Middle-order Pakistani Test batters who can dominate

[BunnyRabbit]

So, with Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Usman Salahuddin and Babar Azam(atleast till now) definitely not the guys who can take the bowling attack head on even when set, is there any guy in our domestic cricket who can do that job?

For me Haris Sohail definitely has the skills to do that, but fitness temperament to big(esp in ODIs) has been his biggest enemies till recent past. With his maiden Test 100 out of the way, I hope he scores loads more as I feel among the current middle order batters, he is the only one who can take the bowling attack whether pace or spin to cleaners when set. He has shots all around the ground and makes batting look ridiculously easy with his daft cuts and neat drives. Let's hope he can build on that 100 and be that guy for us we have desperately needed since Younis faded(against pace) and Yousaf retired.

Who do you think can be that guy for us in future?
I know many people will say Saud Shakeel but I am pretty sure the majority of them would not have seen him bat even once.

 

[mastersaan10]

We need to get fakhar at one down or opening, too good of a player to be sitting out. I can guess that first test against sa hafeez fails and hopefully then fakhar gets a chance. Saud shakeel looks really good, Harris Sohail is also good and we should get them in the team soon.
Azhar Ali was our best batsman abroad and hopefully he scores again in SA or otherwise his time is up too, and he is one of my fav player but recently he has been blocking blocking and then trying to hit out. I have no problem with blocking , as we don't even play 5 days but the hitting out is ridiculous

 

[zain7077]

Babar can take the bowling on!

 

[Rayyman]

"So, with Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Usman Salahuddin and Babar Azam(atleast till now) definitely not the guys who can take the bowling attack head on even when set"

Idk if you watch Test matches, but Shafiq plays with the bowlers when he is set. Probably our best batsman. Asad, Babar and Haris are all dominating players.

 

[fluke]

haris fakhar in middle order and babar will be a deadly combo inshAllah

 

[Markhor]

We need our middle order to convert starts and not throw their wickets away after getting set. When Younis Khan crossed 50 you knew he was set for a 100. It doesn't matter whether they do it looking like Viv Richards or Shiv Chanderpaul - I'd love more fluent strokeplayers, but we need batsmen with hunger to score big runs, not settling for a pretty 50.

Right now our middle order batsmen are unreliable and prone to wasting starts. Azhar is totally out of form. Haris can score a fluent 30 or 40 before gifting his wicket. Shafiq is good for one big innings per series max while Babar hasn't clicked in Test cricket yet (that may be beginning to change now). Sarfraz has been woeful with the bat since his appointment as captain.

We need to go back to domestic cricket to find those with the best conversion rates.

 

[Ahson8]

Babar can take the bowling on!

Lol he is literally taking the bowling on right now, batting at a SR of 60.. I don't know what OP expects of him

 

[babajee]

Haris, Babar, Asad, Saud

Fakhar can take the game away up top.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Lol he is literally taking the bowling on right now, batting at a SR of 60.. I don't know what OP expects of him

He's making all the crybabies look like a bunch of losers so they have to find something new to complain about.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

"So, with Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Usman Salahuddin and Babar Azam(atleast till now) definitely not the guys who can take the bowling attack head on even when set"

Idk if you watch Test matches, but Shafiq plays with the bowlers when he is set. Probably our best batsman. Asad, Babar and Haris are all dominating players.

Babar is good against pace but he definitely is not against spin yet. Asad Shafiq has only played a few innings in his career when he has dominated the attack, a century against England in 4th Test and his Gabba inning comes to mind, otherwise he plays well below 50 SR even when he is looking set and confident.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Lol he is literally taking the bowling on right now, batting at a SR of 60.. I don't know what OP expects of him

He has only started to deliver since the England series earlier this year and I hope he continues to improve. Up till that point, he certainly wasn't performing and you know it.

 

[The Viper]

Fakhar in the middle order can be that player. But he did do well as an opener and not sure about the Hafeez/Imam combo.

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

Why people don't realise asad and hafeez are failures one good inning in series don't make you good,
Move on from asad, hafeez and imam invest in usman,saad,saud and sami

 

[MMHS]

Mohammad Hafeez - he is been sacrificed as opener. Even in last ODI he had to play an uncharacteristic innings as opener to take the shine off, which helped Babar & Fakhar to post an imposing total.

From his T20 show, I am sure if he bats at 4, he can dominate any bowling with his scintillating stroke play. Spin was hardly any issue, and this time he is ripe enough to settle scores with Styen, Phillander, Rabada & N'gidi. If I am not wrong, his average in SAF is 11.83, for 12 innings. As they say, in the long run, these stats even out, therefore I am hopeful. If he is to end-up with an average around 35 in SAF, that's like 630 runs in 18 innings - or, around 500 in next 6 (he already has 142 from 12). Even 400 in 3 Tests should take that average beyond 30, which I think is too low for his class, but it'll be absolute series winner if PAK's No. 4 ends a 3 Test SAF tour with 450 runs (in between upper & lower limit).

