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"I want to be recognised and accepted as Imam-ul-Haq first and then Inzamam's nephew after that"

So [MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] imam should play for two years to be judged properly. We have judged him he is good for nothing .
 
Just stop throwing anyone who performs well with white ball to test cricket. He is not ready for test cricket.
 
DRsohail said:
So [MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] imam should play for two years to be judged properly. We have judged him he is good for nothing .
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And drop him by all means, but you should also note that is not going to make any difference to our performances. In fact, I have personally reached a stage where I do not bother myself with who should be selected and who should be dropped. It is clear to me that there is no possible playing XI in the country that can help Pakistan become one of the leading teams. The quality is simply not there.
 
Mamoon said:
Instead of calling me a hypocrite in every post, please try to understand my point. Imam has played what, 20 games only for Pakistan so far? And out of these 20 games, probably less than half of these games have been against top flight opposition. Yes he has not played a single notable innings against any of these teams yet, but it is far too early to criticise him especially when we are not loaded with great batting talent.

After a couple of years and with a decent sample size, if he continues to fail against the top teams, I will be the first one to criticise him. However, people have simply been too quick to criticise because of the Inzamam factor.

Now let me clarify my stance on Hafeez. He is not a great batsman by any means, but ever since he has become a regular in 2010 after his formative years, he has mostly made the team on merit. For all his inconsistencies, he is usually among the top performers. In fact, prior to this series, he has averaged 50 at a SR of 60 in UAE as an opener with tons against England, Australia and New Zealand. Are you telling me that someone like him does not make a mediocre team like Pakistan on merit?

Of all the openers we have tried in the last decade, he has been better than all minus Fakhar. The problem is that people judge his batting by comparing him to the players in other teams, and yes he was never close to the league of the top batsmen, but they are not his competition; his competition is (or was) the likes of Shehzad, Farhat, Masood, Jamshed, Manzoor, Butt, Awais Zia, Rafatullah etc. and he has been better than all of them.

It is a myth that he did not make the team purely on batting merit. He was simply an easy scapegoat because people expected him to develop into a top quality batsman after playing for so many years. However, he was never of that caliber but that did not had to do with his selection because he was still better than most of his competitors, if not all.
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20 games is a decent enough sample size, provided you just don't see the talent there at all. You do the same with Faheem Ashraf when you call him a nothing cricketer based on a handful of games, but yet you support Imam? Sorry, but Imam can be replaced. Whether the replacement will be good enough we don't know, but Abid Ali has toiled hard in domestic cricket for years and has scored three centuries against NZ A and England Lions recently. He might not make us a better team, but he hasn't been tried yet and he could have been a gamble. The thing with Imam is that he is too inexperienced even at FC level, and we expect him to boss international level bowling attacks. That's just not going to happen. He doesn't have the talent of Babar and neither does he have the right mindset, evident by his outburst on Cricinfo where he threw his toys out of the pram for being criticized as Inzi's nephew. This is a nepotistic selection, whether you would like to admit it or not.

I despair for this team which has an opening batsman prone to using his helmet more than his bat, when he is out there facing the quicks.

Regarding Hafeez, my point was more about how quickly it unravelled for him recently after you once again tried to stand out from the crowd and supported his selection. If Hafeez was as good as you say he is, he wouldn't have considered himself rubbish and announced retirement right in the middle of a decider Test match.
 
Khanusman1 said:
I don’t know why people are saying to drop imam. I know he had a bad series but he’s one of the best openers in Asia. Currently I would rate Rohit > Imam > Shikar > Fakhar > Tamim. I am sure he will light up the stadium on fire in the SA tour.
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Not sure about stadium but he will light up his helmet for sure.
 
You will always be remembered as the undeserving Bhatija who was selected by his chacha.

Just like Faisal Iqbal is always remembered as bhanja.
 
MenInG said:
Time running out for Imam.
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He will fail as expected here in SA, but as we have no test cricket for a while after he will be retained in side till we play tests again. Free pass in selection currently for him.
 
The lad is struggling, his confidence is low and at the moment he looks all at sea.

The best thing would have been to rest him/drop him, instead of feeding him to the likes of Steyn and Rabada.
 
Saj said:
The lad is struggling, his confidence is low and at the moment he looks all at sea.

