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Is Pakistan finally finding balance in their T20I XI?

Do you think Pakistan has found the right T20I combination?

  • Total voters
    27
Performance against the top 5-6 teams over the next 8-12 months will provide more insight. Batting remains unpredictable. Pace bowling is not up to the mark.
 
AZulfi said:
Performance against the top 5-6 teams over the next 8-12 months will provide more insight. Batting remains unpredictable. Pace bowling is not up to the mark.
Click to expand...
There is too much variability in the batting order. It’s difficult to keep track of who’s playing where. Thankfully Saim and Sahibzada are being persisted with as openers but Saim will have to find some consistency now.

Pace attack may look toothless against stronger opposition. Spinning options are fine for current conditions.
 
Balance will come once haris shows a bit of consistency... He might get dropped if he fails again in the tri-series... I see the doors closing slowly for haris... He really needs to wake up. He is the only weak link atm in the squad..
 
Balance is fine. But for once it seems batting has settled however bolwing has regressed, in particular fast bowling. Need to get that fixed, especially middle and death overs fast bowling as they are being hit around for fun by everyone from WI to Afghantistan to UAE.

Very few Yorkers and good bouncers being used.
 
Need to have 4 pacers +2 spinners (3 + 3 on spinning wickets) without lengthening the tail.
 
They haven't faced any top sides likes of india , Australia, NZ and England . A much needed reality check is awaiting in The Asia cup.

Just 12 days left for bubble to burst. Keep the excuse ready @Rana .

:klopp :kp
 
Devadwal said:
They haven't faced any top sides likes of india , Australia, NZ and England . A much needed reality check is awaiting in The Asia cup.

Just 12 days left for bubble to burst. Keep the excuse ready @Rana .

:klopp :kp
Click to expand...
I dont think pak can compete against sena / india outside subcontinent anywhere.we have to see whether they can compete in sub continent or not.we will know in 6 months.i dont think they can.They need 22 t20 wc bowling with good batsmen playing with current strategy.Pak dont have anything in those categories.
 
I think Pakistan’s are mainly just missing a good no.3 to hold it together in terms of balance. There’s good performances mid order by Hasan Nawaz and Agha. Saim and Farhan have also been decent, maybe saims been a little less consistent than we would have hoped but he’s showing promise. Nawaz and Faheem also doing alright which gives some fire power down the order. Even bowling wise, although I don’t think it’s incredible, we do have a decent lot of pacers and spinners if not remarkable.

When the opening partnership is broken, the no.3 is unreliable and it kind of just triggers the collapse and puts increased pressure on the openers.

Fakhar’s just not reliable at 3. And neither do I think Haris will be. You can’t count on them to reliably stay in and tick the scoreboard over at that position. Fakhar looks a lot more comfortable coming in late. Haris doesn’t look great at any position lately, and I can’t imagine him turning into that player we need. This line up isn’t missing more hitters right now we just need more stability.

Fakhar and Haris really feel like the weak links in this line up, and we badly need one to step up at 3. Or options to replace them. I think we can carry one weaker batsman down the order, but not having a performing batsman at 3 really hurts the team.

Maybe we just give no.3 to Haris right now and hope he somehow comes good. Or maybe try Saud at 3. But I’m kind of erring to someone more reliable so maybe Saud is a shout given Babars out of form.
 
In this xi M Nawaz comes in at no 6. That doesn’t sound like a balanced t20 side at all.
 
We are repeating the same mistakes in every game

- Batsmen needlessly getting out when set: Fakhar attempted a big swish when the RRR was <9 and he had already hit a couple of boundaries before then. There is no need to go aerial all the time. He should have looked to stay at the wicket as he was well set. Lack of game awareness.

- Batsmen needlessly running themselves out: Salman Agha

- Batsmen losing their focus and concentration after a break: Hassan Nawaz

- Batsmen unable to read which way the ball is turning: Haris. So it might be worth opening with him with only 2 fielders outside the circle in pp. He is not contributing much down the order any way.

It is alarming that many of our batsmen struggle to play quality spin. They should go and watch videos of Javed Miandad and Younis Khan. How they used to play with soft hands (so that you don’t give catching practice to close-in fielders) and milk the spinners for ones and twos. You can score just as quickly by rotating the strike well.
 
Because you cannot predict how Nawaz and Faheem will bowl or bat, there is no balance to the team.

They need to be replaced by a proper batter and a proper bowler.
 
Energy said:
Because you cannot predict how Nawaz and Faheem will bowl or bat, there is no balance to the team.

