In Numbers: How Shadab Khan is discriminated against

[Junaids]

Consider the Test records of Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq and Shadab Khan in the last 5 Tests of Shadab Khan's career, all played in the British Isles and South Africa. (I am excluding his debut as a teenager in the West Indies).

IN IRELAND 2018
Azhar Ali 6 runs at 3.00
Asad Shafiq 63 runs at 31.50
Shadab Khan 55 runs at 55.00

IN ENGLAND 2018
Azhar Ali 67 runs at 16.75
Asad Shafiq 91 runs at 30.33
Shadab Khan 112 runs at 37.33

IN SOUTH AFRICA 2018-19
Azhar Ali 15 runs at 7.50
Asad Shafiq 65 runs at 32.50
Shadab Khan 52 runs at 52.00

IN ENGLAND 2020
Azhar Ali 18 runs at 9.00
Asad Shafiq 36 runs at 18.00
Shadab Khan 60 runs at 30.00

Overall:

Azhar Ali: 106 runs in 10 innings in 5 Tests, average 10.60
Asad Shafiq: 255 runs in 9 innings in 5 Tests, average 28.33
Shadab Khan: 279 runs in 8 innings in 5 Tests, average 39.86.
Shadab Khan: 13 wickets in 5 Tests, average 28.31

It is simply disgusting how Shadab is consistently discriminated against in favour of non-performing seniors.

He is 376% the batsman that Azhar Ali is, and he is 140% the batsman that Asad Shafiq is.

And he's getting his wickets a a nice average of under 30 too.

And yet he is getting dropped again and again to allow inferior but senior cricketers to remain in the team.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

Completely agree with OP. In Shadab, pakistan has next Warne/Shakeeb combination on their hands. Just needs to be backed completely and polished and given more confidence. He will be the no.1 allrounder in the world if given proper backing.

 

[Junaids]

Four separate series over three years, and every single series has seen Shadab outperform both Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq with the bat when head to head in the same innings in the same matches on the same pitches against the same bowlers.

Shadab is not a specialist spinner - he is a Shakib-style all-rounder.

As was Steve Smith early in his career.

But only in Pakistan do you drop a high-performing man aged 21 in favour of non-performing seniors.

I repeat, EVERY single series Shadab has outbatted BOTH Azhar AND Shafiq.

 

[IAJ]

Will he not play in today’s match? Moeen Ali has a good record on this ground so both spinners should play no? I think he was underbowled in the first Test. Yasir got wickets but he also bowled alot of overs.

 

[Junaids]

It’s not hard to see why the senior mafia endlessly brief their chums in the media about Shadab’s imaginary bad attitude.

When you’re no longer better than the youngster, dirty tricks may be the only way to retain your place ahead of him.

 

[uberkoen]

Shadab is young and is very very talented. As someone mentioned above as well, he needs to be polished. We have persisted with the likes of Azhar, Hafeez, Shafiq and others who have been consistent non-performers for years.

Literally any other team in the world would have dropped the likes of Azhar and Asad from the team because they perform once in a blue moon yet Pakistan keeps them on and decides to drop a young player who actually contributed more than both of them combined in the first test match

 

[RazaBadmash]

Shocking #’s. Great job in gathering these stats. Embarrassing to say the least for Asad and Azhar. Just disgusting how Azhar threw Shadab under the bus the other day when he should have been blaming his and Asad’s overall performance. As a Captain who failed to deliver from the front foot with the bat and as a leader who failed to deliver and performe with mediocre captaincy. It boggles the mind to see this mismanagement by the pcb. You Need to back shadab who is young and is willing to learn and grow as a player, as a batsmen and as a leader. Shame on Misbah and PCB.

 

[Major]

Line up hasnt been decided yet

 

[Indiafan]

Good thread. All rounders have been worth their weight in gold in test cricket since forever. They are almost always more valuable than just a bowler or a batsman. Every team should back young all rounders because they can add that X factor and difference to the team which can make the difference between winning and losing the match

 

[Greenstorm]

He is not meek enough for Misbah group and falls in the wrong age bracket.

I was surprised when he got selected for the first test.

