Not all fans do that but some posters come up with statements like team being new but more talented than others without seeing actual sustained performance. I also think that Pakistani bowling prospects look decent right now, but I will hold my horses and not claim that they are among the best. If some one is really good then it will show up sooner or later in performance like Babar.
Agreed.
While I will admit there are a lot of young players who have either just been added or recently started playing internationally that look to have potential, to somehow juxtapose that with puffing of our chest is a bit rich.
While I am excited for Naseem Shah, Haider Ali, what we already get from Shaheen and Babar, after that its an amalgamation of a lot of tried and tested failures and/or mediocre cricketers who will have the off performance here and there, but are nothing to get excited about.
Even a young player like Mohammad Hasnain seems to just be young but I dont see a good career to come.
We have that sub 500 record and the following players have been in and out of the team for about the last 3-5 years: Hafeez, Shafiq, Imam, Abid Ali (whom I actually like but of course he made his debut on accident at 31), Faqar Zaman, Yasir Shah....
I was going to write them all out but essentially what I realized is theres a lot more of more of the same than new and improved so just from a numbers basis to think that a select few of potential star talent can carry the usual suspects is wishful thinking.
You can be hopeful and think Abid Ali who looks fantastic at 32 is older but already a good product, finds some chemistry with one of the most disappointing players in our test captain Azhar Ali who seemed to be one of the safest bets in Pakistan pre Misbahs retirement, a man who once scored 300, who I think now has an average since his departure of sub 30 in three full years.
You could hope Haider Ali and Babar are that middle pair tandem, two players who will hold together Pakistans middle order for the next 10-15 years. This may actually be possible but again Ali has yet to put the jersey on yet so I wouldnt hold my breath until I see it in action.
You could hope Asad Shafiq, the most invested batsmen maybe in the last 30 years in Pakistan cricket, who has the talent that we keep hearing about in the nets (Dont buy it), but somehow when the bright lights come out, he fails at hilarious levels, only to have a career saving performance in an innings that doesnt matter.
You can hope one of Hafeez or Malik or the hilariously chosen when his careers almost over Fawad Alam (who didnt get selected when he was scoring the most domestic runs that almost any player ever has in Pakistan and even world history) can find some semblance of consistency when they are closer to 40 than 30.
I actually like Rizwan and think hes a solid batsman keeper but knowing Pakistan they will go back to Sarfraz as is the standard.
Bowling wise we have one good bowler, a young potential bowler, Mohammad Abbas who also has been consistent but after that a disarray with the rest, with the spinners being so horrendously bad that to call them international caliber would be dishonest at the test level. Shah finished, Shadab a nothing player.
The amalgamation gets you the same old song and a little bit of hope sprinkled on top. You can be hopeful but obviously few want to be realistic.
Our bowling on the whole looks good with the fast bowlers, we have nothing to offer with spin bowling and minus one star, we have a bunch of mediocrity with the bat who are all in their thirties with the exception here and there who are a bit younger.
If anything this looks like it always has, mediocre players with some hope of players to represent the future, only to become the mediocre players, and a small circle of new faces to again, represent the future.
