Back-up wicket-keeper for Pakistan in the World Cup squad?

[Green Patriot]

Our squad for the worldcup has been finalized but there is something bothering me.

We have only Sarfaraz as our wicket keeper who is also our captain.So in case of a misfortune,for example,like we saw in the 4th Odi versus England when Morgan had to sit out due to an overrate in the previous match.
If some thing like that happens and Sarfaraz is banned for a match or due to any other reason he has to miss out a match who will keep the wickets for us?
Abid Ali was supposed to be our backup keeper but he is no more in the squad either.
Do you think this will cause a probable crisis during the worldcup.

 

[Chokli]

Fakhar and Babar can wicket keep.

If Sarfraz gets injured (God Forbid) then they already have Abid and Rizwan in England.

 

[Green Patriot]

Fakhar and Babar can wicket keep.

If Sarfraz gets injured (God Forbid) then they already have Abid and Rizwan in England.

I have never seen Babar or Fakhar keep before?
Are there any previous records?
Because it is the worldcup and we have can't risk any x,y,z as a wicket keeper because it could potentially cost us the match.

Also can Abid and Rizwan be inducted if they are not originally part of the squad submitted to the ICC?

 

[CadPakFan]

I have never seen Babar or Fakhar keep before?
Are there any previous records?
Because it is the worldcup and we have can't risk any x,y,z as a wicket keeper because it could potentially cost us the match.

Also can Abid and Rizwan be inducted if they are not originally part of the squad submitted to the ICC?

Abid and Rizwan are both reserves so if Sarfraz is injured (God forbid) they can play

 

[mon858]

Abid and Rizwan are both reserves so if Sarfraz is injured (God forbid) they can play

No, they can only play if replace a player in original squad and technical committee approves. So this would mean sarfraz would be out of squad unless they consider replacing another player like Haris or Asif or Shoaib with Abid or Rizwan.

 

[MenInG]

Our squad for the worldcup has been finalized but there is something bothering me.

We have only Sarfaraz as our wicket keeper who is also our captain.So in case of a misfortune,for example,like we saw in the 4th Odi versus England when Morgan had to sit out due to an overrate in the previous match.
If some thing like that happens and Sarfaraz is banned for a match or due to any other reason he has to miss out a match who will keep the wickets for us?
Abid Ali was supposed to be our backup keeper but he is no more in the squad either.
Do you think this will cause a probable crisis during the worldcup.

From Inzi's press conference today

"Mohammad Rizwan, Abid Ali and Faheem Ashraf will remain in England. They'll play cricket to stay in touch with the conditions and if we feel the need for any of them as replacements then we'll have backup"

 

[The_Odd_One]

When did Sarfraz last time get injured?

 

[Green Patriot]

From Inzi's press conference today

"Mohammad Rizwan, Abid Ali and Faheem Ashraf will remain in England. They'll play cricket to stay in touch with the conditions and if we feel the need for any of them as replacements then we'll have backup"

So there is no rule regarding this by the ICC?
I mean you can include players if they are present even if they are not part of the 15 man squad?

 

[Green Patriot]

When did Sarfraz last time get injured?

He did however get banned in the last serious he played before England. But we had Rizwan then and it was not the all important worldcup.
Injury is not the only way you may have to miss a match especially when you are the captain.

 

[MenInG]

So there is no rule regarding this by the ICC?
I mean you can include players if they are present even if they are not part of the 15 man squad?

incase of injury, they can be replaced.

 

[Green Patriot]

No, they can only play if replace a player in original squad and technical committee approves. So this would mean sarfraz would be out of squad unless they consider replacing another player like Haris or Asif or Shoaib with Abid or Rizwan.

I do remember reading this somewhere.
There must be a procedure.I dont think ICC will allow any player above the original 15 to casually join unless approved and that could be a tedious procedure.

 

[Green Patriot]

incase of injury, they can be replaced.

And other issues like slow overrates etc?since he is the captain?

 

[The_Odd_One]

He did however get banned in the last serious he played before England. But we had Rizwan then and it was not the all important worldcup.
Injury is not the only way you may have to miss a match especially when you are the captain.

Selecting a second keeper batsman would have been possible in a strong squad like India and England. Pakistan does not have that luxury. There are already too many accumulators so it was hard for Rizwan to find a spot. Imam and Fakhar have been doing fine as openers so Abid could not be accomodated. Hafeez and Malik bring more value to the team due to their part-time spin, hence, I guess the management preferred them over Rizwan and Abid.

