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Is Asad Shafiq the most disappointing Pakistani cricketer?

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Xoib

ODI Debutant
Joined
Jun 19, 2007
Runs
8,931
For me he is. For a player who has a test hundred in South Africa, England and Australia on his first tour in these countries his record is really underwhelming. He is not awful like Lkie Farhat, Manzoor or Faisal bhanja but for a player with such a well rounded game he has just not been able to become a massive player for us as was hoped for.

With Umer Akmla one could understand he was just not intelligent enough o take his game forward also lost his test place too early but with Asad one cannot point a finger. He got a consistent run batted wth the cushion of Misbah,Younis and Azhar on flat UAE roads for most of his career but could never grow as a batsman.

Just a disappointment overall.
 
He is up there but there are couple more players who disappoint/ed me more

1. Mohammad Sami - guy had everything but a brain, even Imran came out of cricket hibernation to try to save him

2. Umar Akmal - stupid and delusional

3. Imran Nazir - stupid and delusional, but he still kept himself fit unlike umar
 
LOL at equating Umar akmals failures to shafiqs
 
pakistanigoneaussie said:
He is up there but there are couple more players who disappoint/ed me more

1. Mohammad Sami - guy had everything but a brain, even Imran came out of cricket hibernation to try to save him

2. Umar Akmal - stupid and delusional

3. Imran Nazir - stupid and delusional, but he still kept himself fit unlike umar
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The thing is unlike the 3 you mentioned he is disciplined he has not been awful and his stats actually make a decent reading however he has been belowpar and you cant pinpoint where he has gone wrong I think its telling that Azhar averages good 6 runs higher then him despite having less shots batting often against the new ball and having a more limited game vs spin.
 
Xoib said:
The thing is unlike the 3 you mentioned he is disciplined he has not been awful and his stats actually make a decent reading however he has been belowpar and you cant pinpoint where he has gone wrong I think its telling that Azhar averages good 6 runs higher then him despite having less shots batting often against the new ball and having a more limited game vs spin.
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I reckon the reason is that in tests Azhar has his game mentally figured out, he knows what to do.

Shafiq still doesnt. I hope the responsibility of being a senior batsmen will help him, i stil feel he can have an ian bell like blossoming if he moves up to 4
 
Tough period for him, he will be a senior player once Younis & Misbah retires, so definitely he needs to up his game.
 
Xoib said:
The thing is unlike the 3 you mentioned he is disciplined he has not been awful and his stats actually make a decent reading however he has been belowpar and you cant pinpoint where he has gone wrong I think its telling that Azhar averages good 6 runs higher then him despite having less shots batting often against the new ball and having a more limited game vs spin.
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Agreed, it must be a temperament thing as, though i do like Azhar a lot (real fighter), Asad is the more talented of the two shots wise.

Many players can and do deliver higher performance levels in the second half of their careers - he must surely be given the 4 spot after this series - I do think there is another gear there.
 
We have groomed him to be a senior for 3-4 years now. It would be brainless to drop him. Should move up to 4/5 when YK and Misbah retires. Needs to up his game though. I have full confidence that he can do it.
 
I think one thing in not in favour of him is his height. I knkw its not his fault but he has to develop a game where he can play shot over keepers and slip fielders like tendulkar use to do it.
 
Shafiq is a good test player but he needed to be pushed up the order. Should not have continued to bat at 6 for his entire career, that's a position to blood in a new player.

Really Shafiq should be batting at three, Babar at 6. Since that hasn't happened when Misbah and YK retire, should be batting at four lowest. Needs to take responsibility at one of the higher positions, been in the team too long not to. And if he can't do that, we're wasting our time with him sadly. He's not going to make much of an impact at 6, a lot of his runs have been kind of soft, and it deprives a position to try out newcomers.

Don't get me wrong Asad has been a good test batsman, just we need to get the best out of him, he needs to step up like Azhar did. Or even Babar did in ODIs (and might even be doing in tests now). We don't want an Ian Bell on our hands, whose potential was wasted largely.
 
