored

50Runs 150balls strike rate of 33.33%
next
50Runs 71balls strike rate of 70.40%
next
He slowed in the last session again to play till the end of the day.
 
What is wrong with scoring at 45 strike rate. It's not T20. Problem is Azhar Ali.

He should have been quicker because Pakistan was provided a very good start and needed to capitalize on it not come and tuk tuk to get his hundred.
 
Poison said:
Why??? WHY??? TO WHAT END???

People cannot seem to get their head around the fact that its NOT easy to score runs on these slow tracks. All that 'intent' you're asking for was displayed by the majority of Aussie batsmen and you saw how they fared.
Click to expand...

Legend.
 
Big scores ideally help batsmen turn a leaf in their careers, a double ton might just be the confidence boost he needs before wc.
 
thelandofthebravepeople said:
What is wrong with scoring at 45 strike rate. It's not T20. Problem is Azhar Ali.

He should have been quicker because Pakistan was provided a very good start and needed to capitalize on it not come and tuk tuk to get his hundred.
Click to expand...

i think azhar ali is playing his normal game here, he can't score at 50 strike rate even on such flat pitch.he has very limited shots. on the contrary ahmad shehzad with the abilty to play almost all shots in the books, is doing tuk tuk... with 350 plus deliveries and still taking time for what?
 
This was a very selfish performance there was'nt much in the opposition to remove him and he knew it, thinking of making a double hundred he batted 4 sessions, but in the end an unusual accident got him out. He mite've played his natural game and would've crossed 200 even giving a restrained performance, but it was too slow in the end and he paid for playing a selfish cricket. This is crricket you can get out even if u think u can't. Went back sobbing,wasted 2 days and a better total for the team but still failed individually to reach 200.
 
Not only shezad but most asian players love to play for their average.

Thats why aus and sa have been top teams for years they play for the team for the country.

Our players in sc get frozen when in the 90s.

Yesterday shezad took almost 50 balls to move from 40 to 50 !!
 
SR of 47 is quite good actually. No need to bat like David Warner. Azhar Ali is the real tuk tuk in the team. Barely 40 SR and can't accelerate either.
 
Theo_14 said:
You know if we did not live in a era were T20 is seen as the real cricket or more entertaining then perhaps you would not have such opinion on Shehzad. Many..... AND MANY years ago, fans use to credit batsmen on how low their strike rate was when scoring big runs, how long they survived hours/days and how good of a defensive batsmen they were in the longer format of the game.

That's what test cricket still defines, not the strike rate.... But how long a player can survive. His strike rate is absolutely fine for test cricket... That factor should be a 'concern' if we are chasing a target and have a day or so left and limited overs, but otherwise, why worry when he is ticking the score-board and putting Pakistan in a better position?
Click to expand...

The real problem is too many people just decide what their favourite form is and apply that metric to all formats.

It's a bigger problem that too many Test people try and bring their Test Match logic and reasoning into ODIs and even T20.

That said, this is pretty stupid as well, this is an excellent innings and quibbling about SR on Day 2 when they are 370/2 is beyond bizzare.
 
Mamoon said:
OP is one of the best poster on the forum and one of the few who don't shy away from speaking his mind and that's why we are here; to exchange dies, not follow the person ahead of us like sheep but of course according the dictionary of PP, that's trolling and attention seeking.

He has made a valid point but people are leaving no room for criticism because everything looks so wonderful when Pakistan performs well but only if this was long term.

This team is mediocre and so are these players. Won't be long before the truth with this team comes to the fore. We are no more than a 5th/6th ranked team and neither is Shehzad more than a 35 average batsman and once normal business resumes, more people will agree with OP.

For now, enjoy.
Click to expand...

A valid point was made? what was that lol nothing wrong with criticism but in this case there is no logic behind the frustration of OP with shehzads S/R, this is Test Cricket not ODIs.
 
saiyan0312 said:
The thing is yes it should have been higher but we need to remember that we are not producing ATG,s here. I mean you bring me a saeed anwar and i will kick shezad out today but wqe dont have those openers nor batsmen and dont look like we will produce a few in the future. For now shezad is the best we got and he is decent enough. Has massive flaws especially against spin but he has a great hunger for runs and a knack for scoring big. He is 22. If he goes like this then there is a very good chance he will become our highest centurion in all formats by the time he retires.

Todays knock was a good knock and yes SR was slow but he stuck to it and batted well to score a hundred. I will take a slow hundred in tests than a quicker 40 to 60. You need such batsmen who sit around for a while and score runs and shezad is a good addition for it. Great knock today and we need him tomorrow as well. We dont have those dynamic batsmen so i will take this knock. :D :D :D :D

Besides if he makes a slow double tomorrow then our dominance becomes complete as there is a good chance we will reach 500.
Click to expand...

