Pakistani players who should have played more games for their Country

mominsaigol

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Now that the world cup is over, and CT 2025 is a while away, just wanted to make a fun thread about pakistani players both past and current who should have gotten more chances.

1) Fawad Alam

I'm honestly suprised he never got more games in his golden age 20-30 years. 38 odi's and 19 tests seems very low for a player with great stats.

While I personally don't prefer Fawad Alam, I'm suprised he wasn't a feature during the Misbah Odi era. That era had a frequent problem of openers and the top order (no 3 and no 4) being Walking wickets.

Fawad alam was the 2nd highest run scorer in 2014 for pakistan and he was the main reason pakistan managed to chase down the massive 300+ target set by Bangladesh and keep in mind this was an era where pakistan would mostly score 200-220.

Shocking that he was excluded for wc 2015 since pakistan didn't have many options.

2) Azhar Ali

While Azhar was the captain of the Pakistan cricket team, and he played a pivotal role in the CT final, im suprised he wasnt a feature dueing the misbah era as an opener.

Why was shehzad preferred over him? Azhar during this era could have atleast added some stability to the top order especially during ct 2013. 53 odi's is pretty low for someone who's had a stunning test career and a memorable Ct final knock.

3) Usman Khan Shinwari

While Usman was extremely poor in t20 ans test, his odi record is stunning, avg 18 with an eco of 4 ans picking 34 wickets in 17 games that he played.

its shocking that he only played 17 odi's during his short stint.

4) Sami Aslam

Ik he ran off to the US and had a medicore outing in test but this man barely played any games for pakistan? When he made his debut, he scored 49 of 49 i believe only to get sidelined for shehzad.

When he made his comeback, he failed in the SA series. Still an impressive list A record, he should have been given more games, especially when people like shan masood, Or shadab get free rides 24/7.

5) Rumman Raees

Kinda suprised he didnt play more. He wasnt anything special but he wasnt a bad bowler either, he bowled pretty well during the CT 2017 semi final.

He's 32 now so unlikely he'll come back and even if he does, he's probably a has been by now, but less then 10 odi and t20 games is shockingly low when he didn't really play much.

6) Tayyab Tahir

How do people like Azam Khan keep getting selected over proper MO batters like Tayyab ? Despite impressive psl stats, An amazing acc emerging cup final performance he was discarded from the odi squad without getting a single game.

His only opportunity in international so far was playing against the world's best spin attack with a 2nd rate pakistani team?

7) Abrar Ahmed

Ik he's still playing, but he didn't even get any games during the wc? Seriously what did abrar even do? He hasn't done anything wrong, Anytime he's bowled he's looked to be miles superior to any other spinner we've had since 2020?

8) Zafar Gohar

This man has one of the most impressive stats in domestic cricket and yet hes played a total of 1 game for pakistan in odi? In which he picked up 2 wickets and was then never seen again?

What happened? He's only 29? Why can't he get selected?

9) Haris Sohail

He has knee issues so I understand why he can't play, but it doesn't change the fact that this man was Pakistan’s best no 4/5 since the 2015.

10) Shazaib Hasan

In List A he had an avg of 36 and a sr of 106. He only played 3 odi games for pakistan and 10 t20, While a failure at t20, he had 1 50 in odi and his st finishes strong at 88.

During the misbah era, he could have been a good candidate to take at the top, mainly because while he is a hack, he'd be a valid option for shehzad at the time.

Their many more players like raza hasan, Shabzada farhan, Umar amin etc etc, but I think I'll stop here otherwise list will be too long.
 
Fawad Alam definitely.

Vinod Kambli is another name that comes to mind. Some even said he was better than Tendulkar.

Salman Butt. He was a very good ODI opener.

Muhammad Asif.

Andrew Symonds. Should've played more but had disciplinary issues.
 
Asim Kamal - who made 99 on debut against South Africa.

Fawad Alam - should have never been dropped from test matches unless he failed for a longer period.

Yes, Asim Kamal only played 12 Test matches for Pakistan where his average was a decent 37.73. He deserved to play many more tests for Pakistan.
 
