Is Faheem Ashraf Pakistan's 2nd best or 3rd best cricketer?

[Junaids]

It is clear currently that Faheem Ashraf is exploding two of the bogus foundations of Misbah-ul-Haq's cricketing logic.

Firstly there is Misbah's nonsensical belief that an all-rounder must be worth a place as a specialist batsman or bowler. Faheem is not quite either, but he scores more runs than the worst two batsmen and has a better bowling average than the worst two bowlers.

Secondly there is Misbah's belief that age doesn't matter, and that the experience of being 30-something is more valuable than being in your peak years of 24-28. Faheem Ashraf is 27 years and 20 days old.

And here is his full Test record:

BATTING:
8 Tests
11 Innings, 1 not out
466 runs
0 hundreds, 4 fifties
AVERAGE 42.36

BOWLING
15 runs for 487
AVERAGE 32.47
Economy 2.94
Strike Rate 64.0

Test by Test:
83 and 1-18, 0-51
37 and 1-28, 0-31
0 and 3, and 3-60
0 and 15, and 3-57, 3-42
91 and 19, and 1-40, 0-18
48 and 28, and 2-106
64 and 0-12, 0-8
78* and 1-16

Judging by Test performances over the last year, I'm tempted to rank Pakistan's cricketers as follows:

1. Babar Azam
2. Mohammad Rizwan
3. Faheem Ashraf
4. Shaheen Shah Afridi

I'm not sure anyone else even makes the list as having a passing grade.

 

[Junaids]

For the record, in the last year:

Yasir Shah has 25 wickets in 7 Tests at 31.96, and only averages less than 33 against South Africa at home.
Mohammad Abbas has 12 wickets in 6 matches at an average of 34.25, with a strike rate of 94.3 balls per wicket.
Abid Ali has 235 runs in 8 Tests at an average of 18.07.
Azhar Ali has 499 runs in 8 Tests at an average of 45.36.

You could argue that Azhar maybe should be almost as high as Faheem Ashraf. But when you look in detail:

Dismissals under 10:
Faheem 0/6
Azhar 2/11

Dismissals under 20:
Faheem 1/6
Azhar 3/11

Scores over 45:
Faheem 4/6
Azhar 3/11

Reaching fifty:
Faheem 3/6
Azhar 3/11

Reaching a hundred
Faheem 0/6
Azhar 1/11

 

[iniqbal223]

Congratulations to Faheem and people worked with him

Of late, he has surprised many with his batting , and I hope one day he will also get better in bowling
Next challenge for him to continue working and provide good performances consistently and start winning matches for Pakistan

 

[moghul]

After 4 years, finally he is showing improvement in his batting, his bowling is still not good enough to call him an allrounder.

Only if he improves his bowling significantly, he can become 5th best player in the team after, Babar, Shaheen, Rizwan and Fawad.

 

[Rellu_Katta]

just knw tht his perforance off late is out of this world

 

[Junaids]

After 4 years, finally he is showing improvement in his batting, his bowling is still not good enough to call him an allrounder.

Only if he improves his bowling significantly, he can become 5th best player in the team after, Babar, Shaheen, Rizwan and Fawad.

Fawad Alam has 7 completed innings since his comeback:

Dismissed under 20 - 4 times in 7 innings
Reached 50 - 2 times in 7 innings.

Faheem’s stats in the same period are
Dismissed under 20 - 1 time in 6 innings
Reached 50 - 3 times in 6 innings.

Faheem Ashraf’s performances for Pakistan are a long, long way ahead of Fawad Alam’s.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Congratulations to Faheem and people worked with him

Of late, he has surprised many with his batting , and I hope one day he will also get better in bowling
Next challenge for him to continue working and provide good performances consistently and start winning matches for Pakistan

Definitely. He is clearly showing signs of continuous improvement as his career progresses.

So refreshing to see from a Pakistani cricketer.
[MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] always supported his inclusion. Kudos.

