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Asad Shafiq, a failure in pressure situations?

Critical Analyst said:
His timidity and self-effacing mental attitude is the reason of his failure to establish himself as a prominent ODI Batsman over the years. He doesn't have that mental switch to turn on and impose himself and lead the way but rather he is too dependent on his partner to take the initiative and guide him the way. Thats why when Misbah/Sarfraz were both gone, he was caught off guard just like a rabbit caught in headlights with no idea what to do and how to approach the innings just waiting for his imminent demise.
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Again, you are not appreciating the fact that he is not a player of that class, so he has to work within his limitations and he's making full use of it.

He is no Joe Root or Virat Kohli, who can impose himself on the opposition.
 
Slog said:
It's not? it's a test match. 178/4 is pretty poor considering your tail starts from no.8 and fails to hang around much either

One more wicket and your keeper comes into bat and prolly you will be all out by 220-230 considering our tail.
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No, it's not. It's a very comfortable position to walk out on.

You clearly have not watched enough test cricket.

Just stop please. You really don't know what you're talking about.
 
hussain.r97 said:
178/4 is a pressure situation when a good score here is 400+
Maybe not as much pressure as 80/4, but there is still pressure.

And if that is not enough, the pressure when batting with the tail is also quite high considering you have to make major adjustments to your approach.
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Ok, let's just make up pressure situations as we go along.

England must be under pressure now at 182/3 because if they lose another wicket, they will be 182/4. Jeez, what pressure that will be then. Then imagine if at 250/4 they lose another wicket to make it 250/5. Damn, then imagine the pressure for the next guy in.

You guys clearly don't know what pressure situations are. Hint: not this.
 
Blistering Barnacle said:
Ok, let's just make up pressure situations as we go along.

England must be under pressure now at 182/3 because if they lose another wicket, they will be 182/4. Jeez, what pressure that will be then. Then imagine if at 250/4 they lose another wicket to make it 250/5. Damn, then imagine the pressure for the next guy in.

You guys clearly don't know what pressure situations are. Hint: not this.
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How is that making up a pressure situation?

It is a pressure situation, why? Because you're not even halfway to the score you want to achieve, and more than half your batting is already gone.
 
Blistering Barnacle said:
No, it's not. It's a very comfortable position to walk out on.

You clearly have not watched enough test cricket.

Just stop please. You really don't know what you're talking about.
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lmao. Thats what you have to come down to :))

very comfortable....
 
One of my favourite Pak batsmen. Keeps delivering in crucnh situations batting with the tail, and yet somehow keeps getting calls from the dumb public for him to be dropped. Insane stuff. He's the best of the Pakistan youngsters along with Azhar.
 
Tbh there wasn't much pressure on in his latest innings although he played really well and at a fair clip.
 
Haroon786 said:
Tbh there wasn't much pressure on in his latest innings although he played really well and at a fair clip.
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Yeah this was a no pressure innings but it was good to see that he played at a fairly quick pace which is an aspect he needs to improve on
 
Though this last innings wasn't really a pressure innings it was very fluent, and he looked really solid at the crease.

Those cover drives off Stokes were pure class, and that back foot punch was Tendulkaresque. Also played a really nice cut, and a punch down the ground off Wood. As always, he was great against the spinners. Classy stuff.
 
Shafiq dropping a sitter at short leg in pressure situation with 6 overs to go. Could be like dropping the match, just not with the bat. :srini
 
Needs to be promoted up the order, if they want him to be ready for next year's tougher assignments
 
First time under pressure in the series, and he falters.

Can't blame him much, he was our 4th best bat after Misbah, YK and Hafeez. But tricky situations often get to him.
 
He has scored runs under pressure plenty of times. No point bumping the thread after each failure.
 
Clearly not first time under pressure and one would only claim that if they don't understand cricket.

But yes poor innings today
 
All guns blazing after one failure :facepalm:

He's come good in worse situations than these, and he's had a very good tour.
 
hussain.r97 said:
All guns blazing after one failure :facepalm:

He's come good in worse situations than these, and he's had a very good tour.
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Tour has been good, though he was unable to convert his starts but still among the ones who were able to score good runs.

No guns blazing after one failure, just one of those situations where nerves often get to him.
 
Hawkeye said:
Tour has been good, though he was unable to convert his starts but still among the ones who were able to score good runs.