 

[Green Patriot]

Selecting a second keeper batsman would have been possible in a strong squad like India and England. Pakistan does not have that luxury. There are already too many accumulators so it was hard for Rizwan to find a spot. Imam and Fakhar have been doing fine as openers so Abid could not be accomodated. Hafeez and Malik bring more value to the team due to their part-time spin, hence, I guess the management preferred them over Rizwan and Abid.

Who could have been dropped to accomodate a wicket keeper is debatable but the point is that since they have not selected any backup for whatever reason,do they have somebody who can take up Sarfaraz's place in the squad?

Incase of any misfortune God forbid.Like i said its not a random bilateral so we can't just hand over the gloves to any x,y,z in the team.Incase of a problem,in foresight,who will take up the gloves.I dont think the team management has given that much thought unless Rizwan or Abid can walk in ,which i believe will not be that straightforward if the misfortune is not an injury but some other reason.

 

[Ami]

My understanding is someone like Rizwan will only come into contention if Sarfaraz is injured and out of the tournament?

What happens uf he is banned for a match or his injury is not serious enough to discard permanently but only for a few matches?

Anyone?

 

[Green Patriot]

My understanding is someone like Rizwan will only come into contention if Sarfaraz is injured and out of the tournament?

What happens uf he is banned for a match or his injury is not serious enough to discard permanently but only for a few matches?

Anyone?

Precisely.
For an injury,i believe a case can be made but for some other reason i dont think so.We might have to make do with whoever is in the squad and i dont see anybody appropriate enough who has practise with the gloves.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Such a poor decision to drop Abid. Bad dua na lagay bas is ki ab. He did nothing wrong!

 

[MMHS]

Replacing any player isn’t that easy. If a player has to be replaced, Medical board has to be confirmed that he can’t recover within the duration of tournament. That means, if any injured player is replaced, his WC is over.

For Sarfraz’s case, apart from an injury, he can be banned for slow over rate or decent - in that case, PAK won’t be able to call anyone from out side 15, let alone for Keeping. If a replacement WK is brought for his injury - his WC is over; PAK won’t be allowed to bring him back later sacrificing another player.

WK rule is quite complicated, for that every team has one more player in squad who can keep but makes the squad on batting merit.

 

[Syed1]

Such a poor decision to drop Abid. Bad dua na lagay bas is ki ab. He did nothing wrong!

Imagine what must be going through Abid's mind... Worked so hard to get a chance after smashing in domestics for three years. Hit a century on debut against Australia. Earn a call up for WC squad leave for England with ma ki dua and well wishes of family and friends. Then not played for any warm ups or ODIs and only reason he got a chance was because nephew was resting in the last ODI. Gets an unlucky dismissal from the one chance he got and then is promptly dropped from the squad.


Just goes to show if you are the chief selector's nephew you can fail match after match and actually cause defeats for Pak (6(20) while leaving balls in 49th over) but you will be a permanent part of the squad but a guy who reached there on merit only gets one chance to fail or succeed.


Pakistan will remain a crappy team till corrupt people like Inzi are at the helm.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Imagine what must be going through Abid's mind... Worked so hard to get a chance after smashing in domestics for three years. Hit a century on debut against Australia. Earn a call up for WC squad leave for England with ma ki dua and well wishes of family and friends. Then not played for any warm ups or ODIs and only reason he got a chance was because nephew was resting in the last ODI. Gets an unlucky dismissal from the one chance he got and then is promptly dropped from the squad.


Just goes to show if you are the chief selector's nephew you can fail match after match and actually cause defeats for Pak (6(20) while leaving balls in 49th over) but you will be a permanent part of the squad but a guy who reached there on merit only gets one chance to fail or succeed.


Pakistan will remain a crappy team till corrupt people like Inzi are at the helm.

Yep cant believe what the guy must be thinking. All this years of mehnat for nothing. And phlai mun mai khudi halwa daala aur phir nikaal lia. I really hope he doesnt get dishearted.

 

[SecularPakistanii]

Imagine what must be going through Abid's mind... Worked so hard to get a chance after smashing in domestics for three years. Hit a century on debut against Australia. Earn a call up for WC squad leave for England with ma ki dua and well wishes of family and friends. Then not played for any warm ups or ODIs and only reason he got a chance was because nephew was resting in the last ODI. Gets an unlucky dismissal from the one chance he got and then is promptly dropped from the squad.