Xoib said:
For me he is. For a player who has a test hundred in South Africa, England and Australia on his first tour in these countries his record is really underwhelming. He is not awful like Lkie Farhat, Manzoor or Faisal bhanja but for a player with such a well rounded game he has just not been able to become a massive player for us as was hoped for.

With Umer Akmla one could understand he was just not intelligent enough o take his game forward also lost his test place too early but with Asad one cannot point a finger. He got a consistent run batted wth the cushion of Misbah,Younis and Azhar on flat UAE roads for most of his career but could never grow as a batsman.

Just a disappointment overall.
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A very strange kind of quantity Shafiq. It's not just that he can look the part.He has played some
great knocks in conditions in which Pakistani batsmen typically wilt. An under valued cog in the
Misbah machine for that reason, yet also undoubtedly a disappointment. My greatest regret is he
kept Fawad out of the Test side for all of these years. Cue @Trolls [MENTION=488]peter[/MENTION] Rose...
 
ads101 said:
Shafiq is a good test player but he needed to be pushed up the order. Should not have continued to bat at 6 for his entire career, that's a position to blood in a new player.

Really Shafiq should be batting at three, Babar at 6.
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They tried that and despite a brilliant start in England, it just took a poor series against Windies and one game in NZ for Shafiq and co to capitulate and return him to hiding. Hopefully, 4 works out better for him, more shielded from the new ball
 
I thought he was one of the best players in the world at nr. 6? Was there not some stats about it last year?
 
pakistanigoneaussie said:
They tried that and despite a brilliant start in England, it just took a poor series against Windies and one game in NZ for Shafiq and co to capitulate and return him to hiding. Hopefully, 4 works out better for him, more shielded from the new ball
Click to expand...

I'm happy for Asad to bat at four now yeah. Tbh i think they were a bit hasty moving shafiq down should have given him more time at that position.

Asad can be afforded to bat at four after misbah and yk retire mainly due to the fact Babar's a huge talent and rather mature for his age, that he can potentially handle no.3 straight away.

I don't want to sound like an Asad hater, I actually think he can succeed higher up the order. Just feel it's kind of stupid to have him still at 6 after all these years and put up a youngster at 3 as Asad couldn't handle it. Since Yk and misbah are retiring, Asad will have to bat higher than 6 which is good, it'll help him move on as a player.
 
ads101 said:
I'm happy for Asad to bat at four now yeah. Tbh i think they were a bit hasty moving shafiq down should have given him more time at that position.

Asad can be afforded to bat at four after misbah and yk retire mainly due to the fact Babar's a huge talent and rather mature for his age, that he can potentially handle no.3 straight away.

I don't want to sound like an Asad hater, I actually think he can succeed higher up the order. Just feel it's kind of stupid to have him still at 6 after all these years and put up a youngster at 3 as Asad couldn't handle it. Since Yk and misbah are retiring, Asad will have to bat higher than 6 which is good, it'll help him move on as a player.
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the way micky spoke about at the time, it sounded as if Asad wanted to move back down, words to the affect of 'he wasnt feeling comfortable'
 
Satisfaction over his performance is what make or loose a crickter. He is satisfied on scoring a 100 on a tour. Looking forward for his 100 in this series too.
 
pakistanigoneaussie said:
They tried that and despite a brilliant start in England, it just took a poor series against Windies and one game in NZ for Shafiq and co to capitulate and return him to hiding. Hopefully, 4 works out better for him, more shielded from the new ball
Click to expand...

He averaged 40 in that series... and scored 3 50's.. despite that he was demoted back down in place of a novice of Test Cricket which is absolutely absurd...
 
Why is Shafiq disappointing? He has some of the best numbers ever at nuumber 6, often bats with the tail and in the period in which Pak were unefeated, was the 2nd or 3rd best batsman in the team. So, what's the disappointment?
 
I don't think he knows his game. Azhar Ali figured it out last year. Shafiq he is still trying to decide whether he is misbah or yousuf.
If u dead-bat twenty deliveries that are pushed at Middle to legstump (his weakness) then of course the sucker ball outside offstump is gonna get you. And really I understand the caution about the pitched up delivery, but with his experiments he should be easing them through midwicket for runs.
Right now, he looks like a player who thinks that if he can tire out the bowlers he will score runs. But he needs to look at his last two centuries: both were free flowing efforts. He is not a blocker and I think it's beginning to take a toll on him.
Nonetheless after 50 games, it's difficult to have sympathy for this approach.
 