No guns blazing after one failure, just one of those situations where nerves often get to him.
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You can't expect a player to perform in pressure situations every single time. Asad has already proven that he can do well under pressure various times.
 
hussain.r97 said:
You can't expect a player to perform in pressure situations every single time. Asad has already proven that he can do well under pressure various times.
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You have your opinion, and might quote a few from around 100 innings, but he often ends up doing this. I can safely say he would've scored 50 plus had he came in at 200/4.
 
Hawkeye said:
You have your opinion, and might quote a few from around 100 innings, but he often ends up doing this. I can safely say he would've scored 50 plus had he came in at 200/4.
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Every single player in the world is more prone to getting out under pressure, even the best pressure players in the world. Asad Shafiq has a fair share of match changing, or match saving (and almost match saving) knocks. He may not be a perfect player under pressure, but you can't label him a failure under pressure. A failure under pressure is someone like Shehzad and even (to a lesser extent) Hafeez.
 
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Hawkeye said:
You have your opinion, and might quote a few from around 100 innings, but he often ends up doing this. I can safely say he would've scored 50 plus had he came in at 200/4.
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Agreed. Asad usually fails under pressure.
 
Asad fail under pressure more often than not. On the other hand,he always scores when everyone is scoring
 
People are expecting way too much. Even the best players in the world falter in pressure situations more often than not.

It's when you do perform under pressure that counts. Shafiq has done it enough times to be recognized as someone who can perform when the going gets tough.
 
He cannot be termed as a failure in reassure situations .

In half such situations he fails . In half of them he succeeds.

A reason for not averaging 50 plus.
 
Some people were talking about playing asad on number 3 in the pre-match discussion. Just goes on to show the intelligence of some posters here. Shafiq is not ready for number 3 and like i said at that time as well; he cracks under pressure more often than not which he showed today yet again.
 
Poor innings today, but I'd restate that he doesn't fail under pressure anymore than he does without pressure. He simply needs to be more productive.
 
Asad Shafiq surely fails more often in these conditions and a reason of worry. The consistency is not there and post Misbah and Younis he will be expected to up his game. He has been given enough time to settle himself unlike a lot of other players so no reason to get pressurized.
 
He was bound to have a failure considering the consistency he has displayed in the series thus far and also as has been successfully argued in this thread, Shafiq has done well under pressure previously been and it's unreasonable to expect any player to succeed all the time hence the lame bump by the OP.
 
What was he doing? This guy has no game plan. Always stuck with a sr around or even below 40. The ball he got out to, displayed his whole attitude.

Sarfaraz showes him how to bat here.
 
Haroon786 said:
He was bound to have a failure considering the consistency he has displayed in the series thus far and also as has been successfully argued in this thread, Shafiq has done well under pressure previously been and it's unreasonable to expect any player to succeed all the time hence the lame bump by the OP.
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[MENTION=138463]Slog[/MENTION]
[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION]
Once again goes on to show that when the momentum is not with him he cannot do anything. On the other end misbah was just blocking and doing nothing. there were no boundaries or even any kind of strike rotation.
This made shafiq force the issue and he tried his level best to push some momentum back into the innings. There were a couple of times where he charged the spinners but to no avail as he simply does not have the ability to take it to the opposition.

What happened next? He lost his wicket due to allowing even a mediocre spinner like Patel to just bowl to him.
I can guarantee that had he been batting with sarfaraz,, he would hv scored runs.

He is simply too limited to stand up alone and make any sort of impact.
This was also apparent when he couldnt get to his hundred when batting with the tail which meant that it was down to him to fet some momentum.
 
axl100mph said:
[MENTION=138463]Slog[/MENTION]
[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION]
Once again goes on to show that when the momentum is not with him he cannot do anything. On the other end misbah was just blocking and doing nothing. there were no boundaries or even any kind of strike rotation.
This made shafiq force the issue and he tried his level best to push some momentum back into the innings. There were a couple of times where he charged the spinners but to no avail as he simply does not have the ability to take it to the opposition.

What happened next? He lost his wicket due to allowing even a mediocre spinner like Patel to just bowl to him.
I can guarantee that had he been batting with sarfaraz,, he would hv scored runs.

He is simply too limited to stand up alone and make any sort of impact.
This was also apparent when he couldnt get to his hundred when batting with the tail which meant that it was down to him to fet some momentum.
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Shafiq isn't a player of the very highest class, he hasn't displayed the ability to dominate an attack much, if at all. However, in the third innings of the last Test he made IIRC an 80 odd off 130 balls that's a SR in the 60-70 range which is healthy.

