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Can Hasan Nawaz become Pakistan's greatest middle-order batter?

Aqib_mustafa

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Hasan Nawaz produced a remarkable performance on his One-Day International (ODI) debut, guiding Pakistan to victory in a tense run chase against the West Indies on August 8 in Trinidad. Chasing 281, the young batter struck an unbeaten 63 from just 54 balls, steering his side to a five-wicket win with seven balls to spare.

His match-winning knock came in partnership with Hussain Talat, as the duo stitched together an unbroken 104-run stand for the sixth wicket to take Pakistan 1-0 up in the three-match series. Nawaz’s efforts earned him the Player of the Match award, making him only the fourth Pakistani since 2000 to win the honour on ODI debut.

Pakistan players to win POTM on ODI debut (since 2000):

  • Hasan Nawaz vs West Indies, 2025
  • Imam-ul-Haq vs Sri Lanka, 2017
  • Anwar Ali vs South Africa, 2013
  • Nasir Jamshed vs Zimbabwe, 2008

Before his ODI heroics, Nawaz had already impressed in T20 Internationals this year, scoring 339 runs in 14 matches, including a century and a fifty. Pakistan, having clinched the T20I series 2-1 against the West Indies, now stands just one win away from sealing the ODI series in Trinidad on August 10.

Given this dream start and his growing track record in white-ball cricket, could Hasan Nawaz go on to become Pakistan’s greatest middle-order batter in the future?
 
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He's played only one match. I remember when Shoaib Maqsood came he burst onto the scene too. Just chill and see where his career goes.
 
Nawaz himself will laugh at this thread if he's able to read.
 
Greatest? Too early to say that. He is new to the scene. His biggest test would probably be ICC events. That's where performance matters.

As of now, he is doing very well. He is one of the top 3 Pakistani batters currently.
 
Hasan Nawaz produced a remarkable performance on his One-Day International (ODI) debut, guiding Pakistan to victory in a tense run chase against the West Indies on August 8 in Trinidad. Chasing 281, the young batter struck an unbeaten 63 from just 54 balls, steering his side to a five-wicket win with seven balls to spare.

His match-winning knock came in partnership with Hussain Talat, as the duo stitched together an unbroken 104-run stand for the sixth wicket to take Pakistan 1-0 up in the three-match series. Nawaz’s efforts earned him the Player of the Match award, making him only the fourth Pakistani since 2000 to win the honour on ODI debut.

Pakistan players to win POTM on ODI debut (since 2000):

  • Hasan Nawaz vs West Indies, 2025
  • Imam-ul-Haq vs Sri Lanka, 2017
  • Anwar Ali vs South Africa, 2013
  • Nasir Jamshed vs Zimbabwe, 2008

Before his ODI heroics, Nawaz had already impressed in T20 Internationals this year, scoring 339 runs in 14 matches, including a century and a fifty. Pakistan, having clinched the T20I series 2-1 against the West Indies, now stands just one win away from sealing the ODI series in Trinidad on August 10.

Given this dream start and his growing track record in white-ball cricket, could Hasan Nawaz go on to become Pakistan’s greatest middle-order batter in the future?
Hold your horses.
 
Premature celebration

Indeed, he has immense potential, but judge the guy after he has played at least 20-25 games
 
The jury is still out.

What he is undoubtedly is though, is a rare Pakistan middle order batting success story where the player has actual hitting ability.
 
Hyperbole.
he'll have to do it for a period of 15 years to achieve that. considering our greatest middle order batters are Inzi and Miandad.
 
Check what happened to other 3 greatest match winners in your post and you can find your answer. 1 odi. Come on. Please. Just wait. There should be some kind of ban on hyping our players after 1 innings, 1 psl, 1 man of match, etc. Remember haider ali knock in England t20.
 