They need to be replaced by a proper batter and a proper bowler.
Click to expand...
Nawaz has been bowling really well. In fact he’s been arguably our best player last few series. And offers something with the bat. I think he’s fine for the allrounder spot and earn’t his place for now.

Faheem is a bigger issue and usually I agree with you. But then again he did do well last match. I’d rather have Abbas afridi. But then I do understand the advantage of having someone who can hold a bat a bit as long as he can bowl half way decently. Problem is sometimes faheem is just too bad bowling it’s an issue. Others days he’s fine. And while Shaheen and Haris especially take wickets you kind of want a reliable pacer next to them who at least stems the flow of runs. Abbas is closer to that.
 
Even our top performers are inconsistent at best. Others are consistently poor.

This ain’t a settled xi by any means. Flux is the name of the game at PCB.
 
You need a batter who can keep it all together and fakhar isnt that man. Never was in t20i.
This hit or burst strategy works in leagues not intl.
I hope we win every coming tournament because my inner fan wants us to win but fakhar and Haris need to atleast swap places(ideally replaced by other players).
Haris doesn't have the power to clear fence with old ball.

Idk why abbas isnt in squad bcz he really deserves to be there.

Nawaz is batting too high sometimes. Idky they never trust faheem to send him up the order. Try him every game or two and he ll bring results more than haris.
 
The Tri series & Asia cup is all about finding the right balance & right profile of players for next year T20WC.

Mike Hesson has described the playing style that he wants Pakistan team to incorporate. It's now upto the players to fit his profile.
 
Forget balance these players are not fit. they go out of breath saving one boundary and bowling 3-4 overs in an spell. Forget about running between the wickets first fix that produce athletes to compete then look for "balance"
 
Meanwhile

Pakistan ranked the worst fielding side among 41 Teams
Since the start of 2024, Pakistan have shown alarming fielding stats, having dropped 48 catches, failed to convert 98 run-out chances, and committed 89 misfields

crictoday.com

Pakistan ranked the worst fielding side among 41 Teams

Pakistan suffer 18-run loss to Afghanistan in tri-series as poor fielding continues to hurt their T20 campaign in Sharjah.
crictoday.com crictoday.com
 
No.

Balance implies you are addressing the issues of the weakest part of your game without compromising on the others. For instance if bowling is your weak link you would try to replace one of your specialist bats with a bowling allrounder and vice versa.

Presently, we can't be sure what our weakest link is as we seem to be struggling in all departments equally. But given the team's strategy we can assume the management feels batting and run rate are our main weaknesses. To counter that they have decided to compromise on bowling and include allrounders to lengthen the batting and allow the batsmen to play aggressively.

I feel that in addressing the batting weakness we have further weakened our already weak bowling attack. A couple of years ago we had an in-form bowling unit with Shaheen, Rauf and Naseem. Presently, Shaheen is ok, Rauf is totally unpredictable, and Naseem is totally out of form. We have added Faheem and Nawaz to the XI to bolster the bowling but the former rarely bowls and therefore his role in the team is highly questionable. I have always been a believer in specialists and have seen enough of the game to know that if your top 7 bats or main bowlers can't win you a game the bits and pieces player won't ever be able to do it either. We are lucky to have two very good part timers in Salman and Saim but their bowling will always be a bonus. Nawaz has been good with the ball but like always he gets exposed when batting under pressure. Our spinners perhaps have been the best part of our attack so far and that raises the question that if Abrar and Muqeem have been our best wicket taking options then why not play them both or try building our attack around spin? I would have even tried Faisal Akram in this tournament to gauge his skills at the highest level. Playing both Nawaz and Faheem weakens the bowling and doesn't make sense. I would instead go with an attack comprising Shaheen, Abbas, Abrar, Rauf/Muqeem, Nawaz/Faheem, depending on conditions.

Batting has its own issues. I would persist with Farhan and Saim despite their failures but Fakhar at 3 hasn't been convincing. He has always been a scratchy starter and particularly so in T20s. At the top his failure can be countered but at 3 coming in after the loss of an early wicket he will either stymie the run rate or get out. Unfortunately, I don't have a good solution for this apart from a questionable one but one based on some logic. I have been consistently hearing that Hasan Nawaz is our best talent in a while. If so, my question is why is the guy batting so low down the order? Every team likes to bat its best batsman in the top 3 or 4 to maximize their impact. If Hasan is indeed a capable enough player why is he being hidden at 5 or 6? Why not bring him up at 3 or 4 to give him more time at the crease. Surely if he is good enough he will flourish. All of Pakistan's best batsmen, and that of any other team for that matter, have batted at either 3 or 4. My views on Haris are clear, I don't think he belongs, at least not yet but I don't see him being dropped. In that case his best use would be as a floater. Our biggest issue is the lack of a proper finisher and there is no apparent solution to that.