Regardless, no one here has actually said that Shafiq has the ability to dominate attacks but he certainly can perform under pressure.

So effectively just because you and the other 'posters' in this thread who were initially arguing that he can't perform under pressure, have now shifted the goalposts to Shafiq not being able to take it to the opposition.
 
Asad isn't an impact player and that's why he doesn't get the credit he deserves. But I still feel he is being wasted at 6. He is a genuine top order player and should bat at 3 or 4 smash massive hundreds.

Pakistan had a great chance of testing Asad at 3 this series, but they 'as usual' didn't take the chance and will struggle once a Misbah/YK get injured or retire.

We will never learn or maybe we're too afraid to try out stuff in a settled environment.
 
axl100mph said:
[MENTION=138463]Slog[/MENTION]
[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION]
Once again goes on to show that when the momentum is not with him he cannot do anything. On the other end misbah was just blocking and doing nothing. there were no boundaries or even any kind of strike rotation.
This made shafiq force the issue and he tried his level best to push some momentum back into the innings. There were a couple of times where he charged the spinners but to no avail as he simply does not have the ability to take it to the opposition.

What happened next? He lost his wicket due to allowing even a mediocre spinner like Patel to just bowl to him.
I can guarantee that had he been batting with sarfaraz,, he would hv scored runs.

He is simply too limited to stand up alone and make any sort of impact.
This was also apparent when he couldnt get to his hundred when batting with the tail which meant that it was down to him to fet some momentum.
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This is no groundbreaking revelation; he does not have the required dynamism to be a top class batsman and that is why he hasn't been successful in ODIs so far.
 
Mamoon said:
This is no groundbreaking revelation; he does not have the required dynamism to be a top class batsman and that is why he hasn't been successful in ODIs so far.
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precisely, then how do u expect him to score overseas where we wont hv much momentum on our side n would be behind the 8 ball, for the majority of the game?
Sarfaraz wont be effective there, so he would hv to force against the tide most of the time

Sent from my CHM-U01 using Tapatalk
 
axl100mph said:
precisely, then how do u expect him to score overseas where we wont hv much momentum on our side n would be behind the 8 ball, for the majority of the game?
Sarfaraz wont be effective there, so he would hv to force against the tide most of the time

Sent from my CHM-U01 using Tapatalk
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He will not score as many runs as he does in the UAE, but he can still score a few. We are not blessed with top quality batsmen, so I am not sure what's the point.

Matter of fact is that neither Azhar nor Shafiq are ideal; they cannot and will never be good enough to compete with the likes of Kohli, Root, Williamson, Rahane etc., but they are good enough by our standards.

Who are the alternatives? Haris Sohail? he is potentially better than both, and will play alongside these two; Umar Akmal? his game has regressed too much. Babar Azam? another player who will most likely find his way into the team alongside these two eventually.

Fawad Alam? Let's not even talk about him.
 
axl100mph said:
precisely, then how do u expect him to score overseas where we wont hv much momentum on our side n would be behind the 8 ball, for the majority of the game?
Sarfaraz wont be effective there, so he would hv to force against the tide most of the time

Sent from my CHM-U01 using Tapatalk
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The problem is, and one you fail to realize or acknowledge, is that we arent exactly blessed with better options.

An England tour (if he plays all games) for him will prbably consist of 2 fifties (maybe a century), two to three 20-40 scores and rest sub 20 scores (with a couple of scores around 5 for good measure.) He will average around mid 30s. This is the expectation I have unless he is in DREAM FORM or in really wretched form where it would go to other extreme.

But a typical series would be where he averages low to mid 30s.

Now is that good enough? No.

Do we have a wealth of other options who will certainly do better than him? Definitely No.

If you think guys like Ahmed Shehzad, Babar Azam, Harris Sohail, Malik, Fawad alam etc (latter 3 being Shafiq's potential replacements) will scores tons of runs in England you are living in a fantasy world. Shafiq is better than most of them at this moment in all conditions and most certainly is the likeliest to do well in England from this lot.
 
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Shafiq was the only one who got to a genuinely good ball today. Wasn't much he could do. He tried stepping out but it's always been difficult to get going asap on these pitches where the ball doesn't come on. I think he will do well in the second innings. He's in form and has always played spin well.
 
Slog said:
The problem is, and one you fail to realize or acknowledge, is that we arent exactly blessed with better options.