Just goes to show if you are the chief selector's nephew you can fail match after match and actually cause defeats for Pak (6(20) while leaving balls in 49th over) but you will be a permanent part of the squad but a guy who reached there on merit only gets one chance to fail or succeed.


Pakistan will remain a crappy team till corrupt people like Inzi are at the helm.

Imam has caused so much harm to this side. His one fluke innings of 151 recently has given him many fans on PP.

He will single handedly cost Pakistan dearly in this WC with his slow and selfish batting.

I feel bad for Abid. But I do feel he needs to work on his fitness. He is on the chubbier side. If I was him, I would utilize this time and control my diet and hit the gym 5 times a week and come back fitter and stronger then ever.

 

[Syed1]

Imam has caused so much harm to this side. His one fluke innings of 151 recently has given him many fans on PP.

He will single handedly cost Pakistan dearly in this WC with his slow and selfish batting.

I feel bad for Abid. But I do feel he needs to work on his fitness. He is on the chubbier side. If I was him, I would utilize this time and control my diet and hit the gym 5 times a week and come back fitter and stronger then ever.

If he is sensible that is exactly what he would do..... but given the way he has been wronged it is very easy for him to be hopeless and completely go off the rails.

 

[Abdullah719]

Imam has caused so much harm to this side. His one fluke innings of 151 recently has given him many fans on PP.

He will single handedly cost Pakistan dearly in this WC with his slow and selfish batting.

I feel bad for Abid. But I do feel he needs to work on his fitness. He is on the chubbier side. If I was him, I would utilize this time and control my diet and hit the gym 5 times a week and come back fitter and stronger then ever.

In the immediate future, Abid is going to remain in England and play cricket there and be available to the Pakistan team as a reserve option in case he is required.

Have heard that he lost some weight recently so he seems to be on the right track.

He's a down to earth guy so I don't think this setback will hamper him much. He will have known that Fakhar and Imam were the first-choice openers for the World Cup anyway.

Nothing has actually changed for him. He was only likely to play if one of them was unavailable or injured and if that happens, he'll most likely find himself back in the squad.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

In the immediate future, Abid is going to remain in England and play cricket there and be available to the Pakistan team as a reserve option in case he is required.

Have heard that he lost some weight recently so he seems to be on the right track.

He's a down to earth guy so I don't think this setback will hamper him much. He will have known that Fakhar and Imam were the first-choice openers for the World Cup anyway.

Nothing has actually changed for him. He was only likely to play if one of them was unavailable or injured and if that happens, he'll most likely find himself back in the squad.

Inzi said Hafeez and Haris are our backup openers, something on similar lines. Plus if Imam or Fakhar had 3-4 consecutive bad games at the start of WC then it was sure that Abid would have gotten a chance but now it wont happen. Also in case something would have happened to Sarfraz (ban for a match or out for a match due to sickness/lil injury) then Abid was a sure starter.

I think his WC dreams are gone now, but i hope they do consider him incase of any injury. Even an out of form Abid brings much more to the table then Malik who is only their due to seniority.

 

[Abdullah719]

Inzi said Hafeez and Haris are our backup openers, something on similar lines. Plus if Imam or Fakhar had 3-4 consecutive bad games at the start of WC then it was sure that Abid would have gotten a chance but now it wont happen. Also in case something would have happened to Sarfraz (ban for a match or out for a match due to sickness/lil injury) then Abid was a sure starter.

I think his WC dreams are gone now, but i hope they do consider him incase of any injury. Even an out of form Abid brings much more to the table then Malik who is only their due to seniority.

Inzi said that to shut the reporters up but I don't think Hafeez will be considered for opening. Haris might, wouldn't be against that really.

I think Fakhar is too crucial in terms of his role to be dropped, while Imam has scored too heavily to be benched after a few failures.

Right on regarding Sarfaraz, this is where Malik should have been dropped as it would've given the squad more balance with a proper backup option for wicket-keeper. But the management is allergic to this option, perhaps due to potential media backlash...

 

[Hasan123]

Rizwan can be called up if Sarfraz has a serious injury. But if Sarfraz missed a game , I don't know who we would get to keep.

 

[SarfiBabarHaris]

Inzi said that to shut the reporters up but I don't think Hafeez will be considered for opening. Haris might, wouldn't be against that really.