All in all I don't think we have achieved a balanced team and to be honest I don't think we will be able to given the fact that we are trying not to play to our strengths but trying to adapt to what the other teams are doing despite not having the players to do that. Instead we have decided to compromise on our already weak bowling to build an illusion of lengthening our batting.
 
Rana said:
Very interesting stat. I heard a journalist saying Pakistan has hit a total of 36 sixes in the last 4 games in the UAE. This prompted me to check the stats of Pakistan’s last Asia cup T20 tournament which was a total of 7 matches and see how many sixes. I count a total of 30 :ROFLMAO:

@mominsaigol @topspin @RyanRyan10 @shaz619


Click to expand...
Pakistan have a dot-ball percentage of 40.7 in T20Is post the T20 WC 2024. The third-most among full-member teams.

#Fact

:klopp :kp
 
Devadwal said:
Pakistan have a dot-ball percentage of 40.7 in T20Is post the T20 WC 2024. The third-most among full-member teams.

#Fact

:klopp :kp
Click to expand...
Devad, grow up mate. Your comments get more and more childish every single day. I now genuinely feel bad for bullying you for a year lol since I was bullying a 2 year old lol.
 
Devadwal said:
Pakistan have a dot-ball percentage of 40.7 in T20Is post the T20 WC 2024. The third-most among full-member teams.

#Fact

:klopp :kp
Click to expand...
A high dot-ball percentage is fine as long as you are scoring in boundaries. A high dot-ball percentage without the required number of boundaries is suicide.

What’s the boundary percentage been for Pakistan in the past year or so?

Shouldn’t count since WC2024, as we had RizBar playing three T20 series post that tournament.
 
mominsaigol said:
Devad, grow up mate. Your comments get more and more childish every single day. I now genuinely feel bad for bullying you for a year lol since I was bullying a 2 year old lol.
Click to expand...
Ahhh here comes wannabe , everyone's know who exposed whom . Mate :klopp :kp
 
Usman Chadda said:
A high dot-ball percentage is fine as long as you are scoring in boundaries. A high dot-ball percentage without the required number of boundaries is suicide.

What’s the boundary percentage been for Pakistan in the past year or so?

Shouldn’t count since WC2024, as we had RizBar playing three T20 series post that tournament.
Click to expand...
Pakistan in this period lost the series with Australia, South Africa NZ, Bangladesh and matches with Afghanistan , WI
 
Rana said:
Very interesting stat. I heard a journalist saying Pakistan has hit a total of 36 sixes in the last 4 games in the UAE. This prompted me to check the stats of Pakistan’s last Asia cup T20 tournament which was a total of 7 matches and see how many sixes. I count a total of 30 :ROFLMAO:

@mominsaigol @topspin @RyanRyan10 @shaz619


Click to expand...

Looks like:

Babar Hayat (Hong Kong): 2 sixes
Babar Azam: no sixes
 
A total of 30 sixes in 7 games lol




Hahaahahahhaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahaahhaahahahahahahahahhaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahaa
 
Devadwal said:
Pakistan have a dot-ball percentage of 40.7 in T20Is post the T20 WC 2024. The third-most among full-member teams.

#Fact

:klopp :kp
Click to expand...
Do you even think before posting? Whether the dot ball percentage is s crucial factor or not, the time period in the stats you copied includes a couple of series played under Rizwan. He scored 16 runs off 26 balls in one of the matches where Pakistan couldn't chase 148.
 
RyanRyan10 said:
Do you even think before posting? Whether the dot ball percentage is s crucial factor or not, the time period in the stats you copied includes a couple of series played under Rizwan. He scored 16 runs off 26 balls in one of the matches where Pakistan couldn't chase 148.
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Few days ago intent merchent didn't even scored a boundary for 58 balls. Hahaha

Kab tak Babar/ rizwan ke piche chupte rahoge ?

Asia cup main or pta lag jayega jab india , Afghanistan, Lanka se khelenge ye tunhare tullebaaz

:klopp :kp
 
i dont think there would be much changes in the top 10. It will be fixed throughout the asia cup, only changes in the top 7 would be the batting order as per situation.