Also don't forget when target was still steep like around 20 off 12 or something he gave a dolly catch to third man dropped. Maybe he would have been caught and we didnt cross the line. Then people would make thread greatest choke, etc. So 1 innings means nothing, unless its something helping win world title like inzy 92 world cup knocks or level of razzaq singlehandedly taking over top knock team south Africa bowling, or even once in while afridi performances.
 
lol after 1 ODI match... lets at least wait a few years to see how he fares before rushing to make such a ridiculous thread.
 
Hopefully.

Problem with most batsmen is they get worked out after they play a year or so. It’s much easier to survive in international cricket before you’ve had your technique analysed in international cricket with all the video recordings.
 
Hasan Nawaz produced a remarkable performance on his One-Day International (ODI) debut, guiding Pakistan to victory in a tense run chase against the West Indies on August 8 in Trinidad. Chasing 281, the young batter struck an unbeaten 63 from just 54 balls, steering his side to a five-wicket win with seven balls to spare.

His match-winning knock came in partnership with Hussain Talat, as the duo stitched together an unbroken 104-run stand for the sixth wicket to take Pakistan 1-0 up in the three-match series. Nawaz’s efforts earned him the Player of the Match award, making him only the fourth Pakistani since 2000 to win the honour on ODI debut.

Pakistan players to win POTM on ODI debut (since 2000):

  • Hasan Nawaz vs West Indies, 2025
  • Imam-ul-Haq vs Sri Lanka, 2017
  • Anwar Ali vs South Africa, 2013
  • Nasir Jamshed vs Zimbabwe, 2008

Before his ODI heroics, Nawaz had already impressed in T20 Internationals this year, scoring 339 runs in 14 matches, including a century and a fifty. Pakistan, having clinched the T20I series 2-1 against the West Indies, now stands just one win away from sealing the ODI series in Trinidad on August 10.

Given this dream start and his growing track record in white-ball cricket, could Hasan Nawaz go on to become Pakistan’s greatest middle-order batter in the future?
Yes he will score 500 centuries and overtake Babar as Pakistan's GOAT. Sit down man it was one game.
 
Greatest? Too early to say that. He is new to the scene. His biggest test would probably be ICC events. That's where performance matters.

As of now, he is doing very well. He is one of the top 3 Pakistani batters currently.

What I like about Hassan Nawaz is he is a proper cricket batter. He is not a funky T20 hack.

So, yeah. I think he has great potential. Anyway, early days for him. Let's see how he develops.
 
Do not start jumping like a bean on a hot plate yet.

Let him play against stronger teams and then we will see.
 
Based on his debut performance? Fir bolte hai tum troll karte ho .

Ek innings ke base pe asi thread 🤣🤣🤣🤣😆😆😆

:kp
 
Based on his debut performance? Fir bolte hai tum troll karte ho .

Ek innings ke base pe asi thread 🤣🤣🤣🤣😆😆😆

:kp
Exactly. I mean let the poor guy even play a little

I also see him as more like a limited overs specialist.
 
9 off 13 for Nawaz. AFG bowlers are giving tough time to Pakistan in this match.
 
15 off 8 for Nawaz as he collapses as well. Afg bowlers doing pretty well.
 
When he plays he looks good . Today he basically just was trying to give away his wicket . Needs to sort his head . Looked solid on crease . Then lost it completely after one six
 
The honeymoon period of this tullaybaaz will be over soon and he too will bite the dust until he learns to value his wicket.

He was pathetic today and was trying to throw his wicket away every ball.
 
Yea.. if you give 3 or 4 lives each game. He has the physical attributes. But he is no Martin Guptill. Probably 15% of him.
 
This is perfect t20 cricket. You keep hitting one six after another. That’s how modern T20 cricket is played. We are told modern par score is 200 and that’s how you achieve it.
 
He is a good player but he needs to understand that cricket is not only about slogging... u have to build ur inning on tricky tracks with patience. with such team we cant win Asia Cup for sure.
 
No

Has some ability / skill but

Intent without intelligence or planning will not work most of the time. Lacks game awareness and mental resilience to succeed at the highest level.
 