 

[New Yorker]

So, with Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Usman Salahuddin and Babar Azam(atleast till now) definitely not the guys who can take the bowling attack head on even when set, is there any guy in our domestic cricket who can do that job?

For me Haris Sohail definitely has the skills to do that, but fitness temperament to big(esp in ODIs) has been his biggest enemies till recent past. With his maiden Test 100 out of the way, I hope he scores loads more as I feel among the current middle order batters, he is the only one who can take the bowling attack whether pace or spin to cleaners when set. He has shots all around the ground and makes batting look ridiculously easy with his daft cuts and neat drives. Let's hope he can build on that 100 and be that guy for us we have desperately needed since Younis faded(against pace) and Yousaf retired.

Who do you think can be that guy for us in future?
I know many people will say Saud Shakeel but I am pretty sure the majority of them would not have seen him bat even once.

The question is warped from the outset. We need middle order batsmen who can just bat, which means consistently compiling scores, nothing more and nothing less. Just score at SR 50 or so, but keep scoring. Right now we have a lineup composed of hit-and-giggle players, like Hafeez, who are happy to biff a quick and meaningless 20, sh#t-and-giggle players like Imam and Azhar, who are afraid of the ball, and players whose game awareness deserts them more often than not, ie Shafiq and Sarfraz. The only proper potential batsmen are Babar and Haris, but both have to start putting up bigger scores. I have little faith in Fakhar's suitability for the Test format, making hay in the UAE is not a standard for me, see under Mohammed Hafeez.

 

[Sadozai]

At the moment its Babar Azam and Haris Sohail who can dominate in the middle order in test matches. If there is anyone else, then he is yet to come.

 

[Rayyman]

Babar is good against pace but he definitely is not against spin yet. Asad Shafiq has only played a few innings in his career when he has dominated the attack, a century against England in 4th Test and his Gabba inning comes to mind, otherwise he plays well below 50 SR even when he is looking set and confident.

Also his centuries vs NZ at Sharjah, vs SL at Galle and Dubai. Needs to be batting in the Top 4 and getting big hundreds though. Enough of these soft runs.

 

[ads101]

Babar will come good in tests. You can see from the other formats, he has it in him to score big. Unlike the rest. If he's to be the guy we rely on for big scores, he's got to come higher than 6, lowest 5 as he needs other proper bats around him. He's started slow as he didn't really work things out in domestic first class yet. We could have sent him back to first class domestic and sure he would have fixed his issues quicker, but looks like he's doing that in the international arena.

If you can't score big, you shouldn't be a middle order bat. Open instead, get consistent starts, blunt the new ball for the rest. Hence Azhar should probably open right now.

Asad honestly feels like a waste. So many years invested, and he continues to not dominate in the middle order. He can't even move up from 6. Play him at 6 or not at all now, I have more faith in Babar and Haris than Asad despite the experience Asad has.

Hafeez doesn't have the capability to open right now, and is being sacrificed at the top. He could take Asad's spot, and would probably do a better job at 6 than Asad in UAE, but would rather bring in a new bat. Open with Azhar, Imam and play Fakhar at 3. So would leave Hafeez out. I'd drop Asad too if he doesn't perform this series, and replace him with Saad Ali. Asad's been especially mediocre for 3 years or so now, and time to use the no.6 position to groom in a new young batsman which is what it should have been used for.

Haris throws his wicket too much, and his own fitness issues hinder him. Honestly I feel if he was fit, and wasn't plagued by injury issues, no question he'd be great for us. I think he'll still be good for us, but I don't think he'll be a world class bat for us anymore despite his talent due to fitness and injury issues. Whilst I think Babar most likely will.

The most important quality of a middle order bat is great concentration. You can get by with slightly worse technique. Why guys like Fawad were done injustice, as least they learnt how to consistently score big and not throw their wicket, which a lot of our other bats didn't. Why really I wouldn't want anyone debuting in tests until they've consistently churned out runs (ideally at a 50+ average) for a decent period of time (not just one domestic season). I.e. so you would have confidence they could do it all again, not just one fluky domestic season.

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

Last 12 months:

Babar Avg 55

And here are your "Test" players:

Shafiq avg 36
Haris avg 35
Imam avg 38
Sarfraz avg 27
Azhar avg 17
Hafeez avg 34

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

People need to accept that this is the best batting line-up Pakistan has and also have some patience. Not every player can dominate and impose themselves on bowling attacks but I do think this batting line-up can improve over time because there are some good stroke-makers like Haris, Babar, Fakhar and players of temperament like Asad, Azhar, Imam.

It's also about time that Azhar got out of his lean patch and Asad averaged over 40 because as senior players they need to step up now whereas, Babar,, Fakhar, Haris and Imam still have some time to establish themselves.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

The question is warped from the outset. We need middle order batsmen who can just bat, which means consistently compiling scores, nothing more and nothing less. Just score at SR 50 or so, but keep scoring. Right now we have a lineup composed of hit-and-giggle players, like Hafeez, who are happy to biff a quick and meaningless 20, sh#t-and-giggle players like Imam and Azhar, who are afraid of the ball, and players whose game awareness deserts them more often than not, ie Shafiq and Sarfraz. The only proper potential batsmen are Babar and Haris, but both have to start putting up bigger scores. I have little faith in Fakhar's suitability for the Test format, making hay in the UAE is not a standard for me, see under Mohammed Hafeez.