An England tour (if he plays all games) for him will prbably consist of 2 fifties (maybe a century), two to three 20-40 scores and rest sub 20 scores (with a couple of scores around 5 for good measure.) He will average around mid 30s. This is the expectation I have unless he is in DREAM FORM or in really wretched form where it would go to other extreme.

But a typical series would be where he averages low to mid 30s.

Now is that good enough? No.

Do we have a wealth of other options who will certainly do better than him? Definitely No.

If you think guys like Ahmed Shehzad, Babar Azam, Harris Sohail, Malik, Fawad alam etc (latter 3 being Shafiq's potential replacements) will scores tons of runs in England you are living in a fantasy world. Shafiq is better than most of them at this moment in all conditions and most certainly is the likeliest to do well in England from this lot.
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Babar azam is technically as if not more proficient than shafiq n to top it off can actually play shots than just block n feed off the guy at the other end.
Plus, I would back umar akmal n haris to do better than shafiq in england as tge game is played at a much faster rate over there. blockers will return u zilch.
I would still take shafiq but I will be prepared to see him to have the lowest impact amongst all batsmen.

Fawad, malik, when did I vouch for them dude. Hv some respect n dont mention me with these two ever again.


Sent from my CHM-U01 using Tapatalk
 
Mamoon said:
He will not score as many runs as he does in the UAE, but he can still score a few. We are not blessed with top quality batsmen, so I am not sure what's the point.

Matter of fact is that neither Azhar nor Shafiq are ideal; they cannot and will never be good enough to compete with the likes of Kohli, Root, Williamson, Rahane etc., but they are good enough by our standards.

Who are the alternatives? Haris Sohail? he is potentially better than both, and will play alongside these two; Umar Akmal? his game has regressed too much. Babar Azam? another player who will most likely find his way into the team alongside these two eventually.

Fawad Alam? Let's not even talk about him.
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[MENTION=138463]Slog[/MENTION] I would still take shafiq but for him to succeed, u need strokemakers at the other end n not tukk tukk kings.
This is why u need haris, babar n umar.

U might hv lost faith in umar but I havent. I still believe he can do a job especially in Test cricket where he won't have to deal with defensive fields.
I dont expect hundreds from akmal coz he probably doesnt hv the capacity for it but neither do the tukk tukks in those conditions.
A forty, fifty from umar would be more valuable than misbah's 50 of 160, where he drains all the momentum n costs a limited batsmen his wicket in a bid to break the shackles.
A guy like shafiq or azhar could feed off akmal's innings better than misbah's where the latter just abolishes the single.
Plus, in those conditions u will need an impact player in the middle order who could thrust some life into the innings as sarfaraz would be made dormant with his lack of footwork.



Sent from my CHM-U01 using Tapatalk
 
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The only player that is judged on an innings by innings basis lmao.

Scores 70+ last game.

Fails this inning.

Boom. He is a loser according to the majority of posters.
 
That was a jaffa from Broad, Asad did his job though. Pakistan in the driving seat now.
 
Pretty clueless Inns but in end could be a vital 46 runs.
 
Amjid Javed said:
Pretty clueless Inns but in end could be a vital 46 runs.
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Khuda ka maano :facepalm:

Some people are impossible to please.

It was a fairly good innings for the situation no matter how you look at it
 
He is the only bat from PAK in this test to get out twice to a good ball rather then throw his wicket away.
 
Shafiq's test today!

Must back and support his captain. Personally backing him to do well, we need it.
 
Hawkeye said:
Shafiq's test today!

Must back and support his captain. Personally backing him to do well, we need it.
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He's done it several times against New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa both home and away. So his reputation of being a man of crisis is already there.

But it would be great if he can do something here today.
 
Hasan123 said:
This thread could come back to haunt op
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It already did multiple times in the series when he made it. Was made to look quite stupid a few times when confronted with facts
 
Slog said:
It already did multiple times in the series when he made it. Was made to look quite stupid a few times when confronted with facts
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I hope the same happens today. Also if misbah can get a century that thread may need bumping
 
Slog, I respect your opinion and your admiration for him.

Shafiq is a good batsman - just needs to do a bit more when the odds are against him. When the platform is set for him, he'll come good.

It's the collapse-rebuilding that he lacks. But he can come good as he's been gaining experience in this role.
 
Hawkeye said:
Slog, I respect your opinion and your admiration for him.

Shafiq is a good batsman - just needs to do a bit more when the odds are against him. When the platform is set for him, he'll come good.