Greatest? Not yet


He has ability & power but needs fine tuning. He needs to improve against pace & as well as more strike rotation.

He could be an amazing solution in the middle order in white ball sides but needs to be persisted with as his growth can reach promising levels.

But now, Mike Hesson needs to be given time & patience to progressive Hasan Nawaz’s career.
 
Has potential but needs to work on his shot selection

Has a tendency to get carried away after hitting a six. Needs to realise that aerial shots are inherently risky. Must learn to hit the ball into gaps as well. Strike rotation is equally important
 
Pushed to no.6 now. Despite starting off as a top order batsmen with a poor record so far at anything below 4. It’s not right, he performs and this is what he gets as a result in order to accommodate other players around the line up. He was our best t20 batsmen and now he’s been shunted down to 6.

He shouldn’t have been moved from 4. You should shuffle the rest around him instead.
 
Pushed to no.6 now. Despite starting off as a top order batsmen with a poor record so far at anything below 4. It’s not right, he performs and this is what he gets as a result in order to accommodate other players around the line up. He was our best t20 batsmen and now he’s been shunted down to 6.

He shouldn’t have been moved from 4. You should shuffle the rest around him instead.
Where would specialist captain Salman play then?
 
Pushed to no.6 now. Despite starting off as a top order batsmen with a poor record so far at anything below 4. It’s not right, he performs and this is what he gets as a result in order to accommodate other players around the line up. He was our best t20 batsmen and now he’s been shunted down to 6.

He shouldn’t have been moved from 4. You should shuffle the rest around him instead.
Yep. He is in form. By shoving him down. You'll ruin his form
 
To accommodate Haris at no. 3, we are forcing other batsmen, including Fakhar Zaman and Hassan Nawaz, to bat out of position. Hassan Nawaz needs to come before Salman Agha and should bat at 4 or 5. Fakhar Zaman, who batted with a SR of 143 and is one of our main batsmen, faced just 16 balls today. Your best batsmen should play the maximum number of deliveries. Shows there is no clear plan or strategy.
 
To accommodate Haris at no. 3, we are forcing other batsmen, including Fakhar Zaman and Hassan Nawaz, to bat out of position. Hassan Nawaz needs to come before Salman Agha and should bat at 4 or 5. Fakhar Zaman, who batted with a SR of 143 and is one of our main batsmen, faced just 16 balls today. Your best batsmen should play the maximum number of deliveries. Shows there is no clear plan or strategy.
Drop farhan...play fakhar opener and bring in haris rauf........
 
To accommodate Haris at no. 3, we are forcing other batsmen, including Fakhar Zaman and Hassan Nawaz, to bat out of position. Hassan Nawaz needs to come before Salman Agha and should bat at 4 or 5. Fakhar Zaman, who batted with a SR of 143 and is one of our main batsmen, faced just 16 balls today. Your best batsmen should play the maximum number of deliveries. Shows there is no clear plan or strategy.
Don’t have an issue as much with Haris batting at 3 that was originally his position and what he’s been performing in psl and domestic at. He at least has long term future. Obviously it’s not worth it if it results in Hasan going down the order. But then again, no.3 is the position where he actually was supposed to have long term potential at.

It’s fakhar and Agha being the problems. Fakhar is 35 and has failed so many games, especially at no.3. He has been repeatedly put into the team despite non performance due to ODI exploits and PSL performance. However there comes a limit, when you are 35 you aren’t for the long term anymore, there’s a point where you stop trying out to find the best position for someone. Fakhar has now been given his probably best position 4 which he should have been playing ages ago at the expense of other batsmen in Hasan who are more long term.

Agha is also playing at a position higher than Nawaz not because he suits it better than Nawaz but because it is more beneficial for him to bat higher as he lacks power game. Thus Nawaz is being thrust down the order.

I have no problem players compromising on positions if you have to play your best batsmen with the most potential at their positions. But that isn’t the case with both Agha and fakhar who are playing in positions Hasan would prefer to play in despite both having worse performance and less long term future.
 