I think Fakhar is too crucial in terms of his role to be dropped, while Imam has scored too heavily to be benched after a few failures.

Right on regarding Sarfaraz, this is where Malik should have been dropped as it would've given the squad more balance with a proper backup option for wicket-keeper. But the management is allergic to this option, perhaps due to potential media backlash...

Dont think Fakhar or Imam would have played 9-10 matches on the trot tbh.

 

[gazza619]

Malik is such a passenger.

He has effectively stolen a spot of a dynamic batsman/keeper in Rizwan or even Umar akmal

 

[Green Patriot]

Replacing any player isn’t that easy. If a player has to be replaced, Medical board has to be confirmed that he can’t recover within the duration of tournament. That means, if any injured player is replaced, his WC is over.

For Sarfraz’s case, apart from an injury, he can be banned for slow over rate or decent - in that case, PAK won’t be able to call anyone from out side 15, let alone for Keeping. If a replacement WK is brought for his injury - his WC is over; PAK won’t be allowed to bring him back later sacrificing another player.

WK rule is quite complicated, for that every team has one more player in squad who can keep but makes the squad on batting merit.

So that means we are screwed then?
And our best hope is to pray that Saifi plays each and every match.
No foresight shown by the selectors.Poor stuff.

 

[MMHS]

So that means we are screwed then?
And our best hope is to pray that Saifi plays each and every match.
No foresight shown by the selectors.Poor stuff.

For PCT, it was even more critical that they must accompany a WK-batsman within squad, because Sarfraz is the only WK-Captain in this WC.

Poor stuff indeed, and one main reason for that was to keep Sarfraz comfortable for 2 years, otherwise no reason why one of Umar or Rizwan shouldn’t be part of the plan during 2 years build up.

 

[hitthestump]

If/when Pakistan flop in this WC and Safaraz gets unceremoniously shown the door, would it be too much to ask that Abid Ali gets the gloves in LOI's? Would be nice to have a proper wicketkeeper batsmen in the side rather than specialist captain.

 

[hitthestump]

Malik is such a passenger.

He has effectively stolen a spot of a dynamic batsman/keeper in Rizwan or even Umar akmal

He'll steal a spot off an actual batsman in the starting XI too.

 

[Bewal Express]

If/when Pakistan flop in this WC and Safaraz gets unceremoniously shown the door, would it be too much to ask that Abid Ali gets the gloves in LOI's? Would be nice to have a proper wicketkeeper batsmen in the side rather than specialist captain.

Sarfraz showed yesterday that he has what it takes to be more than a competent batsman but he lacks the confidence to lead from the front. Against the teams with spinners, he needs to be in when they come on because he puts the spinners under huge pressure.

 

[Ronaldo7]

If/when Pakistan flop in this WC and Safaraz gets unceremoniously shown the door, would it be too much to ask that Abid Ali gets the gloves in LOI's? Would be nice to have a proper wicketkeeper batsmen in the side rather than specialist captain.

Can people stop talking about Abid ali????
The guy's 32+. His LO career is finished. Let him play tests not Odis.

 

[Green Patriot]

For PCT, it was even more critical that they must accompany a WK-batsman within squad, because Sarfraz is the only WK-Captain in this WC.

Poor stuff indeed, and one main reason for that was to keep Sarfraz comfortable for 2 years, otherwise no reason why one of Umar or Rizwan shouldn’t be part of the plan during 2 years build up.

But Rizwan was part of the plans since quite a while now and he was part of tours although never really played much games and when he did play and perform he was dropped,to accomodate 'experienced players' who are the 'backbone' of our middle order.

And now Abid Ali has been dropped so we dont have anybody who can take up the gloves in case of an urgent need.

 

[Bilal Ahmad15]

Mohammad Rizwan was the perfect choice (he was performing in Pakistan A side and was performing in the ODI series against Australia), but for some stupid reason, he didn't even get selected.

 

[MenInG]

PCB have told us that Babar Azam will act as back up wicket keeper for Pakistan during the World Cup

 

[Green Patriot]

Any stats for Babar's wicket keeping guys?
Or are we going to have to trust the Akmal genes behind the wicket?

 

[Justcrazy]

Shoaib Malik can be part time keeper.

 

[The Viper]

Didn’t know Babar could keep. Hopefully Sarfaraz doesn’t get injured.