Pakistan's batting in white ball cricket will need a revolution

[Last Monetarist]

I'll preface this by stating that the well is dry and the existing batting stock is devoid of talent. However, there is this self-satisfied impression from the team management that Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are sufficient to propel the team in the rankings.

As good as they are, both Babar and Rizwan are accumulators and arguably don't possess the extra gear to belong amongst the elite modern-day white ball batsmen. The fact that the rest of the Pakistani batting order is mediocre and inept only compounds the pressure on Babar and Rizwan, which I'm not sure they are capable of bearing.

I am not naive enough to presume that the problem can be solved by selecting a few guileless hitters with limited ability such as Sharjeel Khan and Azam Khan, the problem goes much deeper than that. However, initially the management must realize that accumulation of runs, consolidating the innings, and waiting for the bad ball to score is an outdated concept in modern-day white ball cricket.

Results will remain patchy until there is sufficient technical development of young batsmen at grassroots level on how to play white ball cricket.

 

[YousafTheBeast]

Bring back Umar Akmal and Shoaib Malik, take Haidar Ali, Danish Aziz and Abdullah Shafique out. Make them perform in the PSL for 2-3 years consistently, and only then consider them for the national team.

Problem with Pakistan is, we’ll throw anyone in the deep end regardless of experience, form etc.

I don’t even know what half of the players in the team have done to get into the squad.

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The reality is that if Babar Azam or Mohammad Rizwan don't take Pakistan to victory, then none of the other current batsmen will <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ZIMvPAK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ZIMvPAK</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1385572127311601667?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Rana]

Misbah ul Haq.

He won’t land a job as the head coach of a Private school in England just on qualifications. Here, he is the Don Corleone of Pakistan cricket

 

[Firebat]

A revolution is an understatement. Our batting is the most hit or miss in international cricket, and when any sort of pressure is applied, they crumble, regardless of whether its against India or Zimbabwe.

 

[Forward Defensive Push]

Many revolutions have come and gone in the last 20 years. Already the knives are out for Haider We will never produce a half decent batsman given the kind of toxic environment we provide to them.

What is the need for Babar Azam to play these matches? Why not let Haider or Abdullah Shafique play some matches in the top order and establish themselves?

All we care about is that number 1 useless ranking. Worst statpadding ever.

 

[Mamoon]

You cannot have a revolution when you don’t have the tools required.

We simply have no talent. We can replace this bunch with the next in line and they will be equally mediocre.

Pretty much 99% of the players in the country are bog average.

England could do a revolution in 2015 because they had the personnel. It was simply a case of picking the right players and adopting a different style.

We don’t have the right players. That is the problem.

Our lack of talent is exposed every year in PSL.

 

[hitthestump]

No revolution required.

Pakistan need to shut up and accept that there is no talent coming through and eliminate all 'hitters' and 'finishers' before the WC.

Bring back Chacha and Malik and while we can forget winning the thing, we can pray they perform well enough to stave off a humilation.

 

[TheNeutralist]

It is better to not have expectations for couple of years and give opportunities to youngsters. Pakistan has Babar and few better bowlers. The youngsters can play along them and learn. Rather than putting on pressure on the new bird, give them long rope. But for this right players need to be identified.

 

[Savak]

Lol not the first time we lost to Zimbabwe and probably not the last time either. We get too complacent and relaxed against them given the low intensity of the entire series. I won't read too much into this, put it down to a bad day in the office and move on

 

[Maher96]

Disappointing... highly disappointing.

Rizwan and Babar never should have opened today. Asif Ali came in at 22 balls left and 40 to get and the guy failed to beat the inner circle against mighty Zimbabwe .

Rest in peace for him. 35 t20i’s and not one single noteworthy performances.

Never did we see another Pakistani batsmen been given these amount of chances after chances.

I have had more than enough of him. No other cricketer has been getting on my nerves as he has. I agree it was sad and upsetting he lost a child and we then wanted him to feel positive after such an experience.

But we can’t afford to carry an over emotional character on the basis of liking him.


Maqsood must be crying looking at Asif been given these amount of chances. Even at his Domestic team Talat is batting over him he should have been in the t20 team.

Hafeez is moody person he was successful at 3 then why move him and accommodate fakhar in top.

Move rizwan to a suitable number for t20is the team batters are not silly.

When they can clearly see that Rizwan has got a free ride at the top.

We can win these bilateral series vs any team but a cup competition you need the team to click which we are again far far from.

Or we as fan read too much into these politics and it’s all just fixed as the Pakistani saying goes.

 

[Rana]

Disappointing... highly disappointing.