The best thing would have been to rest him/drop him, instead of feeding him to the likes of Steyn and Rabada.
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His uncle also needs to realize that, Inzi is taking Pakistan national team as his fun for family team .
 
Saj said:
The lad is struggling, his confidence is low and at the moment he looks all at sea.

The best thing would have been to rest him/drop him, instead of feeding him to the likes of Steyn and Rabada.
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He should have not been selected in the first place. He did not set the first class cricket on fire so why did we expect any thing special in international cricket. He averages 35 in first class cricket so his average was always going to drop by 10 to 25 and that is what he averages if you exclude Ireland Match.

He should have scored some runs at domestic cricket with healthy average of 45 above before getting selected ATLEAST but ofcourse he deserve special treatment being related to chief selector.
 
Saj said:
The lad is struggling, his confidence is low and at the moment he looks all at sea.

The best thing would have been to rest him/drop him, instead of feeding him to the likes of Steyn and Rabada.
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Sensible plan of approach instead of the usual chest-beating by some about being Inzi's nephew etc
 
aukhan said:
You will always be remembered as the undeserving Bhatija who was selected by his chacha.

Just like Faisal Iqbal is always remembered as bhanja.
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what is the difference between Bhatija and Bhanja?
 
Imam is struggling at the moment. It is better to drop him, you don't want to further dent his confidence. I still remember how Nasir Jamshed's career took a nose dive after the SA series.
 
He should only play ODIs now. He should go back to first class ,work hard ,score runs then come back.
 
A few apologies may be in order now for Imam.
 
Imam plays his best when the team is under pressure. That is a hallmark of a great player. All of his best innings have come under immense pressure and that tells you how mentally strong this guy is. Add to the fact that he is continuously fighting the "Inzamam baggage", he is top drawer. One of the rare confident breeds that Pakistan has produced. He may not be the most technically gifted player out there but he makes up for it in attitude.

His 70+ against Ireland when Pakistan were 14/3 chasing 160 odd was a gem of a knock. People will underrate his knock by saying that it only came against Ireland but will conveniently forget that "veterans" Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq fell or single digits in the 2nd innings and didn't help Pakistan at all in winning the match. What a shameful defeat that would've been to Test debutants had Imam not held his fort.

Similarly, 80+ against Afghanistan and Bangladesh in the Asia Cup were great innings too under pressure. He is one of the few who I have seen in Pakistan colors who enjoys the challenge of chasing and by his performances he has proved that he is a big player in the 2nd innings.

Sure he's not your Saeed Anwar but he doesn't need to be. At this point, his competition is Masood, Fakhar, Abid, Sami, Shehzad and he's doing very well. Needs to be persisted with and given a long rope. His Inzamam baggage will continue to haunt him no matter what he does so its imperative that he blocks out all the brouhaha about it. He can't choose his relatives.

The challenge for Imam is to now transfer his excellent 2nd innings efforts into 1st innings efforts. I remember when he was making his debut, I wrote on the Ireland Pakistan Test match thread that I would relieve Sarfraz of the captaincy and give it to Imam instantly. I still maintain that thought because he's the only one who reads match situations and has a good match awareness. It would be a gamble but worth taking. People here would laugh their heads off at the idea but Imam is mentally very tough and would handle captaincy well. A couple of centuries in tough conditions would solidify my thought of him being the captain.
 
To all the blood boilers, what is up?

We jump to conclusions in no time. The lad has been impressive overall since his debut, give him some time.
 
super hitter said:
To all the blood boilers, what is up?

We jump to conclusions in no time. The lad has been impressive overall since his debut, give him some time.
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It’s just that we Pakistani fans are spoilt given the high batting standards and expectations we have had over the last 15 years, as we are used to such accomplished Pakistani openers like Hafeez who scored ton after double ton after triple ton, all around the world... and we expect any new Imam and Fakhar to come and do the same from day 1, but you have to understand that batsmen like Bradman, Hafeez or Sobers are not born every day.
 
Majid Khan said:
It’s just that we Pakistani fans are spoilt given the high batting standards and expectations we have had over the last 15 years, as we are used to such accomplished Pakistani openers like Hafeez who scored ton after double ton after triple ton, all around the world... and we expect any new Imam and Fakhar to come and do the same from day 1, but you have to understand that batsmen like Bradman, Hafeez or Sobers are not born every day.
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So true.

