Are Pakistan's selectors mixing up formats when selecting squads?

[FearlessRoar]

Players like Khushdil Shah and Faheem Ashraf who are more suited for T20 cricket are being selected for the ODI squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Naseem Shah who is excellent for Tests is the main bowler for Pakistan in T20Is. Mohammad Rizwan, who is a better fit for Test cricket, is leading our white-ball teams.

This mix-up of formats seems unusual,let’s discuss.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1888286190589165894

 

[Rana]

Hahaha

Selectors a reflection of the fans who need an education about the difference in formats

@gazza619

 

[Major]

This has been going on since 2007. Remember when fawad alam was part of the world t20 2007? Pcb selectors make selections based off t20 tv matches.

i like mohammad waseem as a selector as he selected players by watching games

 

[mominsaigol]

Hahaha

Selectors a reflection of the fans who need an education about the difference in formats

@gazza619

@gazza619 was telling me to go watch Big bash league cause I told him that the pitch yesterday was not a 350 pitch.

He thought NZ was under par and that Pakistan would chase it easily .

If the likes of Mitchell, Latham, will young, Williamson (ik he's naturally slow but still) and rachin are struggling to time the ball then this is clearly not a high way.

It's just Pakistan bowled poorly to Philips with full tosses at the end and Pakistani batters lack of lofted strokes(excluding fakhar) and lack of unorthodox strokes (excluding saud who didn't play and saim whos injured) gets exposed every time Pakistan needs to chase 300+.

 

[Rana]

@gazza619 was telling me to go watch Big bash league cause I told him that the pitch yesterday was not a 350 pitch.

He thought NZ was under par and that Pakistan would chase it easily .

If the likes of Mitchell, Latham, will young, Williamson (ik he's naturally slow but still) and rachin are struggling to time the ball then this is clearly not a high way.

It's just Pakistan bowled poorly to Philips with full tosses at the end and Pakistani batters lack of lofted strokes(excluding fakhar) and lack of unorthodox strokes (excluding saud who didn't play and saim whos injured) gets exposed every time Pakistan needs to chase 300+.

Poor guy has been watching too much BPL with Rizwan opening for Comilla Victorians as the especially hired anchor opener

 

[mominsaigol]

Poor guy has been watching too much BPL with Rizwan opening for Comilla Victorians as the especially hired anchor opener

The pitch yesterday was still a 290+ pitch. NZ scored 30 runs above par and pakistan was 30 runs below par.

Yesterday the biggest problem with the pitch was that it was slow however the outfield was fast.

Hence sweeps, Scoops and using your feet were the key to success on this pitch. Besides Mitchell who plays straight, Everyone else including Williamson were using their feet to score boundaries and in Philips case he was scooping.

However Kamran, Babar, Rizwan don't really know how to use their feet, It explains why they were struggling with strike rotation.

I watched fakhar's highlights yesterday and most of his boundary scoring shots were him using his feet to loft something no other batter did besides agha, but agha couldn't do it consistently cause agha has that mental midget coward nature.

 

[Kianig89]

Selectors are dumb picking players and discarding them abruptly like Haseebullah Abdullah Shafiq WasimJr. Usama Mir

 

[RidiculousMan]

Players like Khushdil Shah and Faheem Ashraf who are more suited for T20 cricket are being selected for the ODI squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Naseem Shah who is excellent for Tests is the main bowler for Pakistan in T20Is. Mohammad Rizwan, who is a better fit for Test cricket, is leading our white-ball teams.

This mix-up of formats seems unusual,let’s discuss.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1888286190589165894

They have been doing this for 2 decades now. But none cares.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

One bad result is enough to send Pak fans running for the hills and questioning everything. Had we won yesterday, the same players would be overhyped right now on this forum. People need to cool their jets and just accept the fact that there are not too many other options. For better of worse, this is the squad we have so better to stop promoting these frivolous ideas that 60-70% of the squad should be purged and replaced because it won't happen. There are certain players I didn't want to see in this squad either, but now they have been selected.

There are definitely some concerns that we need to look at, but selecting guys who have done well in test cricket or some other unknown youngsters with barely any experience is not the answer.

