How far can they get without good support though? Rizwan seems to be during a purple patch but no idea how long it will last, not one other batsman looks to be even Vihari, Latham, Nicholls, Pujara, Rahane level.
You need these kind of support batsmen to bat around Babar like Kohli or Williamson, we don’t have anyone like that. The hope is that we can find someone soon between Saud, Haider, and Kamran Ghulam.
Fawad, Abid, and Azhar will be out of the side by the time Babar and Shaheen find their purple patch. Who will replace them?
Who will support Shaheen with the new ball or the old ball?
We have a lot of problems - not only is this current Pak side one of the worst we’ve ever had, there’s no clear direction no matter who the management is and we’re likely to be “rebuilding” for another 3 years or so. I don’t envy the job, a lot depends on 3-4 unknown commodities stepping up quickly. That’s unlikely.
The only way for us to move up from this pit we've reached is through experimentation, and that's something I expect from Mohammad Wasim, and I hope he doesn't disappoint. A lot of people here were talking about how we won't improve with changes, but need I remind you that the likes of Kohli, Williamson, Babar, and the others were all made because someone gave them a chance. Babar was horrible in tests until that SA tour, and it looks like a lot of us have forgotten.
Until, and only until you try the resources at your disposal, such as domestic batsmen and bowlers, you cannot claim that the team won't improve.
Get some new players in, see how they adapt to the team. Set up victories with planning and execution.
And one thing I want to say is that be merciless with pitch curations at home. New Zealand have batted us out heavily, and they know that our weaknesses lie in both batting and bowling. South Africa will come soon, so I suggest that whoever is in the management should think long and hard about creating the dustiest, driest pitch they can so that we can spin South Africa back to Johannesburg.
Stop trying to "create competitive pitches" when countries we tour don't care about that at all. Bring youngsters into a winning environment where young spinners have things assisting them, and our batsmen can play with less risks to allow them to settle. Dry pitches offer nothing to fast bowlers unless you get some overcase conditions. South Africa were outdone the same way by India, through dust tracks and the left-right hand combo of Ashwin and Jadeja.
The bowling attack needs a total revamp. Bring in Hasan, kick out Naseem and Abbas. In place of Abbas, play Faheem if you still want someone to do the holding role, or bring in a domestic player like Ehsan Adil, Usman Shinwari, Irfanullah Shah, Mir Hamza, etc.
The most important thing this team can do is find a few players to gather behind and get that confidence and self-belief back. Failure happens, that's normal, but learn from failure. I saw a measly low ranked Pakistan team in 2017 with players who were unheard of step up and win a trophy against giants. We have been in dark phases, that was one of our darkest time periods in white ball cricket. This is our darkest time period in test cricket. The way we survived then was by introducing youth in the form of Shadab, Babar, Hasan, Faheem, etc. We must look to do the same now. Inshallah, we will become a better team.