Why would you kick out Shehzad from tests even if we unearth an Anwar? I never called for Shehzad to be dropped.

I agree with the rest of your post mostly. Shehzad has hunger and the greed to score runs and his innings was a good one but his SR should have been better. He should have gotten his double hundred.

We are in a strong position and dominating. Being 30-40 runs behind on day 1 probably will not cost us but does that mean there is nothing wrong with it. Shehzad has done this before but what made this stand out was the fact that he had been batting for so long on a flat pitch where Hafeez had breezed through to 96 yet he was still ticking along at a SR of 40. Say what you will this is a concern for me. Any good batsmen makes the opposition pay and gets on top after getting set. Saying he was trying to consolidate and not lose his wicket is not a valid excuse. After playing for so long a batsman should be able to score at a decent SR without risking his wicket.
 
So today's situation reminded me of this thread.

Ahmed Shehzad's case was a lot worse to be fair, 9 wickets in hand and he was well set yet he continued to tuk tuk. Though it was still a good innings before people jump on my case once again.

Today Pakistan once again demonstrated the lack of a killer instinct which any top team needs to possess. Will Pakistan still win the match? Probably and should do so with ease, might even win by an innings. But that should not excuse the poor approach. When the team is in a good position it should look to dominate. This is what all the best teams do. Pakistan were 199/0 after two sessions but at stumps we ended up at 255/3. For some reason our batsmen have the mentality of just being "good enough" whereas when you are up against an opposition which is missing its best batsmen and is notoriously weak in Asia we should be looking to serve up a thorough humiliation.

Just look at India's match where they thrashed WI at a RR of over 4. The last time we went to Australia they didn't just bat and bat against us, they battered our bowlers to submission. The one match they were slow and steady Shafiq nearly pulled off an impossible chase.

Hafeez once again put up a masterclass in the UAE as he often does especially against non-Asian sides which lack a quality spin attack. Once he was in he made the bowlers pay. If only he wasn't a walking wicket in Aus,NZ,Eng,SA. Shows the value of a good attacking innings.

And before people say, "this is how test cricket is played" I'd like to ask have the likes were the likes of SRT, Lara, Ponting and Viv doing it wrong? Because apparently they were unaware of how Test cricket is played and ended up playing something else. Somebody please inform Virat Kohli of this before he ends up like those guys. Hopefully Babar is taking classes from Azhar, wouldn't want him to start playing "not test cricket".

In all seriousness there is a reason almost all the elite batsmen in cricket have been attacking batsmen. Even our legends such as Zaheer Abbas, Inzi, Yousaf and Miandad were known to bat at a good clip. Younis might have been a bit slow early on but his hundreds usually came at a SR of 60 or above.

Pakistan is no longer cultivating batsmen who are ruthless in test cricket. By that I don't mean players who go berserk like Afrid or Sehwag(yes I know he was quality test bat and match winner) but players who once get set bat long and score quickly through good quality stroke-making. This isn't just effecting our test cricket but our LO cricket as well. We are getting batsmen who can either bat quick(although rare) or who can bat long but can't do both. Whatever is the issue in this regard needs to be addressed and fixed otherwise we will slump lower and lower in cricket.
 
https://youtu.be/flY4honV4ik

Check Shehzad's debut 100 against NZ. His batting stance was so still and he looked so solid. Shehzad needs to watch this video again and see how he used to bat when he started international cricket. He looked a gem of a player and i feel really bad that we lost the real Ahmed Shehzad.
 
gazza619 said:
https://youtu.be/flY4honV4ik

Check Shehzad's debut 100 against NZ. His batting stance was so still and he looked so solid. Shehzad needs to watch this video again and see how he used to bat when he started international cricket. He looked a gem of a player and i feel really bad that we lost the real Ahmed Shehzad.
Click to expand...

he was still striking in low 70s at that stage in his career so its hardly a problem which developed over time...

besides at this point the druggie has other problems to worry about with the ban
 
Slog said:
he was still striking in low 70s at that stage in his career so its hardly a problem which developed over time...

besides at this point the druggie has other problems to worry about with the ban
Click to expand...
By the way in this game his strike rate was 100+. I dont think striking at 70 odd is a big problem though. Babar Azam strikes at a similar rate. The problem Ahmed Shehzad has developed over the years is the liking of playing dot balls and this may have been caused by his constant shuffling in the crease. If he rotated the strike then he would have been more useful.

I would be happy to keep Shehzad in the team if he scores 75 off 100 balls (provided his dot ball percentage is low).
 
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