 

[Major]

One bad result is enough to send Pak fans running for the hills and questioning everything. Had we won yesterday, the same players would be overhyped right now on this forum. People need to cool their jets and just accept the fact that there are not too many other options. For better of worse, this is the squad we have so better to stop promoting these frivolous ideas that 60-70% of the squad should be purged and replaced because it won't happen. There are certain players I didn't want to see in this squad either, but now they have been selected.

There are definitely some concerns that we need to look at, but selecting guys who have done well in test cricket or some other unknown youngsters with barely any experience is not the answer.

The best squad wasnt selected.

Pakistan used to do one thing correctly, and that was that no matter how many sifarishis they would select for different series, when it came to icc tournaments, the correct squad and balance was always chosen. This can be said for wc 11, wc 15, wc19, wt 07, wt 09, wt10, wt12.

But there have been certain tournaments where blunders have been made in selection or captaincy and this includes wt 16, wt21, wc 23, wt24 and now ct25.

By bringing in khushdil, faheem and usman, they repeated the amir, imad and azam khan fiasco that happened in wt24. So we all are aware whats gonna transpire again

 

[RidiculousMan]

One bad result is enough to send Pak fans running for the hills and questioning everything. Had we won yesterday, the same players would be overhyped right now on this forum. People need to cool their jets and just accept the fact that there are not too many other options. For better of worse, this is the squad we have so better to stop promoting these frivolous ideas that 60-70% of the squad should be purged and replaced because it won't happen. There are certain players I didn't want to see in this squad either, but now they have been selected.

There are definitely some concerns that we need to look at, but selecting guys who have done well in test cricket or some other unknown youngsters with barely any experience is not the answer.

This majority of our fans don't get it.

 

[mominsaigol]

One bad result is enough to send Pak fans running for the hills and questioning everything. Had we won yesterday, the same players would be overhyped right now on this forum. People need to cool their jets and just accept the fact that there are not too many other options. For better of worse, this is the squad we have so better to stop promoting these frivolous ideas that 60-70% of the squad should be purged and replaced because it won't happen. There are certain players I didn't want to see in this squad either, but now they have been selected.

There are definitely some concerns that we need to look at, but selecting guys who have done well in test cricket or some other unknown youngsters with barely any experience is not the answer.

Who's asking to purge 60-70% of the squad?

I'm only asking to remove khusdil and faheem? They provide zero value to pakistan.

I'm also asking for rizwan to stop being a chawal and actually select saud shakeel in the playing 11.

The criticism for saud in odi is fair but he's a much much better batsmen then Kamran Ghulam.

 

[LordJames]

No offense but Khushdil Shah is a legside hack and not suitable for International cricket at all, no matter which format.

I am told that Faheem Ashraf has imprives his batting by leaps and bounds so let's what he bats like but his bowling is mediocre so he cannot occupy the allrounder spot...If he is "exceptional" in batting then let him play as a batter...

On what planet would you select either of them as all-rounders in any format?

 

[cricketmania22]

Khushdil Shah
Usman Khan
Faheem Ashraff
Hasnain Khan
Kamran Ghulaam.

All of them shouldn’t be in the squad.

 

[Kianig89]

Good post, these two have no business in representing national team

QUOTE="LordJames, post: 12485065, member: 139512"]
No offense but Khushdil Shah is a legside hack and not suitable for International cricket at all, no matter which format.

I am told that Faheem Ashraf has imprives his batting by leaps and bounds so let's what he bats like but his bowling is mediocre so he cannot occupy the allrounder spot...If he is "exceptional" in batting then let him play as a batter...

On what planet would you select either of them as all-rounders in any format?
[/QUOTE]

 

[Muhammad Saad]

We are on par with Zim and BD on batting wickets.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

The best squad wasnt selected.

Pakistan used to do one thing correctly, and that was that no matter how many sifarishis they would select for different series, when it came to icc tournaments, the correct squad and balance was always chosen. This can be said for wc 11, wc 15, wc19, wt 07, wt 09, wt10, wt12.

But there have been certain tournaments where blunders have been made in selection or captaincy and this includes wt 16, wt21, wc 23, wt24 and now ct25.