Hafeez on this track would have probably scored a century in both innings :)
 
shariqnoor said:
Imam plays his best when the team is under pressure. That is a hallmark of a great player. All of his best innings have come under immense pressure and that tells you how mentally strong this guy is. Add to the fact that he is continuously fighting the "Inzamam baggage", he is top drawer. One of the rare confident breeds that Pakistan has produced. He may not be the most technically gifted player out there but he makes up for it in attitude.

His 70+ against Ireland when Pakistan were 14/3 chasing 160 odd was a gem of a knock. People will underrate his knock by saying that it only came against Ireland but will conveniently forget that "veterans" Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq fell or single digits in the 2nd innings and didn't help Pakistan at all in winning the match. What a shameful defeat that would've been to Test debutants had Imam not held his fort.

Similarly, 80+ against Afghanistan and Bangladesh in the Asia Cup were great innings too under pressure. He is one of the few who I have seen in Pakistan colors who enjoys the challenge of chasing and by his performances he has proved that he is a big player in the 2nd innings.

Sure he's not your Saeed Anwar but he doesn't need to be. At this point, his competition is Masood, Fakhar, Abid, Sami, Shehzad and he's doing very well. Needs to be persisted with and given a long rope. His Inzamam baggage will continue to haunt him no matter what he does so its imperative that he blocks out all the brouhaha about it. He can't choose his relatives.

The challenge for Imam is to now transfer his excellent 2nd innings efforts into 1st innings efforts. I remember when he was making his debut, I wrote on the Ireland Pakistan Test match thread that I would relieve Sarfraz of the captaincy and give it to Imam instantly. I still maintain that thought because he's the only one who reads match situations and has a good match awareness. It would be a gamble but worth taking. People here would laugh their heads off at the idea but Imam is mentally very tough and would handle captaincy well. A couple of centuries in tough conditions would solidify my thought of him being the captain.
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The problem with this high praise and captaincy shouts is that Imam has four FC centuries after 43 matches, including four Tests on the flattest wickets in the world in the UAE. That suggests he has an issue in concentrating for long periods. Today he plays beautifully for 57 but when the team needed him to go on and make a hundred he gets out.
 
Good knock. I've been backing the guy think he deserves a bit more of a run to prove himself rather than being dropped so soon, as someone else pointed out will do more harm than good as far as his confidence is concerned. I've a feeling he will defo come good for us, needs to be persisted with for sure. And not just because of this knock. I think he's been unfairly criticised by many, the inzi family thing being the main reasons
 
Saj said:
So true.

Hafeez on this track would have probably scored a century in both innings :)
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Indeed :)

And Saleem Elahi from the 90s is the only other Pakistani opener that could achieve the same in these conditions , I mean what a fine player of fast bowling he was back in the day ...I can recall a memorable duel between Donald and Elahi many years ago, very reminiscent of the Hafeez v Steyn duels in the 2010s.
 
That's been the issue of Imam. Just like Asad he scores on cute 40 or fifty and does nothing in the next few games.

Credit to him for doing well this time and let's hope he continues this way.
 
Markhor said:
The problem with this high praise and captaincy shouts is that Imam has four FC centuries after 43 matches, including four Tests on the flattest wickets in the world in the UAE. That suggests he has an issue in concentrating for long periods. Today he plays beautifully for 57 but when the team needed him to go on and make a hundred he gets out.
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That's indeed a valid concern but that is something that can be worked upon. This is where the management needs to elevate him to the next level. The potential is there - what are our coaches and management doing?

Yes, he should've gone and made a century but to be fair to him at least he didn't throw his wicket away by getting dismissed like Fakhar. Misjudged the bounce and the pace. Happens to a lot of the batsman but as long as he learns from it and comes back better, it's excusable. What's not excusable is the way Fakhar threw his wicket away or Asad in the 1st innings who in my recollection has gotten out either bowled or LBW to an in dipper at least 20 times in his career but never learns.
 
Majid Khan said:
It’s just that we Pakistani fans are spoilt given the high batting standards and expectations we have had over the last 15 years, as we are used to such accomplished Pakistani openers like Hafeez who scored ton after double ton after triple ton, all around the world... and we expect any new Imam and Fakhar to come and do the same from day 1, but you have to understand that batsmen like Bradman, Hafeez or Sobers are not born every day.
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POTW.