Stuart McGill , he played on and off because the greatest leg spinner ever played ahead of him and Australia rarely went with two spinners, let alone two leggies
 
Stuart McGill , he played on and off because the greatest leg spinner ever played ahead of him and Australia rarely went with two spinners, let alone two leggies
yeah.. I always thought he was a great bowler. Another name is Rangana Herath. I know he took close to 400 wickets but it would have been 600 if Murali was not there.
 
Stuart McGill , he played on and off because the greatest leg spinner ever played ahead of him and Australia rarely went with two spinners, let alone two leggies
yeah.. I always thought he was a great bowler. Another name is Rangana Herath. I know he took close to 400 wickets but it would have been 600 if Murali was not there.
I think the thread is about Pakistani players only.

do you have any Pakistani players in mind???

I have a few players; Fawad Alam, Rumman, Usman Khan Shinwari (34 wkts in just 17 games and having 18 average)
 
Now that the world cup is over, and CT 2025 is a while away, just wanted to make a fun thread about pakistani players both past and current who should have gotten more chances.

1) Fawad Alam

I'm honestly suprised he never got more games in his golden age 20-30 years. 38 odi's and 19 tests seems very low for a player with great stats.

While I personally don't prefer Fawad Alam, I'm suprised he wasn't a feature during the Misbah Odi era. That era had a frequent problem of openers and the top order (no 3 and no 4) being Walking wickets.

Fawad alam was the 2nd highest run scorer in 2014 for pakistan and he was the main reason pakistan managed to chase down the massive 300+ target set by Bangladesh and keep in mind this was an era where pakistan would mostly score 200-220.

Shocking that he was excluded for wc 2015 since pakistan didn't have many options.

2) Azhar Ali

While Azhar was the captain of the Pakistan cricket team, and he played a pivotal role in the CT final, im suprised he wasnt a feature dueing the misbah era as an opener.

Why was shehzad preferred over him? Azhar during this era could have atleast added some stability to the top order especially during ct 2013. 53 odi's is pretty low for someone who's had a stunning test career and a memorable Ct final knock.

3) Usman Khan Shinwari

While Usman was extremely poor in t20 ans test, his odi record is stunning, avg 18 with an eco of 4 ans picking 34 wickets in 17 games that he played.

its shocking that he only played 17 odi's during his short stint.

4) Sami Aslam

Ik he ran off to the US and had a medicore outing in test but this man barely played any games for pakistan? When he made his debut, he scored 49 of 49 i believe only to get sidelined for shehzad.

When he made his comeback, he failed in the SA series. Still an impressive list A record, he should have been given more games, especially when people like shan masood, Or shadab get free rides 24/7.

5) Rumman Raees

Kinda suprised he didnt play more. He wasnt anything special but he wasnt a bad bowler either, he bowled pretty well during the CT 2017 semi final.

He's 32 now so unlikely he'll come back and even if he does, he's probably a has been by now, but less then 10 odi and t20 games is shockingly low when he didn't really play much.

6) Tayyab Tahir

How do people like Azam Khan keep getting selected over proper MO batters like Tayyab ? Despite impressive psl stats, An amazing acc emerging cup final performance he was discarded from the odi squad without getting a single game.

His only opportunity in international so far was playing against the world's best spin attack with a 2nd rate pakistani team?

7) Abrar Ahmed

Ik he's still playing, but he didn't even get any games during the wc? Seriously what did abrar even do? He hasn't done anything wrong, Anytime he's bowled he's looked to be miles superior to any other spinner we've had since 2020?

8) Zafar Gohar

This man has one of the most impressive stats in domestic cricket and yet hes played a total of 1 game for pakistan in odi? In which he picked up 2 wickets and was then never seen again?

What happened? He's only 29? Why can't he get selected?

9) Haris Sohail

He has knee issues so I understand why he can't play, but it doesn't change the fact that this man was Pakistan’s best no 4/5 since the 2015.