Saim
Farhan
Fakhar
Salman
Nawaz
Haris
M Nawaz
Faheem Ashraf
Shaheen Shah
Abrar
Sufiyan/Haris/Salman

Pretty much settled. Maybe sufiyan at 11 in spin friendly conditons. Haris Rauf in if conditions favor pace.

Honestly win or lose, glad to see pakistan able to stick to certain players. Haris wk has been a flop so far. Maybe usman would have worked. If farhan can keep wickets, maybe talat or kushdil in for haris wk. but too late to experiment
 
If you call this balance, then what exactly would you refer to as imbalance? It took a lot of effort and we had to bring our A game to defeat the mighty UAE.
 
RidiculousMan said:
Need to try Wasim Jr. Death bowling is hard these days. Teams normally look to score at least 10 an over.

If Wasim Jr can deliver with the ball then we can look to play him ahead of Faheem.
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wasim jnr is like a bowling machine which is set to bowl those juicy half volleys at ideal hittable pace.
 
Devadwal said:
Few days ago intent merchent didn't even scored a boundary for 58 balls. Hahaha

Kab tak Babar/ rizwan ke piche chupte rahoge ?

Asia cup main or pta lag jayega jab india , Afghanistan, Lanka se khelenge ye tunhare tullebaaz

:klopp :kp
Click to expand...
You only mentioned statistics which includes matches featuring them. But then you need brain to understand what you must copy paste.
 
RyanRyan10 said:
You only mentioned statistics which includes matches featuring them. But then you need brain to understand what you must copy paste.
Click to expand...
You first look at the mirror instead hiding behind Rizbar as always.

58 balls without hitting a single boundary - remember this

::shh:misbah:kp
 
Usman Chadda said:
A high dot-ball percentage is fine as long as you are scoring in boundaries. A high dot-ball percentage without the required number of boundaries is suicide.

What’s the boundary percentage been for Pakistan in the past year or so?

Shouldn’t count since WC2024, as we had RizBar playing three T20 series post that tournament.
Click to expand...
Pakistan's team strike rate in 2025 is less than their strike rate in 2007. I know a couple of guys who come here and whack. But you have other guys pulling you down.
 
Usman Chadda said:
Stats. Now.
Click to expand...
Just to be fair i excluded stats against associates.

Screenshot-2025-09-03-135109.jpg
 
RyanRyan10 said:
you ask him an explanation on the numbers he copied from somewhere and he shifts the goalpost.
Click to expand...
You talk to him about anything and he'll shift the goalpost lol.

Only he can shift an argument about Ponting's influence in IPL towards Ponting jumping out of a plane or some parachute nonsense.

Or how cricket is a sport and a mantis or how elephant's teeth are for showing and not for eating.

^^ Idk, the conversations are all wack.
 
Against big teams we need one solid batter. We have good balance but adding Babar would really make this a pretty good team.
 
salman24 said:
Against big teams we need one solid batter. We have good balance but adding Babar would really make this a pretty good team.
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No adding Babar or Rizwan will bring back the negative mindset.

They are not 23-26 year olds. They are over the hill, worked out, written off Middle aged men. They won’t improve anything.
 
Getting rid of Babar/Rizwan who consume a lot of balls at moderate strike rate was just the first step. I don't think Pakistan has reached a stage where they can safely stop iterating players. If anything new team requires stronger scrutiny. Otherwise you will carry on with three or four mediocre players for 4 years and realize.. "What have we done". These guys are not prodigies. Can throw their bat around for a few overs and add quick runs. But teams will figure them out. Will they have the technique to respond to that? Not quiet sure. Nobody cares about the result in this format unless it is world cup. So Pakistan should continue iterating. My 2 cents.
 
Rana said:
No adding Babar or Rizwan will bring back the negative mindset.

They are not 23-26 year olds. They are over the hill, worked out, written off Middle aged men. They won’t improve anything.
Click to expand...
The problem with you is that you are too prejudiced and agenda driven against these 2. It's part of your identity and now you can't backtrack on it. It's hard I know.

Anyway, if you were able to be flexible like most smart people who are able to change their views, you will realize that's it's not one or the other. It doesn't mean if Babar plays that a new and better combination cannot be made. Some of the new changes are good and with the addition you will add the missing link of a solid and consistent batsman where this team collapses. You need that calm head with the aggression of the other players.
 
salman24 said:
The problem with you is that you are too prejudiced and agenda driven against these 2. It's part of your identity and now you can't backtrack on it. It's hard I know.
Click to expand...
No that’s like saying I know they are decent T20 players or can be good T20 players, but I am intentionally neglecting it.