By bringing in khushdil, faheem and usman, they repeated the amir, imad and azam khan fiasco that happened in wt24. So we all are aware whats gonna transpire again

When has a squad ever been selected that everyone agreed on? In 2019, everyone was complaining about Wahab's inclusion and Junaid's exclusion. In 2017 CT, Ahmed Shahzad and Umar Akmal were selected. 2015 had far too many rubbish players to even count. In 2023 Imad was excluded despite being in form, while in 2021, Hasan Ali was included despite being completely out of form. The list goes on.

Point is, there will never be a perfect squad. We should focus on the positives and hope the negatives stay on the bench.

Khushdil's selection has a good rationale behind it. He is one of the few players with a decent level of experience who has done the job with bat and ball in domestic cricket. The hope is that he can replicate that on pitches that suit his game. He played one match on a flat pitch and suddenly everyone wants him deported from the country. Give him some games in that role before writing him off completely.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Who's asking to purge 60-70% of the squad?

I'm only asking to remove khusdil and faheem? They provide zero value to pakistan.

I'm also asking for rizwan to stop being a chawal and actually select saud shakeel in the playing 11.

The criticism for saud in odi is fair but he's a much much better batsmen then Kamran Ghulam.

What is the point of having this series right before the tournament, if you are not going to use it to experiment and try to find out what is your best combination?

I'm fairly certain that Saud Shakeel, and some other players will play in the next match.

As for Khushdil, he is there to fulfill a certain role. Which is that of someone who score some runs down the order and bowl 5-6 decent overs. With Saim Ayub out, he is pretty much the best player for that role. Because he has a degree of experience of playing a similar role in domestic and PSL on the same pitches. He played one match on a flat pitch where he had to bowl more overs than he was supposed to, and now everyone wants him thrown out of the team. Either suggest someone better (not some inexperienced 20 year old who has played zero matches for Pakistan) or come to terms with the fact that there is no one better at Pakistan's disposal who do a similar job.

 

[Aqib_mustafa]

What is the point of having this series right before the tournament, if you are not going to use it to experiment and try to find out what is your best combination?

I'm fairly certain that Saud Shakeel, and some other players will play in the next match.

As for Khushdil, he is there to fulfill a certain role. Which is that of someone who score some runs down the order and bowl 5-6 decent overs. With Saim Ayub out, he is pretty much the best player for that role. Because he has a degree of experience of playing a similar role in domestic and PSL on the same pitches. He played one match on a flat pitch where he had to bowl more overs than he was supposed to, and now everyone wants him thrown out of the team. Either suggest someone better (not some inexperienced 20 year old who has played zero matches for Pakistan) or come to terms with the fact that there is no one better at Pakistan's disposal who do a similar job.

Bro why cant pak play 2 spinners in their lineup look at india they are playing 3 spinners pak captain says he does want spinners why is that when you know pitches will turn and suit spinners in pakistan?

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Bro why cant pak play 2 spinners in their lineup look at india they are playing 3 spinners pak captain says he does want spinners why is that when you know pitches will turn and suit spinners in pakistan?

There is no way to add a second specialist spinner to the line-up without compromising a pacer, which Pakistan simply can't do because their pace attack is their strength. India's strength is this spin-bowling, especially with Bumrah likely out, plus, they are going to be playing all their matches in Dubai, so it makes sense for them to select so many spinners.

Sufiyan Muqeem probably should have been in the squad as a back-up, but I don't think you can make a case for him being in the playing XI over Abrar or Shaheen, Naseem, Rauf.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

We are on par with Zim and BD on batting wickets.

i would say below par because these sides atleast take advantage of their home conditions where we look lost at our home ground.

 

[Major]

When has a squad ever been selected that everyone agreed on? In 2019, everyone was complaining about Wahab's inclusion and Junaid's exclusion. In 2017 CT, Ahmed Shahzad and Umar Akmal were selected. 2015 had far too many rubbish players to even count. In 2023 Imad was excluded despite being in form, while in 2021, Hasan Ali was included despite being completely out of form. The list goes on.