He has great techniques. Not funky like many modern day hacks.

He is someone who can play all 3 formats. If he can play for 10-15 years, I expect him to break many records.
 
Neither Fakhar nor Salman Ali Agha are going to be your long term options. Fakhar is probably the brilliant ball striker from Pakistan in the last 10 years or so. At his peak he is far better than any one current set up. But that is mostly in ODIs where he takes a bit of time. In T20 he loses his shape trying to over-hit. Salman Ali Agha is just a specialist captain for you guys. They should send him at no.6 just in case if they collapse. Pakistan lacks 20 run over batsmen. That is an indication of consistent non stop hitting.

From the current lot 20 runs in an over in T20 intenrationals by a pakistan batsmen

Fakhar 3 times ( vs UAE 22 runs, vs England 21 runs, vs NZ 21 runs) THat is pretty much it. Nobody else has a 20 run over

Maximum runs in an over by current set up


Mohammad Nawaz 19 runs (twice)
Salman Ali Agha 19 runs (once) then 15
Faheem Ashraf 14 runs
Sahibzada Farhan 16 runs then 13
Mohammad Haris 16 runs

For the record
Babar has 25 runs in one over against Ireland (probably to challenge Basit Ali's comment about him hitting 3 straight sixes) then 17
Rizwan has 24 runs in one over against Namibian 20 against Zimbabwe.
 
Whether he becomes the next (50% of) Inzi or the next Sohaib Maqsood (who was also billed as the next big thing only to fizzle out after a few games), only time will tell.

Too few games, and not many against the top sides to judge him yet.
 
Whether he becomes the next (50% of) Inzi or the next Sohaib Maqsood (who was also billed as the next big thing only to fizzle out after a few games), only time will tell.

Too few games, and not many against the top sides to judge him yet.
His ODI innings where he made like 15 runs in 40 balls suggests he is not even Razzaq level let alone Inzi level.
 
Don’t have an issue as much with Haris batting at 3 that was originally his position and what he’s been performing in psl and domestic at. He at least has long term future. Obviously it’s not worth it if it results in Hasan going down the order. But then again, no.3 is the position where he actually was supposed to have long term potential at.

It’s fakhar and Agha being the problems. Fakhar is 35 and has failed so many games, especially at no.3. He has been repeatedly put into the team despite non performance due to ODI exploits and PSL performance. However there comes a limit, when you are 35 you aren’t for the long term anymore, there’s a point where you stop trying out to find the best position for someone. Fakhar has now been given his probably best position 4 which he should have been playing ages ago at the expense of other batsmen in Hasan who are more long term.

Agha is also playing at a position higher than Nawaz not because he suits it better than Nawaz but because it is more beneficial for him to bat higher as he lacks power game. Thus Nawaz is being thrust down the order.

I have no problem players compromising on positions if you have to play your best batsmen with the most potential at their positions. But that isn’t the case with both Agha and fakhar who are playing in positions Hasan would prefer to play in despite both having worse performance and less long term future.
I think Fakhar would be better off opening in T20Is, where he could make good use of the fielding restrictions (just like he does in ODIs, for instance, his innings against NZ during the 2023 WC). He likes pace on the ball and can score with a significantly higher strike rate as an opener than when batting at number 4 or 5 (where he's wasted) when slow bowlers are usually operating during the middle phase of the game. Opening will allow him to play with the intent and aggression needed to provide explosive starts.

I am not convinced that Farhan has the technique or temperament to survive against quality bowling attacks. We need to see how he performs against stronger teams in the Asia Cup.
 
We adjusted Haris's number, but we forgot that there are other players as well who might suffer, and Nawaz is one of them... Either he comes ahead of Salman or we might see him scoring similar kind of scores now... He has not scored much. He got 16 balls and that should have been enough for a batter like him to do well.. But anyway.
 