That’s not true at all. I’ve seen them well enough. I’ve heard them well enough. I know what their strengths are. I know their insistence on playing the same way, I know their reluctance to embrace a change in which they have to put the team first.

Sorry. Enough is enough. Move on!
 
When a team has so many passenger players in its final 11, there is no balance.
1) Saim - Perform only one / two games out of 10
2) Farhan - so far failed in all the Four matches
3) Fakhar - playing like hack but at times he was lucky
4) Haris - Less said about him is better , he should never play for national team
Faheem- A nothing player so is Nawaz .
Hasan and Agha Salman are only performing well
Bowling is looks toothless so not sure how this team is balance?
 
PAKFAN12 said:
When a team has so many passenger players in its final 11, there is no balance.
1) Saim - Perform only one / two games out of 10
2) Farhan - so far failed in all the Four matches
3) Fakhar - playing like hack but at times he was lucky
4) Haris - Less said about him is better , he should never play for national team
Faheem- A nothing player so is Nawaz .
Hasan and Agha Salman are only performing well
Bowling is looks toothless so not sure how this team is balance?
Click to expand...
Agreed,
Saim has looked good at times, but failing to convert starts into big scores
Farhan is a hit-or-miss player. needs to tighten up his game.
Fakhar has X factor but needs to show more consistency with the bat
Hassan Nawaz, with scores of 9, 56, 9, and 3, has so far been disappointing in this series.
Haris: The less said, the better
Faheem is a bits-and-pieces player. Not a genuine all-rounder. Although he has batted and bowled well in a couple of games
Agha batted well in the first game only
Pace bowling esp. death bowling is a shambles
Abrar should have played all 4 games.
Nawaz has been decent with both bat and ball.
Rauf: takes wickets but is ultra-expensive in every game

Bottom line: Batting remains unpredictable, pace bowling is toothless
 
AZulfi said:
Agreed,
Saim has looked good at times, but failing to convert starts into big scores
Farhan is a hit-or-miss player. needs to tighten up his game.
Fakhar has X factor but needs to show more consistency with the bat
Hassan Nawaz, with scores of 9, 56, 9, and 3, has so far been disappointing in this series.
Haris: The less said, the better
Faheem is a bits-and-pieces player. Not a genuine all-rounder. Although he has batted and bowled well in a couple of games
Agha batted well in the first game only
Pace bowling esp. death bowling is a shambles
Abrar should have played all 4 games.
Nawaz has been decent with both bat and ball.
Rauf: takes wickets but is ultra-expensive in every game

Bottom line: Batting remains unpredictable, pace bowling is toothless
Click to expand...
I don't blame our players because this is the potential of these players. Our system is producing mediocre players.
Unless we fix our system, replacing and removing players will not yield any different results.
My advice is to everyones - keep your expectations very low so that you don't feel disappointed when we lose.
 
jnaveen1980 said:
Directly got from cricinfo stats. I extracted it myself. It is not that hard. AN 8 year old can do that.
Click to expand...
This chart is weird as Pakistan should in no way have a SR of 130+ in 2024, when we had one of the worst SRs in the T20WC and the matches around that.

I would think the Bangladesh series at home and this tri-series would have contributed to a higher strike-rate for this team.
 
Usman Chadda said:
This chart is weird as Pakistan should in no way have a SR of 130+ in 2024, when we had one of the worst SRs in the T20WC and the matches around that.

I would think the Bangladesh series at home and this tri-series would have contributed to a higher strike-rate for this team.
Click to expand...
It doesn't matter. In 2025 all the matches were played by your new team against mostly weak teams. In terms of run rate pakistan run rate is middling 7.96. But they went at 8.39. Difference is in the negative. Pakistan has weakened their bowling by loading up the side with all rounders for very small upgrade in run rate.


Team​
RR​
Economy​
Difference​
New zealand9.147.721.42
India8.917.91.01
Australia9.509.210.29
Afghanistan7.947.870.07
South Africa8.168.20.03
Bangladesh7.938.01-0.07
Pakistan7.968.39-0.39
Sri Lanka7.988.6-0.61
England8.689.31-0.63
West Indies8.799.99-1.19
Zimbabwe6.888.47-1.59
Ireland7.599.24-1.64
 
You can balance this team easily by taking out Faheem and Nawaz and replacing with one bowler and one batter.
 
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