Pakistan Test priority number 1: Bowlers who can bat

[Junaids]

I disagree with most of the hand-wringing about Pakistan's Abu Dhabi Test defeats in 2017 and 2018 chasing less than 200 against Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

To me the problem is really, really simple.

Pakistan's batsmen can't bat.

And there are no emerging batsmen who can bat.

So you need to get as many runs out of Numbers 6-10 as you get from Numbers 1-5.

It's not that hard. The Top Five batsmen are frequently at the crease inside the first 30 overs anyway, whereas Six To Ten should be batting against the old ball.

I'm sick of people saying "pick the best four bowlers". Let's be frank, Mohammad Abbas is the only world class bowler, with Yasir Shah being useful in Asia and Mohammad Amir being useful in England and Ireland.

And there it ends.

The recall of Mohammad Hafeez has, let's be honest, gone as badly as it possibly could have.

Hafeez scored 126 on a slow, flat pitch at Dubai, since which time he has scored 17, 4, 6, 20 and 10.

Yes, in those three Tests he averages 30.50.

But actually in his last five Test innings in straightforward conditions Mohammad Hafeez averages 11.40.

And in those 3 Test matches he has only bowled 13 overs!

So of course Mohammad Hafeez must go. But even without him, Imam-ul-Haq and Babar Azam and Asad Shafiq have clear psychological frailties while Azhar Ali is a geriatric limited batsman in age-related decline.

Pakistan's batsmen are not going to score enough runs in South Africa next month or in Australia in 12 months.

So the team outside Asia needs to be selected to ensure enough runs from Numbers 6 (Sarfraz Ahmed), 7 (Shadab Khan), 8 (Faheem Ashraf) and 9 (Mohammad Amir) to convert 150-5 into 260 all out.

 

[ahmedzee]

Well, I agree with above but we need batsmen who can bat as well.

 

[coy0607]

what? how are there no upcoming batsmen?

Saad Ali, Saud have been pilling up the runs. I'm sure there are others too. They just aren't getting chances cause you have dead weight in Hafeez, Azhar, Asad...

age old problem in Pakistan cricket, washed up seniors play well well past their prime

 

[Square Drive]

Bilal, Yasir, Hasan can all bat.

But they can't.

 

[mastersaan10]

Yes, let's not choose a batsman who scored 2 50s on debut and bench him while others striggle to take singles and then blame the bowlers for getting out the opposition for 170 and 240. If we had bowlers who can bat, we would have to chase 400 and these batsman can't even make 140 comfortably.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Little bit of commonsense was all needed. Ishant is not exactly a great technical wizard. But he can hang around. He helped us win a very very important test for India against Australia.

 

[Savak]

The bowlers have to be capable of taking 10 wickets first, if they are capable of that, then they get selected and then you work on their batting.

No point in picking a tail ender with decent batting abilities if he is going to bowl like a part timer.

 

[Hasan123]

Specialist bowlers over fake all rounders anyday. Bilal is supposedly an all rounder yet he looks like a hack with no technique.

Need to ditch Hafeez for a specialist batsmen.

 

[Arsalan Pro]

This can be priority on bowling friendly conditions(overseas), but on batting tracks even Pakistani batsmen will score.

 

[AAli98]

Last game

Bilal- 0
Yasir-0
Hasan-0
Abbas - you got it

Just like the old days if a top 7 batsman is run out & any tailender scoring 0 should sit out the next game the only way these guys will learn the run chase yesterday not one of them had a brain cell between them.

 

[Ab Fan]

The thing is your main batsmen bats the way like Botham, Stokes, Imran, Kapil, even Moeen.

While your wicket-keeper and all-rounders bats like tail-enders. It was terrible the way Pakistan lower order from Sarfaraz onwards bottled it in a small run-chase in UAE.

When Asad Shafiq and Mohammad Hafeez average under 40 after such good samples, there is not much to explain. Others are new-comers, so I am not even mentioning their batting averages. And there is Azhar who may average 44(thanks to 300 vs WI) but has a SR of 41 and is mostly impactless.

 

[Arsalan Pro]

Last game

Bilal- 0
Yasir-0
Hasan-0
Abbas - you got it

Just like the old days if a top 7 batsman is run out & any tailender scoring 0 should sit out the next game the only way these guys will learn the run chase yesterday not one of them had a brain cell between them.

