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"Azhar Ali is our best batsman, but he is going through a bad patch" : Asad Shafiq

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Asad Shafiq speaking to the press


"In the morning, early wickets fell so there was pressure on us, then we had a good partnership after that and we should have prolonged it more as such partnerships are only useful when they bring benefits to the team"

"We will need to give credit to the Sri Lanka fast bowler and spinner, as we did not expect the ball to turn on the first day of a Test in Karachi"

"In all the matches I have played here, ball has not turned on first day so you have to give credit to the spinner"

"The regret I have is that if we had made 40-50 runs more then it would have been good for the team; I was trying to take a chance when the bowler would call in the field after 4 balls in the over but unfortunately, I top-edged the ball"

"Its part of being professionalism and teams only come out of problems when they have a good approach, so all we need is a good series or some good matches to get back into the flow"

"We are working hard and its a matter of one series or one/two back to back good game before our flow improves"

"Whatever decision we had about the team make-up based on grass on the pitch was a good decision as the ball is seaming for the fast bowlers until the last over, so we played what was best combination for us"

"Whenever I play with the tail, I always check with the other batsman to see how confident he is so then I can take a single on the first or second ball; But if the batsman is not confident about playing fast bowler or left arm spinner then I try and play them myself

"This is all part of the game, situations such as this arise in cricket where suddenly 2-3 batsmen get out, your professionalism comes into play when you rebuild from that point; Yes when the tail comes in, then its difficult to score runs as the field is pushed back for the set batsman"

"I was standing a little side on (at HS decision time) - I told him that the only way you can be saved is if the ball was turning sharply but from side-on view it looks difficult"

"So he said lets take a chance because if its turning sharply it would be missing - this is what I spoke to him about"

"I always try and score more but sometimes the ball is good or you are batting with the tail, so I will try that if I am in 60-70s I convert that into 100"

Yes, it does effect the side [when we dont score as seniors] and its upto us as senior players to play long innings; We saw how Misbah and YK used to play long innings and how they used to convert the 50s into 100s"

"Azhar Ali is our best batsman and he has performed well in the past, but he is going through a bad patch and we are all supporting him and Inshallah he will come out of it [bad patch]"

"If you look at the history at NSK, its always right to bat first and in matches here teams bat first and get big totals"

"But as I said, we werent expecting turn on the first day and that the ball would seam like this to the end of the day"

"I feel that if we bowl well [tomorrow] then we can get them out before they reach our total"
 
But Shafiq you never had a good patch. Always a meaningless 40 or 50 when it never mattered. A meaningless score once per series to save your spot.

About time someone takes note.
 
He is not our best batsmen currently. He used to be our best but not anymore. He is going through the rough patch for over 2 years now. Handing him over Test captaincy was the wrong move. Poor Azhar has gotten more flak than he deserves due to Misbah's decision.
 
Jusr shows how pathetic pakistan are if our "best batsmen" is nothing more than a tailender.
 
But Shafiq you never had a good patch. Always a meaningless 40 or 50 when it never mattered. A meaningless score once per series to save your spot.

About time someone takes note.

"He's never been out of form but he's never been in form either"

- a wise man on Cricinfo
 
He was.

Not now though. Babar comfortably ahead and his own form is terrible.

Lmao when was he ever our best batsman? He has out shinned by younis or misbah and even hafeez at some points in his career.


Babar is our best batsman, and its been like that for the past 2-3 years.
 
Two things:
- maybe shafiq misspoke, but usually the senior batsman doesn’t ask the tailender about their confidence level on being able to face the bowling. They are are tail-Enders for a reason. The correct approach is that the senior batsman takes it on himself and limits the tailender from facing the strike until he has confidence. Part of the game is to frustrate/demoralize the opposition in to bowling poorly even when the tail-ender is batting. But then this approach required audacity and ambition - not shaifq’s strongest suites.
- I understand the romanticism of playing Haris; he might have upside (I have my doubts in tests away from home). But playing Azhar and Asad and taking them to England in summer will be a disaster. Have to bench one of them.
 
Oh yeah a bad patch, sure you know loads about that Shafiq, no biggy really; you can comfort Azhar with the knowledge that this is completely acceptable providing he gets a big score in at least one of his innings this year and beyond
 
He was always an average batsman , now he is past his prime , he no longer deserves a place in XI.
 
Lmao when was he ever our best batsman? He has out shinned by younis or misbah and even hafeez at some points in his career.


Babar is our best batsman, and its been like that for the past 2-3 years.

In 2014 and 2015 he was our best batsman averaging 51 and 57 respectively alongside Younus of course while in 2016 he was our best batsman averaging 63. 2014-16 was the time when Pak climbed the ladder to no1 in the test rankings table.

Yes he has been pretty poor in last couple of years and if Pakistan doesnt start winning and Azhar scores poorly again than it might be the time to hang his boots.
 