Hafeez has been very selfless in this regard. Had a great opportunity to teach Steyn and co. a lesson, like he usually does, but instead opted to leave his slot for youngsters in the team when the South Africa series was just weeks away.
 
Time to repeat myself again.

(a) he may have benefited from nepotism, but he is good enough for this rubbish team

(b) he is here to stay and people should make peace with it.
 
He got a bit lucky early on but he played some beautiful shots once settled. He deserves at least a few more chances now.
 
This cycle will keep repeating, he will score a 50 then go missing for the next 3-4 innings.

PP posters will praise him for the 50 but then throw alot of dirt on his name for the innings he doesn’t perform.
 
Let’s be honest his initial selection was due to him being Inzis nephew. Once I saw him play tests I always thought he would come good in tests. But he was in some awful form before this knock today. I thought a spell out of the side would have done him some good. But he showed character and came back. He deserves credit, hopefully he can be more consistent now. Convinced he will come good in tests.

But please keep him away from LO cricket.
 
iPakistani said:
This cycle will keep repeating, he will score a 50 then go missing for the next 3-4 innings.

PP posters will praise him for the 50 but then throw alot of dirt on his name for the innings he doesn’t perform.
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Hope he doesn't become an Asad Shafiq type of player by doing this.
 
I will never understand the hate people have for Imam. Dude looks solid every time he goes to bat and has played a number of pressure knocks early in his career already. Yes there are always bones to pick about what more he could have done in a number of situations but I see in him definite quality that Pakistan cricket will benefit heavily from. He keeps a calm and cool head and rarely gives it away. He is just finding his legs at the test level where I am also confident he will be very successful.

Just give the man time, he has done well enough to deserve an extended run to prove himself.
 
Markhor said:
The problem with this high praise and captaincy shouts is that Imam has four FC centuries after 43 matches, including four Tests on the flattest wickets in the world in the UAE. That suggests he has an issue in concentrating for long periods. Today he plays beautifully for 57 but when the team needed him to go on and make a hundred he gets out.
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This is the result of the abomination that is FC cricket, rarely will you see players specially openers making hundreds, or big hundreds. Barring Karachi where the wickets are sometimes on the flatter side.

On a similar note, I think Babar Azam was persisted with for the same reason (besides the fact that a lot was invested in him etc.). He never really learned how to play long FC innings but the management just didn't feel he was going to be doing that at the domestic level anyway, thus he was persisted with; so you just have to wait for them to figure it out at the Test level directly.
 
Yet again, all these people talking about nepotism are looking very silly. However, most of them are used to it by now so I don't expect them to show any class and drop the accusations for good.

Imam is a quality, young batsman who has all the characteristics an opener needs. This 50 that he scored came under huge pressure because I'm sure he was aware that people, like the ones above, were writing him off as being another Farhat. He may not have Inzamam's talent but he certainly has his ability to thrive under pressure.

Along with Babar and Haris, he will be one of our batting lynchpins for years to come. InshAllah.
 
He played okay he was dropped . Don’t look much into this innings
People would have asked him to sack if Amla had taken that catch
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Imam-ul-Haq's last 9 Test scores outside UAE:<br><br>7<br>18*<br>4<br>34<br>0<br>57<br>0<br>6<br>8<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SAvPAK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SAvPAK</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1081488866815737856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Imam-ul-Haq's last 9 Test innings:<br><br>8<br>6<br>0<br>57<br>9<br>22<br>9<br>6<br>27<br>Total runs: 144<br>Average: 16<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1081490268925382656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
MenInG said:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Imam-ul-Haq's last 9 Test innings:<br><br>8<br>6<br>0<br>57<br>9<br>22<br>9<br>6<br>27<br>Total runs: 144<br>Average: 16<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1081490268925382656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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That one 50 will keep him in team for 2 years atleast :facepalm:
 
I think he is getting way too much hate. Yes he's failing but I can understand his selection, the guy was superb in his under 19 days and he's shown he's capable of playing some good innings under pressure. People are just milking the fact he's Inzi's nephew.
 
hadi123 said:
I think he is getting way too much hate. Yes he's failing but I can understand his selection, the guy was superb in his under 19 days and he's shown he's capable of playing some good innings under pressure. People are just milking the fact he's Inzi's nephew.
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You don’t pick a player based on U-19 performances. If that was the case then Sami Aslam deserves a run before anyone else.
 
hadi123 said:
I think he is getting way too much hate. Yes he's failing but I can understand his selection, the guy was superb in his under 19 days and he's shown he's capable of playing some good innings under pressure. People are just milking the fact he's Inzi's nephew.
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You are genius. I think they have domestic cricket for formality only. U19 cricket is the real deal.
 