 

[past master]

Brilliant analysis......plus he is a brilliant fielder probably saves 10 runs per innings with his fielding.
Bottom line is he his young and has potential to improve both in his batting and bowling and must be persisted with.

 

[Junaids]

How on earth does Shadab get dropped while Azhar and Shafiq keep their places?

 

[angrypathan]

Line up hasnt been decided yet

It has now. Misbah the selector is a curse. It doesn't even matter if Fawad scores 100, I'll be happy for him but Shadab did not deserve to be dropped.

 

[Kroll]

Azhar Ali needs a total of 43 runs to overtake Shadab's runs in the series, lets see if he can do it.

 

[Junaids]

Azhar Ali needs a total of 43 runs to overtake Shadab's runs in the series, lets see if he can do it.

It will probably take him all four remains innings.

 

[MMHS]

Finally, Junaids has hit the right target - yes, considering the output of specialist batsmen pair with ~150 Tests between them, no way Shadab should have been dropped here. Leaving Yasir aside, who is the MVP of this PAK Test team, Shadab indeed adds value to PAK Test team and should be persisted with. For his own good, he needs to pick one core skill to master, without loosing focus on the other one, he can be a very good asset for PAK team.

 

[Grunge101]

Not surprised at all tbh. The holy holy trinity of Misbah-Azhar-Asad will continue to have their way.

A career spanning 10 years, 70 tests and an average below 40. Yet we still play him as if hes going to turn into a useful payer somehow overnight.

 

[IMMY69]

How on earth does Shadab get dropped while Azhar and Shafiq keep their places?

I am disgusted by this...

I would like to think its based on corruption because the alternative means that our management are a bunch of idiots who know less about picking a team then 99pct of the fans sitting at home....

 

[Greenstorm]

I am disgusted by this...

I would like to think its based on corruption because the alternative means that our management are a bunch of idiots who know less about picking a team then 99pct of the fans sitting at home....

It's both. They are corrupt and clueless.

 

[Kroll]

It will probably take him all four remains innings.

Even then, he would need to do it at more than his current series average.

 

[sindhiboy]

Not to mention he has bowled reasonably well

 

[Afhan Ali]

Misbah and Wasim Will push 7th ranked side to 9th in future.

They just need to replace Babar with Sohaib Maqsood/ Iftekhar/ Muhammad Salman etc.

 

[Titan24]

Valid questions raised. I had a feeling it was gonna happen considering the conditions at Southampton and management seeing Shadab as an all rounder and not as possibly a decent batsman who can give some of the main batsmen in Pak lineup a run for their money.

He needs to keep on improving game, can be a useful all rounder for Pak in the coming years if he is ready to put in the hard yards. Needs to polish his batting more and should be more calm at the crease and in terms of his bowling I think he needs to take that more seriously as well.

 

[shaz619]

Do Azhar and Shafiq have any relatives in PCB or friends high up, I guess the Misbah bias exists. Clearly it was criminal to drop Shadab, at the very least he should have been in the team ahead of Shafiq considering Azar is safe due to the arm band

 

[Kroll]

Azhar now needs 23 runs from 2nd inns to overtake Shadab's total. Tough ask, but I'm backing the big man to come good.

 

[Junaids]

Azhar now needs 23 runs from 2nd inns to overtake Shadab's total. Tough ask, but I'm backing the big man to come good.

Or 143 runs in his remaining 3 innings this series to match Shadab’s batting average in this series!

 

[Napa]

How on earth does Shadab get dropped while Azhar and Shafiq keep their places?

Think of Pakistan as the anti-Australia.

Voges was ruthlessly dropped by Australia in spite of maintaining a Test average of 61.87 when the selectors decided that he was too old.

Perchance the difference is approaches is the explanation for Pakistan repeatedly getting whitewashed when they play in Australia!

 

[DandyFellow]

Under the conditions, they had to go with one spinner and because of the great performance, Yasir was an obvious choice. I do not think Shadab got dropped rather it was a decision based on the wicket . Actually, he will get his chances later when the track is spin-friendly. Comparisons with Azhar and Asad do not make sense because in simple words they deserve to be dropped after the series but they should be replaced by test-batsmen who play in the middle order.
Shadab plays as an all-rounder in the test team and his position and comparisons should be done accordingly. And yes stats are really worrying when your lower order all-rounder is out-performing your middle order and that simply means improve your middle order. Therefore, I agree with your stance on removing Asad and Azhar but I do not understand the comparisons since they have totally different roles in the team.