Asad needs to ease up on the brown nosing.. keep it subtle, not laughable
 
In 2014 and 2015 he was our best batsman averaging 51 and 57 respectively alongside Younus of course while in 2016 he was our best batsman averaging 63. 2014-16 was the time when Pak climbed the ladder to no1 in the test rankings table.

Yes he has been pretty poor in last couple of years and if Pakistan doesnt start winning and Azhar scores poorly again than it might be the time to hang his boots.

I’d have him resign after this test. 13 innings and no 50s. He’s not leading the team, terrible decision maker and has completely lost it. I’d have bumrah in there batting instead
 
It’s embarrassing watching Shafiq ans Azhar.

Misbah and YK gave them the perfect platform and taught them very well and when they were both on the team, at least in the case of the latter, Azhar was a top batsmen who shockingly score a triple century at one point.

After years of gr
 
All this talk of a bad spell? Hes been awful internationally and domesticslly for 2.5 years and getting worse.
 
All this talk of a bad spell? Hes been awful internationally and domesticslly for 2.5 years and getting worse.

Misbah's lying straight to our faces.
Can not even one of the journalists call him out for his lie?
 
We have some idiots in Pakistan who claim Shafiq is better than Babar and now Shafiq is saying that Azhar is our best batsman so is Azhar better than Babar now?
 
Bad patch, its been three years. Shafiq displaying his mental prowess.
 
Oh

Here we go

The 2 golden boys sticking up for each other
Both are a cancer to the future of Pakistan cricket

Need to dump both of them
They perform 1 in every 6 innings
And that 1 is usually when the game is dead
 
Shafiq played a decent knock today and in the context of this match it could be a very valuable one . Problem with him is he has never got to that next level where he is pushing his average towards 45.

It’s therefore difficult to drop him as his career averaging has been between 38-42 for the last 6-7 years .

Azhar Ali unfortunately seems to be in a endless slump . He had a very good peak and has 100s in Australia and England , but his form has completely nosedived .

Harris Sohail is off bigger concern to me. A man who along with babar was meant to be pivotal for our middle order just seems to have lost his mojo .
 
There was genuinely no logic in making Azhar captain.

Now he is in a position where he can continue to flop, but retain his position.
 
He was never our best batsman.

He had a peak period starting between 2013-2016, where he scored tons of runs. Yet, he was never our best batsman.

Most of his big scores have been impactless, just like his batting style. We struggled to win even when he scored a 300 vs WI, he is a batsman who can keep playing and playing for hours, yet will never take the game away from the opposition.

Shafiq may be slightly better than him, but he remains another soft, impactless player, who never scored a 150 in 70+ Test, and whose best innings was that 100 he scored vs Australia in a close game in 2016.
 
This guy is averaging 39 for the past 10 innings (incl. today's knock).

Unfortunately, this is considered enough by a senior middle order batsman for many Pak fans to warrant a place in the side.

This is the type of average you expect an opener to have, no wonder Pak are a lowly ranked.
 
There was genuinely no logic in making Azhar captain.

Now he is in a position where he can continue to flop, but retain his position.

It was a total blunder, not only in hindsight but in the moment as well. Misbah and PCB have only doubled down since, they're making excuses - no one has explained the decision
 
Asad Shafiq, himself, shouldn't be in the team and he's trying to justify Azhar Ali's spot...
Pakistan cricket at its best
 
He was.

Not now though. Babar comfortably ahead and his own form is terrible.
When was Azhar Ali Pakistan's best batsman?

Until May 2017 he had an inferior recent record to Younis Khan.

Since Younis and Misbah retired in May 2017, Azhar Ali averages 25.77.

So please let me know, when was Azhar Ali the best Pakistan batsman?
 
I don’t think I’ve ever known a batsman who scored a triple in a losing cause? That was the day I realized Azhar’s value at the best level. We had decades with players who were “kaam chor” so when someone like an Azhar or Shan showed up...we were willing to try it out because hey hard work does come good. Unfortunately for Azhar his peak was few years ago. It’s all downhill from here.
 
One Incompetent person praises another incompetent - nothing surprising here

Both should be phased out.
 
Don't know in what basis Azhar Ali got captaincy. And don't see Misbah taking the captaincy of him anytime soon.
 
Azhar Ali was averaging 48 when YK, Misbah retired in 2017, his avg has now taken a beating and fallen to 41.
 
Asad is a nice bloke, could of done with a couple of players like him in the 90s where everyone was stabbing everyone in the back!
 
I don’t think I’ve ever known a batsman who scored a triple in a losing cause? That was the day I realized Azhar’s value at the best level. We had decades with players who were “kaam chor” so when someone like an Azhar or Shan showed up...we were willing to try it out because hey hard work does come good. Unfortunately for Azhar his peak was few years ago. It’s all downhill from here.

Well, Pakistan won that match, so...
 
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