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No, that would be those who sold their country and soul for a couple of pounds
 
He should aim higher , try and become among top 10 in the world.

He should look to improve his average , and he can do that by being consistent , he has lot of low scores .
 
He is an excellent test batter.

LOI batter he is not like Azhar. Nothing wrong with that just not cut out for the shorter formats. At least he knows his place unlike Azhar who thought he was Captain Fantastic dynamic ODI batter :91:
 
probably one of the most disappointing batsman of this decade at least, Umar have some serious competition he might top that list
:uakmal
 
Overreaction thread IMO. Shafiq has a 39.49 average in FC and a 40.79 in International cricket. He's been good with moments of being great but its not like domestic stats suggest he should be a superstar or anything. Has the solid technique and looks aesthetically pleasing that makes it seem like he should be better but he is what he is, which is a solid but not a spectacular player.
 
dildildalwalla said:
Why is Shafiq disappointing? He has some of the best numbers ever at nuumber 6, often bats with the tail and in the period in which Pak were unefeated, was the 2nd or 3rd best batsman in the team. So, what's the disappointment?
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Because OP doesn't really know it himself as well but being a Pakistani, he has to complain about something or someone. Since Shafiq failed in the last innings, he is it!
 
The only disappointment with Asad Shafiq has been that he hasn't been able to succeed as much as Azhar Ali.

One one hand you have Azhar Ali, who has improve dramatically and is currently our best batsman despite being limited.

On the other hand, we have Shafiq who possesses a wider array of shots compared to Azhar and was rated by some as better than Azhar. But he has never played big innings consistently. Someone mentioned this recently in a different thread, Asad is an inferior version of YK.

YK, after a series of failures, has that big, match-winning 200 in him. Asad Shafiq, after a series of failures, scores a small hundred that isn't as impactful.
 
Sarfarazian92 said:
The only disappointment with Asad Shafiq has been that he hasn't been able to succeed as much as Azhar Ali.

One one hand you have Azhar Ali, who has improve dramatically and is currently our best batsman despite being limited.

On the other hand, we have Shafiq who possesses a wider array of shots compared to Azhar and was rated by some as better than Azhar. But he has never played big innings consistently. Someone mentioned this recently in a different thread, Asad is an inferior version of YK.

YK, after a series of failures, has that big, match-winning 200 in him. Asad Shafiq, after a series of failures, scores a small hundred that isn't as impactful.
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Yk and Shafiq comparison doesn't sound that great. Yk has got a great temperament which Shafiq lacks and the former is also a more consistent performer than latter.

Shafiq, however, is a more all-round player than Younis although Younis with his grit and hardwork has got runs in most of the countries.

IMO, YK has been an over-achiever in tests while Shafiq is turning out to be an under-achiever as he has failed to explore himself to a higher level like Azhar did.
 
Shafiq lacks consistency. He will play 1 great innings per series and then go missing. This has been happening for far too long now. Unfortunately for him he will not be able to hide behind Misbah and Younis now so better pull up his socks and show some consistency else he will be thrown out surely.
 
Nah, he has done really well at #6, albeit at an inconsistent rate.

He is arguably the best #6 in world cricket at the moment which really is a blessing for us to have.

I believe things will only get better from the next series onwards, where we'll see him bat up the order, from the end of 2017 potentially up until the end of 2025.

He has served us well at #6 during the former portion of his career and I expect him to contribute more in the latter portion of his career when he bats at #4/5.
 
Yes, for most people.

I called him out WAY BACK.. when everyone used to bash me for identifying Shafiq as what he is now. :najam

So, it was all an expectation for me.
 
No I don't think so. I think he is inconsistent which is fustrating. Needs to step up after Misbah and Younis retire.
 
Not the most, but pretty disappointing. He still plays as if he's in his first year of international cricket, the opposite of Sarfraz at the crease.
 
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