Even though you are right, if not for Yasir and Hasan we would have been chasing 300+, good luck chasing that Pakistani team

 

[AAli98]

Unless your tailenders are visually impaired they should be scoring 10-15 runs each no excuses at the highest level... thats 60 odd runs added to the total.

 

[QuickCrick]

Or the bowlers can spend abit of time in nets and learn to bat...

 

[dildilpak]

First priority...finding batsmen who can bat & bowlers who can bowl in their home conditions
Second priority... getting rid of a captain who can neither bat, nor be a great keeper

After that lets talk about bowlers who can bat or vice-versa

 

[BreadPakoda]

Pakistan needs bowlers who can bat and batsman who can bowl.

Basically, Pakistan needs bits and pieces.

 

[We Bleed Green]

Bowlers with no batting skills must be dropped

We all know how mediocre our batting line up is and the inclusion of Sarfraz as keeper and four specialist bowlers with little batting skills makes our tail the longest tail in test cricket right now.

We must drop Sarfraz and select some one who can bat as a keeper in Test Cricket.

Secondly we can not have four bowlers with no batting skills so we really should play Shadab instead of Yasir in South Africa to boost our batting.

We should also consider Faheem Ashraf instead of Hassan Ali to further boost our batting. Abbas can replace Faheem when fit.

The remaining bowlers, Amir and Afridi really should improve their batting.

If you look at all the other teams, then they all bat quite deep and even India with a very strong batting line up was criticized heavily for selecting four bowlers with little batting skills in the second test match against Australia.

 

[j_kazmi]

Maybe we should look to find some batsmen who can bat first

 

[ILcricket]

ridiculous . Next you will say batsmen who can bowl . You pick your 4 best bowlers NOT on their batting ability . For that you have the all rounder spot which is your 5th bowling option .

 

[Abid Z]

I think op needs a reality check. We are struggling as it is fielding 4 world class bowlers let alone for world class bowlers who can contribute useful runs down the order. That would indeed be a luxury, for now pick 4 decent bowlers and 5 decent batsmen with a couple of good all rounders. The rest will improve slowly as the depth in squad emerges.

 

[Savak]

I repeat that this is a double edged sword. You can't get bits and pieces cricketers just because they bat better. To win test matches you need 20 wickets, the current bowlers just have got to improve their batting.

 

[last_knight]

Make it mandatory for all capped bowlers to bat no lower than 7 in domestic FC matches.

 

[Buffet]

You pick your 4 best bowlers. If some one is comparable , only then you look for their batting. If you pick bowlers for their batting, then opposition will have easier time batting.

Today Pakistan bowled many poor balls and allowed SA to score some runs, otherwise SA may have been bowled out for 100 runs. Now bowlers still did a decent job. If you had put worse bowlers out there due to their batting then SA may have been 100/2 after Pakistan scoring 220.

 

[Ami]

No one is asking them to score 20 30 everytime?
just hang in there.

 

[hadi123]

I was in favour of Faheem Ashraf playing this match over SSA as you can tell my post on the Pre MT that I made, but happily I've been proved wrong. I agree with [MENTION=97523]Buffet[/MENTION] tbh, if you were to play an all rounder they may get 20+30 extra runs but their bowling may not be anything special so it's always a hard decision, if Faheem was to play today over SSA, yes Pakistan may have got around 215 but everyone can agree that SSA is a much better bowler than Ashraf.

I do think that the bowlers who we have, who are very very good, could work more on their batting, maybe spend a lot more time at the nets.

 

[Savak]

However I advocate that bowlers should be dropped after playing for a long while if they show zero improvement in batting.

Imran Khan as captain demanded that the tail fight hard and do whatever they can to support the set batsman. Anyone who threw their wicket would be toast in front of the captain

 

[Savak]

I was in favour of Faheem Ashraf playing this match over SSA as you can tell my post on the Pre MT that I made, but happily I've been proved wrong. I agree with [MENTION=97523]Buffet[/MENTION] tbh, if you were to play an all rounder they may get 20+30 extra runs but their bowling may not be anything special so it's always a hard decision, if Faheem was to play today over SSA, yes Pakistan may have got around 215 but everyone can agree that SSA is a much better bowler than Ashraf.