 

[hitthestump]

After 4 years, finally he is showing improvement in his batting, his bowling is still not good enough to call him an allrounder.

Only if he improves his bowling significantly, he can become 5th best player in the team after, Babar, Shaheen, Rizwan and Fawad.

Eh? Did you mean world class all-rounder?

 

[Thunderbolt14]

Fawad Alam has 7 completed innings since his comeback:

Dismissed under 20 - 4 times in 7 innings
Reached 100 - 2 times in 7 innings.

Faheem’s stats in the same period are
Dismissed under 20 - 1 time in 6 innings
Reached 100 - 0 times in 6 innings.

Fawad Alam’s performances for Pakistan are a long, long way ahead of Faheem Ashraf’s.

Made some friendly edits above in the interest of illustrating why your argumentative technique is prone to fallacies — you can come up with any arbitrary set of criteria to judge a player, just in the last post you had 45 as a cut off just because Faheem had a score of 48, which doesn’t help your argument if you restrict it to “number of times he reached 50”.

Not that I agree or disagree with your point of view — I’m just outlining that you have a very strange lens by which you’re viewing these players.

 

[Rana]

He is a very good bowler also, just on the slower side.

Far more consistent in line and length than Shaheen and Naseem for sure. Better at controlling the run flow as compared to Hassan Ali also. The only fast bowler more reliable than him is Abbas, but Abbas is just a one dimensional line and length military pacer at 75mph.

 

[moghul]

Fawad Alam has 7 completed innings since his comeback:

Dismissed under 20 - 4 times in 7 innings
Reached 50 - 2 times in 7 innings.

Faheem’s stats in the same period are
Dismissed under 20 - 1 time in 6 innings
Reached 50 - 3 times in 6 innings.

Faheem Ashraf’s performances for Pakistan are a long, long way ahead of Fawad Alam’s.

So he is in the team for his batting ? What about his bowling ? His pace used to be in high 130s a now he just a military medium who was competing with Abbas in pace in NZL. I would not rate Fawad high if he had taken 3-4 wickets in an innings but scored in single digits in both innings.

But, there is no reason he cannot improve his fitness and bowling and becomes 3rd best player in the the team.

 

[DeadBall]

Has pleasantly surprised me and many others here. He just looks so assured at the crease now which indicates calmness and confidence which is what many of our mental midgets lack.

Just look at Abid Ali, he just looks so afraid and mentally shot out there after being hit by Jameison in the NZ series. We really need a psychiatrist in the set up.

 

[DeadBall]

So he is in the team for his batting ? What about his bowling ? His pace used to be in high 130s a now he just a military medium who was competing with Abbas in pace in NZL. I would not rate Fawad high if he had taken 3-4 wickets in an innings but scored in single digits in both innings.

But, there is no reason he cannot improve his fitness and bowling and becomes 3rd best player in the the team.

His bowling is fine for a support bowler. Bowls much more consistent lines and lengths than the spearheads.

 

[Kaka4pope]

Props to Faheem, good 3rd seam option when playing two spinners and good 4th option with just the one - a good 5th bowler and looking a decent 7th batsman - well done so far.

 

[Bewal Express]

His batting on technical level has gone up to totally new level but mentally he is satisfied with his 50s. The shot today showed that he didn't read the situation or what the bowler was trying to do. The only other players that would play such a shot would be from the Windies

 

[Omer2002]

Linde dangled the carrot and he just went for it

 

[Mamoon]

He is the seam bowling version of Shadab. An average, confused cricketer who doesn’t know what his strong suit is.

One day he is a batting all-rounder the other day he is a bowling all-rounder.

He cannot bat or bowl properly, and when you pick him in your team, you are weakening your batting and bowling simultaneously.

 

[moghul]

His bowling is fine for a support bowler. Bowls much more consistent lines and lengths than the spearheads.

His bowling probably is fine for club cricket, not beyond that .

Impressed with with his batting , finally. Plays pull shot well means he is one of very few Pakistanis batsman in current team who can score runs in overseas conditions also.