 

[Hasan123]

Shadab can be a decent player but Junaids talks as if he is going to be a Shane Warne or Steve Smith. I don't see him being good enough as a frontline spinner in tests. I doubt he can bat in the top 6. What is so speical about him for you Junaids ?

He needs to work on 1 area and concentrate on becoming excellent in that and being good in the other department.

If he continues to be bits and pieces ,he won't have a successful test career.

 

[Kroll]

Shadab can be a decent player but Junaids talks as if he is going to be a Shane Warne or Steve Smith. I don't see him being good enough as a frontline spinner in tests. I doubt he can bat in the top 6. What is so speical about him for you Junaids ?

He needs to work on 1 area and concentrate on becoming excellent in that and being good in the other department.

If he continues to be bits and pieces ,he won't have a successful test career.

I think his point was that he's providing far more value to the team than either Shafiq or Azhar are but they're getting a free ride due to being senior/pals of Misbah/captain etc.

On his own, you're right, he's not the polished article yet.

 

[Fahdi]

A very underappreciated cricketer in Tests.

 

[JibranAnsari]

Was shocked not to see his name in the 11. He is clearly better than both shafiq and azhar at the moment.

 

[Junaids]

Shadab can be a decent player but Junaids talks as if he is going to be a Shane Warne or Steve Smith. I don't see him being good enough as a frontline spinner in tests. I doubt he can bat in the top 6. What is so speical about him for you Junaids ?

He needs to work on 1 area and concentrate on becoming excellent in that and being good in the other department.

If he continues to be bits and pieces ,he won't have a successful test career.

A frontline batsman should be scoring 80 runs per Test at an average of 40 and a frontline spin bowler should be taking 3 wickets at an average of 32.

But more valuable than either is an all-rounder like Shakib-al-Hasan who can average 39 with the bat and 32 with the ball.

Or Daniel Vettori who averaged 30.00 with the bat and 34.36 with the ball.

Currently Shadab in Tests averages 33.33 with the bat and 36.64 with the ball with 2.5 wickets per Test - and he's only 21 years old.

So he is 0.8 of a batsman and 0.6 of a bowler. He is literally worth 1.4 Test cricketers - and he's only 21 years old.

By way of comparison, over the last two years:

Shan Masood is 0.9 of a batsman
Azhar Ali is 0.5 of a batsman
Asad Shafiq is 0.7 of a batsman.
Yasir Shah is 0.8 of a bowler.

Shadab Khan already is worth pretty much the same as any TWO of those players combined. In the Test format.

 

[sharmaji]

While I agree that Shadab is batting better than Azhar and Asad, I don't think he is any good, he is a bits and pieces player, probably will do ok in LOIs. Azhar and Asad should be replaced with proper test batsmen, preferably someone younger.

 

[leg-side-flick]

A frontline batsman should be scoring 80 runs per Test at an average of 40 and a frontline spin bowler should be taking 3 wickets at an average of 32.

But more valuable than either is an all-rounder like Shakib-al-Hasan who can average 39 with the bat and 32 with the ball.

Or Daniel Vettori who averaged 30.00 with the bat and 34.36 with the ball.

Currently Shadab in Tests averages 33.33 with the bat and 36.64 with the ball with 2.5 wickets per Test - and he's only 21 years old.

So he is 0.8 of a batsman and 0.6 of a bowler. He is literally worth 1.4 Test cricketers - and he's only 21 years old.

By way of comparison, over the last two years:

Shan Masood is 0.9 of a batsman
Azhar Ali is 0.5 of a batsman
Asad Shafiq is 0.7 of a batsman.
Yasir Shah is 0.8 of a bowler.

Shadab Khan already is worth pretty much the same as any TWO of those players combined. In the Test format.

What is his first class record of 5 day matches.....

If it hovers around a bowling / batting average of ~ 30 in let's say, 15 matches, then he should be always in team.....

