Haris was always going to be bad. I’m not really surprised. I thought he’d be better with the gloves than he was though. Usman has a far higher chance of doing better given he actually did dominate/was the best performer in PSLs and domestic both average and SR. Haris didn’t really impress me even in domestic. I do think Usman is more suited opening in t20s though and of course no guarantee he will perform. But a higher chance than Haris I feel. And Usman hasn’t been given a proper long run in a settled position yet.
Fakhar is a bad player in t20s, who probably would have had a better career had he batted down the order at 4 or 5 most of his career. He was wasted trying to either open or play him at no.3. However it’s probably time we move on from him.
At 3 there has been no one that’s shown to be reliable to glue this fragile line up together filled with unreliable batsmen who have a potential to strike quicker. In fact at no.3 we’ve rarely ever had good batsmen ever. Babar coming in doing a job at 3, provided he can do what he has done in the past at 3 would be an asset to the team.
However I think Babar should only play at no.3 now. Farhan actually has shown greater ability to hit boundaries even if his sr has been weighed down a bit by poor rotation of strike. I feel it actually aids the aggressive openers strategy if there is someone reliable at 3. Too many times in Asia cup, once one of the openers fall, we’d have someone unreliable like Haris etc. at 3 and they’d just run through the order.
Personally I’d like Farhan and Usman to open, Babar at 3. Don’t think it’ll happen as they’ll try and fit Saim in as opener.