I think Fakhar is not that bad an option even for Tests outside UAE. He is not a hack, he can bat like a proper batter, can play swing well. He will probably do better than Hafeez all over the world in Tests. The silly dismissals in Asia Cup were due to him playing like a slugger rather than his actual self. I hope Babar Azam can become a really good Test player for us as well. His ability against spin is still under the cloud. I hope Saad Ali can also be a good consistent scorer for Pak.
Haris consistently gets starts, which is a good thing to begin with as he is not a hit or miss guy. His problem lies in converting his starts which I believe is a less difficult than getting big scores on consistent basis as in case of our other batters.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Also his centuries vs NZ at Sharjah, vs SL at Galle and Dubai. Needs to be batting in the Top 4 and getting big hundreds though. Enough of these soft runs.

I don't rate his century against NZ at Sharjah in all honestly, it was inconsequential and would have had no difference on the outcome of the match from the start and NZ bowlers were pretty complacent by the time Asad walked in to bat. The Galle century was a very uncharacteristic Shafiq century, he was very patient and 90% of his runs came with strike rotation. I wouldn't say he dominated the attack that day. He was cautious and grinded it out against a Herath and co. That is probably still his best 100 till now.

I don't think he's consistent enough to merit a no.3 or no.4 place, as simple as that. Haris even in his short career has been more consistent than him.

 

[Rayyman]

I don't rate his century against NZ at Sharjah in all honestly, it was inconsequential and would have had no difference on the outcome of the match from the start and NZ bowlers were pretty complacent by the time Asad walked in to bat. The Galle century was a very uncharacteristic Shafiq century, he was very patient and 90% of his runs came with strike rotation. I wouldn't say he dominated the attack that day. He was cautious and grinded it out against a Herath and co. That is probably still his best 100 till now.

I don't think he's consistent enough to merit a no.3 or no.4 place, as simple as that. Haris even in his short career has been more consistent than him.

Bat him at #3, if he fails then drop him. #5 and #6 positions in Test should be for either a young batsman, or an all-rounder/wicket-keeper. Babar Azam has one of the slots, the other should go to Saad/Salahuddin/Sarfraz or an all-rounder.

Shafiq and middle-order isn't the problem for Pak., though. Problem is Imam, Hafeez and Azhar have been terrible while Haris' poor fitness doesn't allow him to get big scores. You need your best batsmen batting up top and not under pressure. Asad, Haris and Babar need to be at 3,4 and 5.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Bat him at #3, if he fails then drop him. #5 and #6 positions in Test should be for either a young batsman, or an all-rounder/wicket-keeper. Babar Azam has one of the slots, the other should go to Saad/Salahuddin/Sarfraz or an all-rounder.

Shafiq and middle-order isn't the problem for Pak., though. Problem is Imam, Hafeez and Azhar have been terrible while Haris' poor fitness doesn't allow him to get big scores. You need your best batsmen batting up top and not under pressure. Asad, Haris and Babar need to be at 3,4 and 5.

Asad has never been consistent enough even at no.6. You need to perform consistently for a year to earn a higher spot. Like Azhar deliver for a year as an opener, and dropping him to 3 was a pretty silly move IMO. I doubt Asad has ever had a purple patch till now. He's always blowing hot and cold.

Asad though, should have been given a longer rope after his century at no.4(technically no.3 as a nightwatchman came before him) at The Oval in 2016. If I am not wrong he was pushed back down to 6 after twin ducks which was unfair.

 

[Stalin]

No freakin one

 

[Attiq_Lone]

Are You serious? Babar has finally started to perform in tests, he was unlucky for the runout today. Asad is a dominating player once he is set.

The only burden we have is at the top and the tail. Imam should be given a chance alongside either Fakhar or Sami Aslam, Hafeez should retire. Babar is the perfect no.3 and should play at 3. Asad Shafiq Haris Sohail...Sarfraz should come at 7 and at 6 we should have a quality all rounder to bring balance to the side (surely not Bilal Asif).

For the next series drop Azhar Ali and Hafeez and bring Saad Ali and Sami Aslam/Fakhar. Saad Ali must be given chance in the next match.
Imam Sami/Fakhar Opening Babar at 3 Shafiq at 4 Saad Ali at 5 Faheem/Shadab at 6 Sarfraz at 7 and then Yasir Hasan Shaheen Abbas

 

[Shandarchowka]

We need stable players more than dominating players.

 

[srh]

Pakistan has to play Saad Ali in tests. No point in continuing with Hafeez. Drop him for Saad and move Babar Azam to opener.

 

[Stalin]

Pakistan has to play Saad Ali in tests. No point in continuing with Hafeez. Drop him for Saad and move Babar Azam to opener.

Ye T20 nahi hai bhai Jaan