I do think that the bowlers who we have, who are very very good, could work more on their batting, maybe spend a lot more time at the nets.

Faheem is not such a bad bowler. He was very decent in England

 

[yasir]

You pick your 4 best bowlers. If some one is comparable , only then you look for their batting. If you pick bowlers for their batting, then opposition will have easier time batting.

Today Pakistan bowled many poor balls and allowed SA to score some runs, otherwise SA may have been bowled out for 100 runs. Now bowlers still did a decent job. If you had put worse bowlers out there due to their batting then SA may have been 100/2 after Pakistan scoring 220.

I don’t think test cricket works that way, best three bowlers I agree but allrounders have a role, you have to invest in them. They’s how you build team, let me try to explain with few examples:

ENG top two bowlers are Broad and Anderson, in next tier strokes and Sam are comparable or even better than second tier seamers, same goes for Moin Ali. They are also better batter than no 5/6 batsman. You are never going to replace your tier 1 batsman or bowler with an allrounder. The reason ENG won in England and SL this year is because of variety and depth of their allrounders not specialist. They are showing to the world how to build depth.

In case of Pakistan Shadab and Faheem are better or same as second tier bowlers. They can take wickets, both have shown that in multiple formats including test. In second test against England, he was our best seamer took three top 5 wickets and was as economical as all other seamers in all three test. They provide you luxury of playing with 5 bowlers and 7 batters, since they are better bowler than our number 4, and better batsmen than no 6 batsman. Shadab scores 3 50s in 3 test, you cannot call that fluke...There is no reason for Pakistan to not invest in them and develop a second tier option that is same level as them, upside of these guys is lot more than any two specialist of Same skill.

Pakistan wasted Azhar Mahmood in 2000s by not investing in him as a test cricketer, he would have served us far better and allowed lot of leverage in many different conditions. Same points apply to Shadab and Faheem, upside far better, we cannot win test without 5 test level bowlers in west and batting that bets till 7/8, these two give us that option, you just have to look at bigger picture.

 

[Junaids]

ridiculous . Next you will say batsmen who can bowl . You pick your 4 best bowlers NOT on their batting ability . For that you have the all rounder spot which is your 5th bowling option .

India can pick their best 4 bowlers because they have batsmen who can bat.

Pakistan's batsmen are a complete joke. The Top Three is Shan Masood, Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman.

I have followed Pakistan cricket for over 40 years. There was an interlude in the late 1970's when the batsmen could bat, and a brief period when there was Inzamam and Yousuf.

But basically Pakistan has gone 30 of the last 40 years with rubbish batsmen, and it ain't going to change.

So you need to do what Imran Khan did: pack the lower middle-order with a keeper and all-rounders who can bat.

 

[Junaids]

However I advocate that bowlers should be dropped after playing for a long while if they show zero improvement in batting.

Imran Khan as captain demanded that the tail fight hard and do whatever they can to support the set batsman. Anyone who threw their wicket would be toast in front of the captain

Consider when Pakistan won the First Test in the West Indies in 1987-88.

The lower order was:

7. Imran Khan (that low!)
8. Saleem Yousuf (a goalkeeper who could bat)
9. Ijaz Fakih (a Mohammad Hafeez quality batting all-rounder who bowled a little off-spin).
10. Wasim Akram (who had already scored a 60-odd against the West Indies and later scored a Test century in Australia)
11. Abdul Qadir

There was no doubt that Saleem Jaffer was a good enough quick to be in the side or that Tauseef Ahmed was a massively better offie than Ijaz Fakih.

But Imran knew that 4 of his 6 batsmen would fail in any given innings, just like Pakistan now, so he needed a lower-middle order that could score runs to give the bowlers something to bowl at.

 

[hadi123]

Faheem is not such a bad bowler. He was very decent in England

True but I don't think he brings as much to the table as SSA as a bowler.

 

[Savak]

True but I don't think he brings as much to the table as SSA as a bowler.

Faheem loves the hook and pull and cut shot. His game would have been ideal in South Africa. His and Shadabs batting contributions were vital against Ireland

 

[CricketDon]

Things are so bad Pakistan needs their bowlers to become batsman. Why don’t these jokes who call themselves batsman learn to bat?