Garbage player won't even make A side if it wasn't for chachu
 
MRSN said:
You are genius. I think they have domestic cricket for formality only. U19 cricket is the real deal.
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Lol. People don't realize. I'm not saying this at all. My point is that he's very young and he's been good and you can't say he's picked purely on the fact he is related to Inzamam when his stats are there for all to see. And I also find it funny that for other young players, when they get a chance and fail people say stuff like "give him a chance, persist with him" but no one is saying that for Imam.
 
At this rate, uncle might deny to recognise nephew😝

Never expected something from Imam for his domestic stats, but thought he might get better in Test as his game suits the format; but uncle availed him ODI ticket as well.
 
MMHS said:
At this rate, uncle might deny to recognise nephew😝

Never expected something from Imam for his domestic stats, but thought he might get better in Test as his game suits the format; but uncle availed him ODI ticket as well.
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But remember when it comes nephew selection, uncle walks out of the room and all the hilarious jokes you can tell yourself..:))
 
Should Imam-ul-Haq stay in the Test team or not?

What do you guys think, has he done enough to stay in the team? or do you think he should be dropped from test
 
He is not ready for test cricket. Must be sent back to domestic and if he performs, try him again in 2 years.
 
He does. He is mentally stronger than most of the players who have been selected on “merit”, so I am happy to see more of him.
 
A season or two of first class cricket will yield better future results from him, so he should spend time in first class circuit before returning to internationals.
 
I don't understand why he has to stay in the team. He can always be selected again once he works out his issues like Shan Masood seems to have. Until then i think it's best to select players who are doing well in domestic.
 
Nope, he should be dropped. He may be gritty but that is meaningless if it doesn't translate into runs, he has failed in SA, England and the UAE so you can't complain about having a small sample. Neither does he have the talent and skill of Babar that you would want to persist with him for as long as it takes to get it right.

I admire Imam's stubbornness at the crease and the fact that he does put a price on his wicket but he has glaring technical flaws that he needs to overcome before making a comeback. Maybe he should take pointers from Shan and get in contact with the same coaches. A few flaws that are obvious are:

head falls over to the off side which is why he gets rapped on the pads so often.

Plants his foot across and has to play around it which is another reason he gets lbw (this is also closely linked with his head falling over).

He is often pressing too hard onto his front foot which is why when the ball is short he has to jump and this also makes him unable to move his front foot further forward which is why he often gets out driving without any foot movement.
 
Yes indeed..he was also bit unlucky on couple of occasions ...once an inside edge and once done by umpire's call.,..however needs to work on that front foot stride...which makes him a lbw candidate...
 
Mamoon said:
He does. He is mentally stronger than most of the players who have been selected on “merit”, so I am happy to see more of him.
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You must be having a laugh?

That was the crappiest 2 hour of batting i have seen in my life. And trust you me i have seen a lot of cricket.
 
Mamoon said:
He does. He is mentally stronger than most of the players who have been selected on “merit”, so I am happy to see more of him.
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gazza619 said:
You must be having a laugh?

That was the crappiest 2 hour of batting i have seen in my life. And trust you me i have seen a lot of cricket.
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I would actually rate Imam's innings today (43 from 105 balls) higher than Babar's (49 from 55 balls) and Sarfaraz's (50 from 40 balls).

A proper Test cricket batsman can stay at the wicket for long periods of time, wearing down the opposition bowling, making it easier for the other batsmen in his team, and giving his bowlers longer periods of rest.

The attacking cricket that Babar and Sarfaraz played was quite unsuitable for the circumstances, given that the game is probably going to get over in 3 or at most days. It felt like they had no confidence that they could survive for a long period of time at the crease.
 
