Mohammad Rizwan in ODIs - Does he deserve his place?

[UzmanBeast]

Average has dipped far below 28.

Has produced no knock of substantial-quality since replacing Sarfaraz.

If I'm not mistaken, this is his 8th ODI since comeback without any results to show, averaging probably less than a tailender, and is occupying such a major position at 4. I believe he has played 8 games without any substantial score.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a total Rizwan supporter, but I think he's had ample opportunities without any results to show.

At #4, we need a steady hand to guide the innings and stay there. It's a position for someone who can step up in a collapse, which Rizwan has done plenty of times in test cricket but hasn't done in ODI cricket.

I think we need to try another wicket-keeper option, someone who is performing up to the levels.

 

[Abdurmirr]

Fair enough considering his form and just how lost he's looked batting at 4.

Only replacement i can imagine is Sarfraz, however I wouldn't be surprised if age has caught up with him and he fails to perform as he did before. Plus as a keeper he would be a major downgrade compared to Rizwan.

Other guys like Rohail Nazir are way to young and I reckon the mess we made with Naseem and Haider should be enough to deter us from rushing in other up and coming players into the team.

 

[marlonbrowndo]

Based on his T20 form and play style, he easily warrants a spot in ODIs as our wicket keeper batsman.

 

[hitthestump]

Rizwan has repeatedly proved everyone wrong so far, and it is bound to happen again. You back him and he'll come good. Not like we have any Gilchrists's in domestics after all.

 

[Barragan]

Drop imam and move Rizwan to opening.

Maqsood should move to no. 4, where he can get his eye in and score big.

 

[Hawkeye]

No.

He's not a T20 or ODI batsman.

Too many people can't see through his flaws.

 

[UzmanBeast]

Rizwan has repeatedly proved everyone wrong so far, and it is bound to happen again. You back him and he'll come good. Not like we have any Gilchrists's in domestics after all.

I know, but the 2023 World Cup is in 2 years.

We barely play any ODI cricket.

We need to think of other options in case Rizwan is unable to produce results.

 

[UzmanBeast]

Drop imam and move Rizwan to opening.

Maqsood should move to no. 4, where he can get his eye in and score big.

I was thinking of something quite bizarre but I think it will work wonderfully well.

Imam can be benched for a while until he figures out what his role in the team is.

Maqsood moves to open with Fakhar. Maqsood has that power and timing to lift it over the infield consistently and scores at a good pace. And, he plays proper cricketing strokes as well, and has good hitting range.

Fakhar and Maqsood opening will be destructive.

For the third ODI, I think this playing XI is worth a shout:

Fakhar Zaman
Sohaib Maqsood
Babar Azam (c)
Saud Shakeel
Sarfaraz Ahmed
Salman Ali Agha
Shadab Khan (vc)
Hasan Ali
Mohammad Hasnain
Shaheen Shah Afridi

 

[marlonbrowndo]

I was thinking of something quite bizarre but I think it will work wonderfully well.

Imam can be benched for a while until he figures out what his role in the team is.

Maqsood moves to open with Fakhar. Maqsood has that power and timing to lift it over the infield consistently and scores at a good pace. And, he plays proper cricketing strokes as well, and has good hitting range.

Fakhar and Maqsood opening will be destructive.

For the third ODI, I think this playing XI is worth a shout:

Fakhar Zaman
Sohaib Maqsood
Babar Azam (c)
Saud Shakeel
Sarfaraz Ahmed
Salman Ali Agha
Shadab Khan (vc)
Hasan Ali
Mohammad Hasnain
Shaheen Shah Afridi

This is Pakistan. There’s no way these guys make Maqsood opener even if he has a high chance of doing well in that position.

 

[UzmanBeast]

This is Pakistan. There’s no way these guys make Maqsood opener even if he has a high chance of doing well in that position.

You're right, unfortunately.

We desperately need Andy Flower to coach. He has good forward thinking.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

I always put technique above scores, and Rizwan for me is the best equipped player in this regard after Babar. All players go through bad patches, but as long as their game is sound, the runs will come.

Pakistan only has two proper batsmen so it's pointless carping about those two.

 

[Greenstorm]

I was thinking of something quite bizarre but I think it will work wonderfully well.

Imam can be benched for a while until he figures out what his role in the team is.

Maqsood moves to open with Fakhar. Maqsood has that power and timing to lift it over the infield consistently and scores at a good pace. And, he plays proper cricketing strokes as well, and has good hitting range.

Fakhar and Maqsood opening will be destructive.

For the third ODI, I think this playing XI is worth a shout:

Fakhar Zaman
Sohaib Maqsood
Babar Azam (c)
Saud Shakeel
Sarfaraz Ahmed
Salman Ali Agha
Shadab Khan (vc)
Hasan Ali
Mohammad Hasnain
Shaheen Shah Afridi

Maqsood will do well at 4.
It's better to try Rizwan or Saud at opening in place of imam.

 

[AdamM97]

Rizwan is still our best WK batsman, please don't go back to Sarfraz.

 

[Rana]

A resounding NO!

 

[Rana]

This is Pakistan. There’s no way these guys make Maqsood opener even if he has a high chance of doing well in that position.

Great post Einstien, if they can make Rizwan and Imam open the batting in T20i then how will the same Pakistan never make Maqsood or any other decent bat an opener????

 

[Rana]

Imam averaging 50 as an ODI opener and has two failures,

So the solution for Rizwan fans is to replace Imam at the top, even though Rizwan has been an ODI failure for most part of his career!

 

[Usman Chadda]

Imam averaging 50 as an ODI opener and has two failures,

So the solution for Rizwan fans is to replace Imam at the top, even though Rizwan has been an ODI failure for most part of his career!

Rizwan will cost us important matches in T20s aswell, mark this post.

However he is clearly the best wicket-keeper batsman we have in the country, so no point cribbing about this I guess.

 

[Titan24]

Yes he hasnt performed upto the standards till now however, he has done pretty well in two other formats and considering his overall keeping ability and other options available I think he deserves the place at the moment.

Hassan Ali's ODI from wasnt great as well before his injury and even after however, today he was able to deliver with the confidence he have had from other two formats.

Yes with the recent outings against SA and Eng maybe no 4 isnt the most suitable for for now.

 

[Cric1234]

Imam averaging 50 as an ODI opener and has two failures,

So the solution for Rizwan fans is to replace Imam at the top, even though Rizwan has been an ODI failure for most part of his career!

What’s Imams average minus Zimbabwe and other minnows or his strike rate clearly he’s not up to it unless it’s flat wickets even then he can’t win matches.

Rizwan isnt made for the middle order it’s either opening or nothing in ODIs.

Rizwan
Fakhar
Babar
Akmal
Saud
Maqsood
Imad

At the moment it’s close to the best team we can put out Saud is steady and can play if there’s power hitters around him.

 

[Saj]

Rizwan has just 85 runs in his last 8 ODI innings.

 

[Majestic]

Imam is an extremely medicore mental midget player. There is no way he should be playing this many games in LOIs in present era for a top team when the demand of ODIs is a minimum strike rate of 90.

 

[sharmaji]

It is bizarre that Rizwan has done extremely well in both T20s (means he can play at high SR) and Tests (so he can play a long innings), but not in ODIs which require just that: play long innings at good SR. I wonder why.