Delighted with the 2nd Test performance and the way that Pakistan played, but overall 1-1 is a poor result.
This West Indies side even at home is a weak side and whilst Pakistan aren't at their strongest theses days, they should be beaten sides like the West Indies.
Whilst I agree with you, I think this series has made us question the places of a lot of players on the team, which is good since it happened early in the WTC.
1.) Abid Ali and Imran Butt are not good enough for test cricket. Abid is a liability with both the bat and whilst fielding as well. Imran is a good fielder, but it doesn't highlight his deficiencies with the bat. Both must be dropped.
2.) Azhar Ali's place in the side is questionable. He is occupying the position at which we have a lot of great domestic performers (Salahuddin, Shakeel, Ghulam). He needs to either open, or he should be dropped. A player like him should be performing in every series and every game to keep his place. It's time the same standard we put on Malik and Hafeez to perform in most occasions is put on Azhar Ali. He's a great player, a true ambassador for Pakistan but his time is almost up, so there's no point in prolonging the inevitable.
3.) Yasir Shah's inconsistency of form is very threatening to his chance of staying in the test team. Whilst Zahid Mahmood is a scattergun with an ER excess of 4, he does provide wickets which Yasir is failing to do. If it comes to it, I would not mind trying Zahid Mahmood in place of Yasir, but his international record is very good and his experience could come in handy, so I would show lenience and keep him on the bench until an opportunity arises where he is needed.
4.) Mohammad Abbas's bowling is yet again toothless with the old ball, especially if batsman step outside the crease. He has come to the point where he isn't even challenging, batsmen don't mind just defending him and buying time on the wicket, allowing them to cash in. This is not a good sign for a bowler if a batsman can just use their spell to cash in, get set, and then look to capitalize. His record is outstanding, but the quality just isn't there. I'd much rather have a Shahnawaz Dahani averaging 28-ish than Abbas, and that's something I stand by.
5.) The batting position of Fawad Alam is something we might need to look into. Whenever he scores a hundred, he is surrounded with the tail and unable to capitalize on the situation. I think that if we get rid of Azhar, he has to become our #3 batsman to accommodate someone like Saud in the middle-order who is good against spin and can provide a decent bowling option too.
6.) Our squad selection is atrocious, we need to drop the excess baggage for good domestic players to increase the competition for spots. Bring in some good domestic pacers and a few good batsmen, and you will have a team that can adapt as it goes along, gradually bringing in players who are needed as they are part of the dressing room.
Our squad of 19 moving forward should be:
Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Nauman Ali, Fawad Alam, Usman Salahuddin, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Kamran Ghulam, Shahnawaz Dahani, Irfanullah Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Zahid Mahmood, Rohail Nazir, Azhar Ali, Zafar Gohar, Naseem Shah.
Sure, there's quite a few inexperienced players but they are players who have performed.