 

[Buffet]

I don’t think test cricket works that way, best three bowlers I agree but allrounders have a role, you have to invest in them. They’s how you build team, let me try to explain with few examples:

ENG top two bowlers are Broad and Anderson, in next tier strokes and Sam are comparable or even better than second tier seamers, same goes for Moin Ali. They are also better batter than no 5/6 batsman. You are never going to replace your tier 1 batsman or bowler with an allrounder. The reason ENG won in England and SL this year is because of variety and depth of their allrounders not specialist. They are showing to the world how to build depth.

In case of Pakistan Shadab and Faheem are better or same as second tier bowlers. They can take wickets, both have shown that in multiple formats including test. In second test against England, he was our best seamer took three top 5 wickets and was as economical as all other seamers in all three test. They provide you luxury of playing with 5 bowlers and 7 batters, since they are better bowler than our number 4, and better batsmen than no 6 batsman. Shadab scores 3 50s in 3 test, you cannot call that fluke...There is no reason for Pakistan to not invest in them and develop a second tier option that is same level as them, upside of these guys is lot more than any two specialist of Same skill.

Pakistan wasted Azhar Mahmood in 2000s by not investing in him as a test cricketer, he would have served us far better and allowed lot of leverage in many different conditions. Same points apply to Shadab and Faheem, upside far better, we cannot win test without 5 test level bowlers in west and batting that bets till 7/8, these two give us that option, you just have to look at bigger picture.

I was making a general comment. I have not seen enough of Pakistani all rounder to say if they will do the job. If you feel one of the bowlers can be left and all rounder will add more value then it's fine. I am just not convinced whenever the gap in bowling skill is too much.

 

[We Bleed Green]

Completely agree.

We need bowlers with some batting abilities. We can not pick four best bowlers if they have zero batting skills.

Two bowlers with little batting skills, one with some batting skills average 15, one bowling all rounder average 25 is the best combination.

No point playing four bowlers with little batting skills. Even Indian team with such strong batting line up was criticised heavily for picking four bowlers with little batting skills in second test against Australia.

 

[coy0607]

A little counter intuitive

Bowlers need to get wickets.
Batsmen need to score runs.

It's a simple game

 

[Justcrazy]

Consider when Pakistan won the First Test in the West Indies in 1987-88.

The lower order was:

7. Imran Khan (that low!)
8. Saleem Yousuf (a goalkeeper who could bat)
9. Ijaz Fakih (a Mohammad Hafeez quality batting all-rounder who bowled a little off-spin).
10. Wasim Akram (who had already scored a 60-odd against the West Indies and later scored a Test century in Australia)
11. Abdul Qadir

There was no doubt that Saleem Jaffer was a good enough quick to be in the side or that Tauseef Ahmed was a massively better offie than Ijaz Fakih.

But Imran knew that 4 of his 6 batsmen would fail in any given innings, just like Pakistan now, so he needed a lower-middle order that could score runs to give the bowlers something to bowl at.

Even in 1992 WC Pakistan had good depth in batting order.

 

[MMHS]

Consider when Pakistan won the First Test in the West Indies in 1987-88.

The lower order was:

7. Imran Khan (that low!)
8. Saleem Yousuf (a goalkeeper who could bat)
9. Ijaz Fakih (a Mohammad Hafeez quality batting all-rounder who bowled a little off-spin).
10. Wasim Akram (who had already scored a 60-odd against the West Indies and later scored a Test century in Australia)
11. Abdul Qadir

There was no doubt that Saleem Jaffer was a good enough quick to be in the side or that Tauseef Ahmed was a massively better offie than Ijaz Fakih.

But Imran knew that 4 of his 6 batsmen would fail in any given innings, just like Pakistan now, so he needed a lower-middle order that could score runs to give the bowlers something to bowl at.

Contribution from lower order definitely is handy. I understand your point regarding PAK’s batting weaknesses, but don’t think the solution is to sacrifice bowling strength and increase tail’s length. My be you are suggesting to play 4 bowlers & 2 all rounders and the way Imam & Sarfraz batting these days, may be instead of Imam, playing Fahim or Shadab on batting merit isn’t a bad idea.