10) Shazaib Hasan

In List A he had an avg of 36 and a sr of 106. He only played 3 odi games for pakistan and 10 t20, While a failure at t20, he had 1 50 in odi and his st finishes strong at 88.

During the misbah era, he could have been a good candidate to take at the top, mainly because while he is a hack, he'd be a valid option for shehzad at the time.

Their many more players like raza hasan, Shabzada farhan, Umar amin etc etc, but I think I'll stop here otherwise list will be too long.
Imran Nazir
Mohd. Sami
 
I think the thread is about Pakistani players only.

do you have any Pakistani players in mind???

I have a few players; Fawad Alam, Rumman, Usman Khan Shinwari (34 wkts in just 17 games and having 18 average)
Fawad Alam for sure. Inzi ruined his career.
Asif, Akthar, Amir also. They could played so much more and contributed to Pakistan successes if not for their individual issues/transgressions.
 
Fawad Alam for sure. Inzi ruined his career.
Asif, Akthar, Amir also. They could played so much more and contributed to Pakistan successes if not for their individual issues/transgressions.
Yeah, Asif is also one of the guys who should have played more cricket but it was his own fault that he messed up.
 
Umar Amin could have a decent career had he been allowed to play some UAE tests.

Pakistan was quite strong in that era but it makes you wonder if we would have been better off trying other players rather than sticking with Azhar and Asad for so long.
 
What happened to nashir Jamshed ?

he and Hafeez both were scored a century each against India in 2012 Asia Cup .
He fixed and sold his country and was banned.

But even if he wasnt he'd never play for pakistan post 2015. By 2015 he was so poor that he couldn't even get a double digit score in 6 games that he played and ge couldn't even take a single catch, he dropped all of em.

Sarfraz came and shut the door on him, then afterwards azhar, Fakhar, Imam, Abdullah, Abid Ali and various others would come to shut doors on him.
 
Umar Amin could have a decent career had he been allowed to play some UAE tests.

Pakistan was quite strong in that era but it makes you wonder if we would have been better off trying other players rather than sticking with Azhar and Asad for so long.
Problem is the test squad was an atg squad. Only weakness in that squad were the openers who could be replaced so unless Umar Amin was drafted to open, he would have no place in the squad.

Azhar and YK were 300+ monsters
Misbah ensured that the team couldn't be bowled out so at best you'd get a draw, plus he himself has played good test innings.
Asad shafiq surprisingly was a gun no 6 somehow.
Sarfraz at 7 was gun and was and frankly still is the best test keeper pakistan has ever had in his prime, not current though.

No 3- no 7 were booked. And frankly speaking, Fawad alam was the only one who realistically had the chance to be drafted in, Not umar amin.
 
Problem is the test squad was an atg squad. Only weakness in that squad were the openers who could be replaced so unless Umar Amin was drafted to open, he would have no place in the squad.

Azhar and YK were 300+ monsters
Misbah ensured that the team couldn't be bowled out so at best you'd get a draw, plus he himself has played good test innings.
Asad shafiq surprisingly was a gun no 6 somehow.
Sarfraz at 7 was gun and was and frankly still is the best test keeper pakistan has ever had in his prime, not current though.

No 3- no 7 were booked. And frankly speaking, Fawad alam was the only one who realistically had the chance to be drafted in, Not umar amin.

Some of the guys on the outside could have had similar records in the UAE but may have been batter capable of playing abroad too.
 
Abrar Ahmed is a young and he is a ragular player in test cricket .

He will be get enough chances to represent Pakistan in limited over formats also .

Doesn't really belong to this list .
 
Some of the guys on the outside could have had similar records in the UAE but may have been batter capable of playing abroad too.
I kind of disagree. Azhar, YK and Misbah in test were impossible to replace at that time. All 3 of them have played atg innings in test.

These 3 were a freakishly strong atg combo and frankly speaking in that era their wasn't anyone better then sarfraz as a test keeper.

They tried Adnan akmal and that failed.
 
I for the life of me don't understand why PCB will not come down from its high horse and offer Muhammad Asif a bowling coach role in the National Cricket Academy.
 
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