cricwiz
First Class Captain
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2009
- Runs
- 4,251
- Post of the Week
- 1
In 1st ODI against Australia, Hafeez (the senior most pro in the side) made a comeback after a long time and was given responsibility to bat at No. 3 irrespective of the fact that the younger player he replaced had made 3 centuries and one 90 in last 4 consecutive innings played as No. 3.
But this has not been the ONLY instance. Name any senior player from Hafeez to Malik, Akmal brothers to Younis Khan etc... ALL of them have said multiple times in public that they WANT to bat higher up the order only. And if some of them are put at No. 5/6 (e.g. Malik / Akmal Jr.) they keep on complaining that they are unable to perform because they are not playing at their natural position. I have never heard a senior batsman say that he is willing to bat down the order to take more responsibility (especially in chasing scenarios).
Today I was reading an interview of Dhoni where he said that "I would've preferred batting at four and playing more overs, but felt it was more important to see if somebody else can bat at four and if I can bat at five, and that gives more power to our batting line-up. http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/story/1077352.html. And to his credit he was there in many successful chases for India as captain. Before Kohli's brilliance it was always Dhoni who batted with lower order to win matches for his country.
Atleast I don't remember a single senior Pakistani batsmen of current era who has said that he wants to bat lower down the order to make the lower order stronger. It's always the case nowadays that whenever top order fails, the middle order comprises of youngsters - for whom the target becomes out of reach. And in my view, this is not a new problem, but decades old problem in Pakistan cricket. Imran Khan said that top four should be the best batsmen. The current seniors interpret Imran's statement as top four should be most senior batsmen.
Will there be a day when a senior batsman from Pakistan wants to sacrifice easy runs at the top of order and take the challange of batting down the order? Or is it oo much to ask from our beloved seniors?
But this has not been the ONLY instance. Name any senior player from Hafeez to Malik, Akmal brothers to Younis Khan etc... ALL of them have said multiple times in public that they WANT to bat higher up the order only. And if some of them are put at No. 5/6 (e.g. Malik / Akmal Jr.) they keep on complaining that they are unable to perform because they are not playing at their natural position. I have never heard a senior batsman say that he is willing to bat down the order to take more responsibility (especially in chasing scenarios).
Today I was reading an interview of Dhoni where he said that "I would've preferred batting at four and playing more overs, but felt it was more important to see if somebody else can bat at four and if I can bat at five, and that gives more power to our batting line-up. http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/story/1077352.html. And to his credit he was there in many successful chases for India as captain. Before Kohli's brilliance it was always Dhoni who batted with lower order to win matches for his country.
Atleast I don't remember a single senior Pakistani batsmen of current era who has said that he wants to bat lower down the order to make the lower order stronger. It's always the case nowadays that whenever top order fails, the middle order comprises of youngsters - for whom the target becomes out of reach. And in my view, this is not a new problem, but decades old problem in Pakistan cricket. Imran Khan said that top four should be the best batsmen. The current seniors interpret Imran's statement as top four should be most senior batsmen.
Will there be a day when a senior batsman from Pakistan wants to sacrifice easy runs at the top of order and take the challange of batting down the order? Or is it oo much to ask from our beloved seniors?