However, your example from Imran’s combination isn’t appropriate. Imran was one captain who’ll never compromise on bowling strength for batting depth. I was too young then to recall details, but I am sure I heard from him something like - “a batsman can bat for 50 overs, but bowlers can bowl only 10 - must have to make sure that bowling bases are covered”. And guy was honest to his words - in 1989 Neheru Cup Final, suddenly WK Yousuf got injured before final and all-rounder Amer Malik had to keep. Instead of picking a batsman (and bowl overs by Malik & Ijaz) he picked 6 bowlers - himself, Wasim, Aquib, A Raza, Mushi & Qadir. He played countless ODI with 6 bowling options.

I understand those were ODIs, but his Test tactics was similar. For his benefit, two of his bowlers Wasim & Qadir would have batted at No. 8, arguably no. 7 in current PAK line up and he himself could have made almost every contemporary team simply as batsman when he was ranked #1 bowler of world.

The example you gave here (1988-89 WIN tour) doesn’t tell the real story. Imran didn’t think that he’ll play 2 spinners in WIN, therefore Tauseef wasn’t picked for Tests. Even for ODIs, after a game or two Faqih played ahead of him. Jafar was injured in first 2 Tests hence Faqih had to play and he hardly bowled in 2nd Test. By the time all important 3rd Test started, Jafar got fit and PAK went with an attack of 3 pacers, Qadir & Mudsssar.

I can explain this from 2 other examples - take Bangalore 1987. On that rank turner, Imran didn’t bowl at all and his 4 bowlers were Qasim, Tausif, Wasim & Jafar. He hardly used Jafar but kept that option open and in that tour, Manzoor Elahi was batting well - Imran did pick Elahi as a batsman for the decider, but didn’t use with ball. In fact, Faqih was part of that series as well and hit a hundred in just previous (4th) Test - still missed out to Tauseef, who took 9 wickets. And Faqih was fit - played ODI series just after 5th Test. Qadir also missed the all important last Test, though he was batting much better than Jafar, Tauseef or Qasim.

Now come to 1987 ENG tour - Mudassar is always handy with ball in England and you can compensate a bowler by him in UK. Still, for a poor batting lineup, Imran played Mohsin n Kamal as 3rd pacer. Defending 1-0 lead at 5th Test (Oval), he did play both Qadir & Tauseef, though safe bet was to play Faqih. His last major series in AUS (1990), he played 5 bowlers in every Test and 3 of the bowlers were among Tauseef, Mushi, Waquar & Aquib + Wasim & himself.

Batting depth for that PAK team did help, but it was not by design, rather because best 3 bowlers were good to decent batsman as well; it was not that Wasim or Qadir were picked ahead of better bowlers for their batting contribution.

This theory won’t work - if Abbas was fit today, I would have played him over Yasir and SAF could have been 8/9 down by now, and that’s PAK’s best chance. 20-30 extra runs hardly matters if SAF had ended the day 100/2.

 

[Titan24]

Faheem and Shadab are their, however there should have been a third bowling all rounder considering Faheem’s fitness.

Bowling all rounders are important in every format now a days.

 

[hadi123]

Faheem loves the hook and pull and cut shot. His game would have been ideal in South Africa. His and Shadabs batting contributions were vital against Ireland

Yep and in Lord's. It was a tricky selection I'm sure and SSA just got the nod and in hindsight seems like the right decision. I think if Yasir Shah is rubbish again in the 2nd innings drop him and bring in Shadab Khan in the next game, as that will help our batting and won't be doing too much damage to our bowling, Yasir Shah is average if the pitch isn't a rank turner.

 

[MenInG]

Pakistan tail unable to help which is really sad - when will this improve?

 

[aukhan]

Fahim and Shadab. But playing them would mean our bowling will lose wicket taking bowlers. Shadab as a bowler is still not ready for Test cricket.

 

[Sadozai]

Rather than bowlers who can bat & batters who can bowl, pak needs players who are good in their respective primary job.

 

[Plumb]

First we need to have batsmen who can bat..

 

[The Viper]

Our batsman are poor but Yasir doesn’t really have much of a role. So Faheem should get a chance.

 

[MMHS]

First priority should be to find some batsman who can bat ... Blew a Test from winning position in half a session!!!!!