 

[MesonK]

Talented Batsman with wrong technique

He needs

1) Mental training to stop slogging on trapping bowls
2) Better his front foot position while driving.

....

If he can do these two, along with his decent 4th seaming capabilities he can be a permanent asset for Pakistani test side for a long time.

 

[Suleiman]

Has pleasantly surprised me and many others here. He just looks so assured at the crease now which indicates calmness and confidence which is what many of our mental midgets lack.

Just look at Abid Ali, he just looks so afraid and mentally shot out there after being hit by Jameison in the NZ series. We really need a psychiatrist in the set up.

Waste of a psychiatrist. If you get mentally shot at the ripe old age of 32 after only playing international for a year or so, it’s time to go.

 

[Greenstorm]

I just checked, 25 per cent of his test overs are maidens !

More than good enough as 3rd seamer in Asia and 4th seamer in SENA.

 

[moghul]

Decline in Faheem's bowling is worrisome . He is bowling at 127-128 kph now with no swing or seam.

 

[BakuGM]

He is not a good batsman but just happens to be in the form of his life. He would get into the test team based ONLY on his bowling which looks to me is getting worse by the day. His line and length are good but with no speed he will become another Abbas meaning Pakistan cannot afford to play him in the longer format (I am not sure selectors and team management understand this but eventually they will also come to the same conclusion once his batting forms leave him). So if I was Faheem I would work on my bowling and see if I can regain the pace.

 

[Usman Chadda]

He is not a good batsman but just happens to be in the form of his life. He would get into the test team based ONLY on his bowling which looks to me is getting worse by the day. His line and length are good but with no speed he will become another Abbas meaning Pakistan cannot afford to play him in the longer format (I am not sure selectors and team management understand this but eventually they will also come to the same conclusion once his batting forms leave him). So if I was Faheem I would work on my bowling and see if I can regain the pace.

Regarding pace, pretty much every Pakistan bowler right now has seen their speeds come down. Not sure why that is, seems to be a collective issue rather than an individual one. Shaheen seems to have done some good work though, as his speeds were up this innings.

 

[BakuGM]

Regarding pace, pretty much every Pakistan bowler right now has seen their speeds come down. Not sure why that is, seems to be a collective issue rather than an individual one. Shaheen seems to have done some good work though, as his speeds were up this innings.

Yes Shaheen pace is just fine but both Hasan and Faheem (Faheem more so than Hasan) speeds are down, is this the curse of Waqar trying to tell them to bowl line & length?

 

[moghul]

Regarding pace, pretty much every Pakistan bowler right now has seen their speeds come down. Not sure why that is, seems to be a collective issue rather than an individual one. Shaheen seems to have done some good work though, as his speeds were up this innings.

Yes, almost every Pakistani paceman loses pace between the age 126-128 , while the rest of the world pacemen reach their peak pace around 32. Amir, Faheem, Hasan, Rauf, Abbas, Junaid, all have the same issue. Age fudging or lack of fitness , don;t know what is the cause.

Wahab Riaz is probably the only Pakistani pacemen in recent times who has been able to maintain his pace even at 35.

 

[Oxfordchamp]

If Faheem is the 2nd or 3rd best cricketer in Pakistan, then it is really a sad reflection of state of cricket in Pakistan. No wonder the team is ranked at the bottom in all formats

 

[Usman Chadda]

Yes Shaheen pace is just fine but both Hasan and Faheem (Faheem more so than Hasan) speeds are down, is this the curse of Waqar trying to tell them to bowl line & length?

Fitness levels arent up to standard. Hasnain and Naseem have also lost pace from their initial debuts. Shaheen himself was low on pace on both the England and New Zealand tours. Abbas’ shoulder injury wasnt rehabilitated properly, leading to him losing whatever pace he had. The players should also be held accountable, yet you get the feeling Pakistan cricket just isnt good enough to improve its pacers.