He will always be remembered as Inzimam's nephew who was selected in ODI team over more derserving candidates.
 
Napa said:
I would actually rate Imam's innings today (43 from 105 balls) higher than Babar's (49 from 55 balls) and Sarfaraz's (50 from 40 balls).

A proper Test cricket batsman can stay at the wicket for long periods of time, wearing down the opposition bowling, making it easier for the other batsmen in his team, and giving his bowlers longer periods of rest.

The attacking cricket that Babar and Sarfaraz played was quite unsuitable for the circumstances, given that the game is probably going to get over in 3 or at most days. It felt like they had no confidence that they could survive for a long period of time at the crease.
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Imam was dropped thrice (I think) during that innings, but still, he has shown willingness to fight despite technical shortcomings.
 
He's trying hard and is desperate to succeed, but he was awful again today.

His head is all over the place, footwork terrible and the sooner he gets back to basics and sorts this out the better.
 
I like him as a test player but he needs a break and to work on the technical issues. The next test is a while away so if he doesn't score big in the next innings and doesn't score in domestic cricket than he should certainly be dropped. Hopefully he is kept away from ODI cricket.

Unfortunately I have a feeling Inzi will keep on selecting him without taking his form into consideration.
 
gazza619 said:
You must be having a laugh?

That was the crappiest 2 hour of batting i have seen in my life. And trust you me i have seen a lot of cricket.
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He is doing this for attention. I wish people would stop giving him that.

You're right about Imam's batting.
 
Apart from mental strength and sharp mind there is nothing much to write about him.

We have better openers but chachu is there to make sure he is selected again and again.

Usually young players are dropped after that many failures but Immy's case is differnt due to chachu.
 
gazza619 said:
You must be having a laugh?

That was the crappiest 2 hour of batting i have seen in my life. And trust you me i have seen a lot of cricket.
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Test cricket is not about playing pretty for 50 deliveries; it is about showing guts to survive even when you are batting crappy.

As [MENTION=142162]Napa[/MENTION] pointed out, Imam's innings was more significant than Babar and Sarfraz's. A beautiful 49 (55) and a flashy, streaky 50 (45) does not win you Test matches especially in these conditions.

Babar and Sarfraz's innings did nothing for the team in the grand scheme of things. They did not score enough runs to cut down South Africa's lead significantly, and they did not spent enough time at the crease to make South Africa force the pace in the second innings.

They threw their wickets away in the 43rd and 44th overs when the ball was getting old and scoring runs was becoming easy, and had either of the gritted it out for over a hundred deliveries like Imam, we would have been in a significantly stronger position.

Imam's innings was not one for the highlight reels, but he survived the first session against the new ball and played 105 deliveries when the team was reduced to 6/2 with a nightwatchman at the crease.

In his brief international career so far, with less than 30 games and less than 15 months of experience, Imam has shown signs of having grit and a cool head. His output has been reasonable so far, and most of his best performances have come when other batsmen have gone bonkers, e.g. the Ireland chase, the Asia Cup, this innings etc.

During this whole period, he also has had to deal with relentless criticism and abuse on social media for nepotism, something that his very well aware of. A lesser character could have had his confidence shattered, but he is prepared to fight and prove people wrong.

Inzamam may have picked him because he is his nephew, but the boy has heart and wants to make a name for himself and not just be a legend's nephew.

The way people go after him is as if he is blocking the path of the Cooks and Warners in domestic cricket. The latest saviour in the opening department these days is that Abid Ali guy. A 32 year old going through the last purple patch of his career, who would be a spent force by the time he finds his feet in international cricket.

For a country with deplorable batting resources, Imam has done enough to keep his place in the team. He is here to stay and people need to accept the reality.
 
There were literally 3 catches dropped and even then all he could manage was 43 runs.

He is a terrible Test player and his FC average is only 33.73, suggesting he is not good in that format to begin with. Maybe if he starts dominating FC cricket, they could re-evaluate but he should be off this Test team for a while.
 
Mamoon said:
He does. He is mentally stronger than most of the players who have been selected on “merit”, so I am happy to see more of him.
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1 missed stumping
2 dropped catches
1 missed runout
Multiple LBW shouts.

He was horribly awful and there's no other way to put it.
 
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