Azhar Ali actually started doing well as an opener - specifically in the champions trophy where he was solid at the top and much improved with his strike rate. What do we do - sideline him so a very garbage player like Imam can be introduced and take over as opener. Forget how many runs Imam has scored, if you just look at how he bats, how many balls he misses or gets hit on the helmet by, its quite embarrassing. Many people here will say "50 average ...80 strike rate" but if you take out performances against Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, please let me know how those stats look.
vs Afghanistan:
Fakhar 0
Imam 80
Babar 66
Haris 13
Malik 51*
Sarfraz 8
Asif 7
vs Bangladesh:
Fakhar 1
Imam 83
Babar 1
Sarfraz 10
Malik 30
Shadab 4
Asif 31
What is the point of accusing Imam of minnow bashing against Afghanistan and Bangladesh when others were batting like idiots? What stopped the likes of Fakhar, Babar, Haris, Malik, Sarfraz and Asif from outscoring him?
Imam is not a world beater, but let's take a look at his pros and cons in the context of our team. I will start with the cons.
Cons:
- He doesn't pace his innings very well. His SR is around 70 for the most part, and if he bats through the innings, he ends with a SR of 85. Ideally, he needs to bat around a SR of 85 throughout and finish with a SR of 100+.
- Apart from South Africa, he hasn't scored heavily against any major team so far.
Pros:
- He is a consistent run scorer with a sound technique.
- His temperament is good - he often keeps his head when others around him have gone bonkers.
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As far as his so-called minnow bashing is concerned, we need to realise that we have very, very few players who consistently deliver against top opposition. There is a reason why we are ranked 6th with 96 points - we are a rubbish team and most of our players are not of the highest calibre.
Even Babar, our best batsman, has scored 7 of his 8 hundreds against Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe. Imam does not play for England or India - these teams have the luxury of selecting players based on how they perform against top opposition, but we don't.
Imam is nowhere near the best ODI openers in the world, but this witch-hunt against him is borne out of the notion that he is not in the team on merit. It is true that he may not have been in the team if Inzamam wasn't his uncle, but he has proved himself worthy of playing for this team and his selection is now justified on merit.
Inzamam did not help him score a hundred on ODI debut, he did not help him score an unbeaten 74 on Test debut against Ireland to prevent Pakistan from an embarrassing defeat, he did not help him top score for Pakistan in the Asia Cup and he did not help him win the Man of the Series Award after top scoring in the ODI series in South Africa.
People need to accept this for once and for all - Imam has earned his spot in the team and is on 100% merit. Whether Inzamam stays or goes, he has done enough to get a long rope. This doesn't mean that he has no room for improvement and there will be no better options in the future.
There could be, but Imam so far is doing a good job for a pathetic team that is ranked 6th. He is not competing with the best openers in the world; he is competing with his Pakistani counterparts and he has done very well compared to them.
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