We adjusted Haris's number, but we forgot that there are other players as well who might suffer, and Nawaz is one of them... Either he comes ahead of Salman or we might see him scoring similar kind of scores now... He has not scored much. He got 16 balls and that should have been enough for a batter like him to do well.. But anyway.
In the context of the game, Nawaz had enough time to set himself up and go big at the end. It was a poor innings and we should stop making excuses for it.
 
Selfless Agha has to come in the order after Hassan Nawaz.
I think the current batting order is pretty reasonable with Agha at number 4 and Hasan at 5. If there are 6-7 overs remaining in the innings then Hasan can definitely come ahead of Agha but not when there are more than 10 overs remaining in the innings.
 
I think the current batting order is pretty reasonable with Agha at number 4 and Hasan at 5. If there are 6-7 overs remaining in the innings then Hasan can definitely come ahead of Agha but not when there are more than 10 overs remaining in the innings.
That was the current order till the tri-series. That worked for me.

Starting with Asia Cup, if Haris stays at 3 then Hassan drops to 6 unless Agha comes in after him.

Hassan is an opener to begin with and has been recognised as Pak’s best batting prospect. Asking him to come in at no. 6 in t20s to accommodate Haris would be a misstep imo.
 
That was the current order till the tri-series. That worked for me.

Starting with Asia Cup, if Haris stays at 3 then Hassan drops to 6 unless Agha comes in after him.

Hassan is an opener to begin with and has been recognised as Pak’s best batting prospect. Asking him to come in at no. 6 in t20s to accommodate Haris would be a misstep imo.
I don't think Haris will bat at number 3 permanently. Pakistan gave him a chance to play a good innings where he can build some confidence going forward. I think Pakistan will stick with Saim, Farhan and Fakhar in the top 3. Number 4 is too low for Fakhar.
 
He never looked like he could be consistent. He really doesn't have the technique for various conditions even if his mindset is what we wanted.
 
Just give the ball a little flight and he’s toast. Absolutely no brain cells. A proper tape ball tulla.

Having said, he should stay in the team because you don’t have options. It’s him or 50 year old Iftikhar.
 
Lol at the wrist slitting fans. Lets bring back Asif Ali and Khusdil Shah then.
 
He is an opener. PCT is trying to fit him as a middle-order spin basher. That can sortof work against minnows but ll fail dramatically against better teams like India.
 
Just give the ball a little flight and he’s toast. Absolutely no brain cells. A proper tape ball tulla.

Having said, he should stay in the team because you don’t have options. It’s him or 50 year old Iftikhar.
Those tullas don't gonna work...why not fill the team with proper batsmen like babar azam, saud shakeel in these type of condition..at least they will not waste balls like them....tommorow it feels like one way traffic...
 
At what number should Hasan play vs India tomorrow?

I think Pakistan appear to be gradually moving Hasan Nawaz down the batting order. Once trusted as an opener, he was shifted to number four, and now he finds himself coming in at five or six. Despite entering the Asia Cup with the reputation of being the most promising batter in the squad, he is increasingly being pushed into the lower order.

Although his arrival at the crease still tends to be around the tenth over, this is a player who has already scored two T20 centuries this year and marked his ODI debut with a match-winning half-century. To fully unlock his potential, he requires more time at the wicket to shape the innings.

In recent games, however, his batting has often begun during periods of crisis, leaving him with little choice but to adapt to situations that do not suit his natural style of play.
 
Disgusting decision today to drop Hassan Nawaz.

He has performed for you this whole year. He has been your face of modern day Cricket.

At the end you have dropped him on the back of just 3 failures that too on no. 6 in Asia Cup. Sending a message to players again that it's better to play for your positions than to play for the team and take risks.

Hassan Nawaz has been rewarded today for trying to change the face of Pakistan batting towards a modern approach.
 
He has been classified as a "generational talent" by many cricket experts but he has been dropped from this big game and we brought in Hussain Talat, not sure about this change.
 
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