It's the collapse-rebuilding that he lacks. But he can come good as he's been gaining experience in this role.
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But that's not true
I pointed out even in our discussion last time how he has rescued is from situations of less than 150 for 4-5 wickets and gotten us to respectable scores quite a few times. And done it in South Africa and Sri Lanka and against almost all sides he's played against

Only legitimate criticism of his for me is that he tend to not dominate series and is generally good for one match then miss out on the next and then do well in the third.

At #6 don't expect players to score big runs and consistently due to the difficulty and nature of the position. Which is why even many greats of the game had records comparable to Shafiq.
 
Shafiq has all ingrediants to become Pakistan's best test bat.Need to be used well.
 
Shafiq's main problem is that he doesn't score enough runs consistently to be labeled a pressure player or a choker, although as I pointed out earlier in this thread, most of his hundreds have come in pressure situations.

He has a good average, but he doesn't have enough highs. He mostly averages 40-45 every series which one hundred which has enabled him to maintain his average, but he hasn't had a series where he has averaged 70 or 80 with 2-3 hundreds.

He is technically our best batsman and doesn't look like fish out of water when he bats against pace, but in terms of stroke play, he's a bit limited.
 
Mamoon said:
Shafiq's main problem is that he doesn't score enough runs consistently to be labeled a pressure player or a choker, although as I pointed out earlier in this thread, most of his hundreds have come in pressure situations.

He has a good average, but he doesn't have enough highs. He mostly averages 40-45 every series which one hundred which has enabled him to maintain his average, but he hasn't had a series where he has averaged 70 or 80 with 2-3 hundreds.

He is technically our best batsman and doesn't look like fish out of water when he bats against pace, but in terms of stroke play, he's a bit limited.
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Lacks impact a bit, too.

Can't take the attack back to the bowlers or take charge.

But is an overall a good Test bat - need support from other bats that's all.
 
Mamoon said:
Shafiq's main problem is that he doesn't score enough runs consistently to be labeled a pressure player or a choker, although as I pointed out earlier in this thread, most of his hundreds have come in pressure situations.

He has a good average, but he doesn't have enough highs. He mostly averages 40-45 every series which one hundred which has enabled him to maintain his average, but he hasn't had a series where he has averaged 70 or 80 with 2-3 hundreds.

He is technically our best batsman and doesn't look like fish out of water when he bats against pace, but in terms of stroke play, he's a bit limited.
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Hawkeye said:
Lacks impact a bit, too.

Can't take the attack back to the bowlers or take charge.

But is an overall a good Test bat - need support from other bats that's all.
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You guys talk about lacking big scores and series where he average 70s which is a bit ridiculous to expect from someone batting at #6

Does literally no one here understand that you are under severe limitations of scoring big at those positions?
 
Slog said:
You guys talk about lacking big scores and series where he average 70s which is a bit ridiculous to expect from someone batting at #6

Does literally no one here understand that you are under severe limitations of scoring big at those positions?
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I have defended him more on this forum than most, and I have also discussed his position in depth, but yes consistency is an issue.

He has lapses of concentration frequently due to which he often gets softly. He needs to eradicate that problem and his concentration won't magically improve if he moves up the order.

Shafiq has two main weaknesses due to which he is not a world class batsman yet: he is limited with his stroke-play and his concentration isn't great.

If he works on it, he can become a top class batsman, because he has the technique to do well on any pitch in any conditions.
 
Mamoon said:
Mixed day for Hawkeye. :misbah :shafiq
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You spoke too early. :/

Asad goes! We needed him to stay and take us to at least 350.

Not a total failure today, but still badly needed him. It's the new ball and Misbah can go any time soon.
 
OMG what a failure. Scored only a measly 73. :(
 
srh said:
the guy cannot face new ball
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Yet he's statistically the best #6 in the history of the game with Tons in SA against probably the best bowling lineup of the last decade.

He is playing absolutely beautifully
 
ahmedwaqas92 said:
Yet he's statistically the best #6 in the history of the game with Tons in SA against probably the best bowling lineup of the last decade.

He is playing absolutely beautifully
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good player against old ball but his failures against new ball are well documented
 
Unlucky dismissal. Played a poor shot but great classy innings. Hope he does as well for the rest of the tour. He is an important batsman for us.
 
srh said:
good player against old ball but his failures against new ball are well documented
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They are not wel documented

He scored centuries against SL, SA and NZ when the new ball had come :facepalm:

Smh at some people

As for the innings. He should be rightfully gutted for throwing it away
 
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