Point is, there will never be a perfect squad. We should focus on the positives and hope the negatives stay on the bench.

Khushdil's selection has a good rationale behind it. He is one of the few players with a decent level of experience who has done the job with bat and ball in domestic cricket. The hope is that he can replicate that on pitches that suit his game. He played one match on a flat pitch and suddenly everyone wants him deported from the country. Give him some games in that role before writing him off completely.

2011 was best and so was 2015. They were best in terms of the options we had at the time not on the basis of aftermath

Khushdil showed in the last match when his catch was dropped that he sucked and had zero game sense. He swept that into the fielders hands

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

2011 was best and so was 2015. They were best in terms of the options we had at the time not on the basis of aftermath

Khushdil showed in the last match when his catch was dropped that he sucked and had zero game sense. He swept that into the fielders hands

Khushdil is also the best you have on the basis of the options available...unless you want to see Iftikhar back, and I don't think anyone wants to see that.

It's one match, and no player should be judged on one match. He played poorly but its not like the game wasn't over by the time he came to the crease. I think the fans should give him some leeway. He is not exactly playing an easy role in the side as the makeshift all-rounder.

 

[Major]

Khushdil is also the best you have on the basis of the options available...unless you want to see Iftikhar back, and I don't think anyone wants to see that.

It's one match, and no player should be judged on one match. He played poorly but its not like the game wasn't over by the time he came to the crease. I think the fans should give him some leeway. He is not exactly playing an easy role in the side as the makeshift all-rounder.

Na i have accepted ifti is garbage. But the no.6 conundrum will continue to exist

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Na i have accepted ifti is garbage. But the no.6 conundrum will continue to exist

Kamran Ghulam is the best man for that position. He doesn't have the temperament for the top order, but as he showed in South Africa he can come in down the order and accelerate. Not sure what the thinking was behind sending him at 3. He shouldn't be batting above 5.

 

[Major]

Kamran Ghulam is the best man for that position. He doesn't have the temperament for the top order, but as he showed in South Africa he can come in down the order and accelerate. Not sure what the thinking was behind sending him at 3. He shouldn't be batting above 5.

Kamran ghulam i hope does perform but i dont really have high hopes from him.

This ct is not gonna be any good for us. KG, agha, and TT need to step up

 

[CleverSir]

Our selectors are non-serious people.

 

[ads101]

We moved on from Saud far too quickly. You could see the promise was there, he was getting set just throwing it away. But because Kamran scored a century we immediately thought we’ve got to include him in other formats. Saud might have failed in the long run but we were clearly at the stage where we hadn’t made up our mind on the player. This keeps happening, which is why cricketers constantly getting dropped and repicked instead of dropped for good.

I’d just bat Saud instead of Kamran at 3 at this point. Looks like we’re going with an allrounder with Saim out, and now Rauf getting injured. So there’s not really space to play them both anyway.

 

[ads101]

The best squad wasnt selected.

Pakistan used to do one thing correctly, and that was that no matter how many sifarishis they would select for different series, when it came to icc tournaments, the correct squad and balance was always chosen. This can be said for wc 11, wc 15, wc19, wt 07, wt 09, wt10, wt12.

But there have been certain tournaments where blunders have been made in selection or captaincy and this includes wt 16, wt21, wc 23, wt24 and now ct25.

By bringing in khushdil, faheem and usman, they repeated the amir, imad and azam khan fiasco that happened in wt24. So we all are aware whats gonna transpire again

It’s because we are experimenting far too much these days. It’s become the cool thing to do like other sides. It means we have no settled side or decided xi when the tournament actually starts.

The thing is with experimentation is usually other sides have their seniors players ready to come in and immediately perform their role. We don’t have a settled batting line up yet, and then going about rotating players and positions on top.

I do think though part of the issue is Saims injury. I have a feeling we were not going to play an allrounder like Faheem or kushadil and instead rely on Saim and Agha to make up overs in order to strengthen line up. Because of that injury forced to adapt, and we have no allrounders who have been given significant international experience (apart from Faheem and Shadab). I think this time we were almost forced to change things. While in the last t20 World Cup a lot of what we did was self inflicted in terms of not getting a settled xi.