 

[MMHS]

A frontline batsman should be scoring 80 runs per Test at an average of 40 and a frontline spin bowler should be taking 3 wickets at an average of 32.

But more valuable than either is an all-rounder like Shakib-al-Hasan who can average 39 with the bat and 32 with the ball.

Or Daniel Vettori who averaged 30.00 with the bat and 34.36 with the ball.

Currently Shadab in Tests averages 33.33 with the bat and 36.64 with the ball with 2.5 wickets per Test - and he's only 21 years old.

So he is 0.8 of a batsman and 0.6 of a bowler. He is literally worth 1.4 Test cricketers - and he's only 21 years old.

By way of comparison, over the last two years:

Shan Masood is 0.9 of a batsman
Azhar Ali is 0.5 of a batsman
Asad Shafiq is 0.7 of a batsman.
Yasir Shah is 0.8 of a bowler.

Shadab Khan already is worth pretty much the same as any TWO of those players combined. In the Test format.

What an awful way of calculating the player value, must say hilarious.

Why - think about this way. Say Babar is perfect batsman, so he gets 1.0; Shaheen is parfect bowler - another 1.0. And Rizwan is 1.6 (0.9 with WK, 0.7 with bat). Now, six Babar, one Rizwan & 4 Shaheen makes a playing XI worth 11.60. 10 Shadab & one Rizwan makes it 15.6....... sounds great.

Shadab performed well enough at OT not to be made scapegoat for second Test - that part I accepted even before the start of this game, and you should have stopped there. Asad and Azhar are non performers therefore should be dropped ..... but, it’s absolutely mind blowing to even think that a bowler taking 220 wickets in 40 Tests at ~30 with 16/3, 5/10fors is worth about 58% of this bits & pieces cricketer Shadab Khan.

 

[aloo paratha]

Surprisingly he’s been our 3rd best batsman in SENA conditions in the past 2 1/2 years

 

[Saj]

I don't get the comparison with Azhar and Asad. Everyone knows they are struggling badly and walking wickets at the moment.

 

[Forum363]

Unfortunately in cricket it’s not just about the numbers, it’s about perception.

And the fact is, unless and until Shadab gets some big hundreds, he is thought of as a bowling all-rounder. Which means that his bowling will always be looked at first to justify his place in the team. And the truth is that his bowling is not as good as a fading Yasir Shah who himself is limited away from UAE.

He either needs to improve his bowling to the level where he can be the main spinner, or he needs to improve his batting to the level where he can be thought of as a genuine batting all-rounder.

At the moment, he has played some crucial innings in tough circumstances but nothing to break him out. Luckily he has age on his side and seems to be improving immensely with the bat.

 

[Prince of Pakistan]

Shadab could give up on his bowling in the future and fully focus on his batting to become a batting allrounder. That's how much potential his batting has in this era of of tuk tuks in the Pakistani set up. Should bat at 6 in ODI's in two years time. Still young has time on his side.

 

[IMMY69]

I don't get the comparison with Azhar and Asad. Everyone knows they are struggling badly and walking wickets at the moment.

How long is this moment gonna take?
It’s two years and counting for the Skipper and the other one has just failed to kick on after 10 years of international cricket

 

[Fahdi]

I don't get the comparison with Azhar and Asad. Everyone knows they are struggling badly and walking wickets at the moment.

And yet they play in every single game.

 

[Cric1234]

In comparison to Azhar and Shafiq he hadn’t been treated unfairly at all he’s not a no 3 or no 5 batsman he’s competing against Yasir or a lower order batsman/bowler for a place in the team.
Using others underperformance doesn’t justify his place in the team.

 

[Cric1234]

If he wants a permanent place in the team he has to win matches with the ball as he’s nowhere near a top class batsman chipping in with a few wickets of tailenders isn’t enough.

 

[PakPremi]

If he wants a permanent place in the team he has to win matches with the ball as he’s nowhere near a top class batsman chipping in with a few wickets of tailenders isn’t enough.

Well if you bowl him.against tail endershow will he take wickets of top order?
You cannot bowl him few overs to rest bowlers and expect wickets. Spinners normally bowl long spells for good returns.