Rizwan and Babar never should have opened today. Asif Ali came in at 22 balls left and 40 to get and the guy failed to beat the inner circle against mighty Zimbabwe &#55356;&#56831;&#55356;&#56828;.

Rest in peace for him. 35 t20i’s and not one single noteworthy performances.

Never did we see another Pakistani batsmen been given these amount of chances after chances.

I have had more than enough of him. No other cricketer has been getting on my nerves as he has. I agree it was sad and upsetting he lost a child and we then wanted him to feel positive after such an experience.

But we can’t afford to carry an over emotional character on the basis of liking him.


Maqsood must be crying looking at Asif been given these amount of chances. Even at his Domestic team Talat is batting over him he should have been in the t20 team.

Hafeez is moody person he was successful at 3 then why move him and accommodate fakhar in top.

Move rizwan to a suitable number for t20is the team batters are not silly.

When they can clearly see that Rizwan has got a free ride at the top.

We can win these bilateral series vs any team but a cup competition you need the team to click which we are again far far from.

Or we as fan read too much into these politics and it’s all just fixed as the Pakistani saying goes.

I’m telling you. Just accommodating Rizwan in this side is singlehandedly destroying it!

 

[MRSN]

Lol not the first time we lost to Zimbabwe and probably not the last time either. We get too complacent and relaxed against them given the low intensity of the entire series. I won't read too much into this, put it down to a bad day in the office and move on

Your post seems to show complete ignorance of how much Pakistan batting has been struggling these days. Do you even watch Pak cricket? I am really sad and angry both at same time for seeing trash like Asif and Iftikhar keep getting picked. Is this the best we have?

 

[MRSN]

I’m telling you. Just accommodating Rizwan in this side is singlehandedly destroying it!

The only matches we have won last few games is because of him. I don't get your hate. Don't take to heart.

 

[Rana]

The only matches we have won last few games is because of him. I don't get your hate. Don't take to heart.

Of course we have won only because of him, he is playing exactly in a position that suits his style of play. Everyone else now is out of position and having to adjust accordingly.

 

[MRSN]

Misbah ul Haq.

He won’t land a job as the head coach of a Private school in England just on qualifications. Here, he is the Don Corleone of Pakistan cricket

His qualifications is ousting someone better than him.

 

[MRSN]

Of course we have won only because of him, he is playing exactly in a position that suits his style of play. Everyone else now is out of position and having to adjust accordingly.

How? Since when did trash like Asif moved from his place? Or Hafeez or Faheem?

 

[Rana]

How? Since when did trash like Asif moved from his place? Or Hafeez or Faheem?

Why can’t you simply understand. We do have a chance to play the right type of team as long as we actually try and set up in the right way and not the misbah way.

A middle order of Babar, Hafeez and Rizwan is so much more reliable than a middle order of Fakhar, Hafeez and Danish Aziz

Just play the right players in the right positions and you will see a much better performance at least in the middle order.

Fakhar
Sharjeel
Babar
Hafeez
Rizwan
Imad
Faheem

V

Babar
Rizwan
Fakhar
Hafeez
Danish
Asif
Faheem

Who do you honestly favour?

 

[shamaan]

The management still hasn't released that asif isn't good enough

 

[YousafTheBeast]

Why can’t you simply understand. We do have a chance to play the right type of team as long as we actually try and set up in the right way and not the misbah way.

A middle order of Babar, Hafeez and Rizwan is so much more reliable than a middle order of Fakhar, Hafeez and Danish Aziz

Just play the right players in the right positions and you will see a much better performance at least in the middle order.

Fakhar
Sharjeel
Babar
Hafeez
Rizwan
Imad
Faheem

V

Babar
Rizwan
Fakhar
Hafeez
Danish
Asif
Faheem

Who do you honestly favour?

Surely Misbah can’t be sitting there thinking Babar Rizwan is a better opening combo than Fakhar Sharjeel.

 

[Rana]

Surely Misbah can’t be sitting there thinking Babar Rizwan is a better opening combo than Fakhar Sharjeel.

But he is though. The narrative is, that people like us who believe Sharjeel and Fakhar would be a better and ideal T20i opening combo are the clueless bunch.

 

[Sunny_majoka]

You cannot have a revolution when you don’t have the tools required.

We simply have no talent. We can replace this bunch with the next in line and they will be equally mediocre.

Pretty much 99% of the players in the country are bog average.

England could do a revolution in 2015 because they had the personnel. It was simply a case of picking the right players and adopting a different style.

We don’t have the right players. That is the problem.

Our lack of talent is exposed every year in PSL.

Then what's the solution, should we stopped playing only sport at which Pakistan has some recognition?

 

[Shafi]

Not possible. When defensive and no skill people like Misbah becomes head-coach, serial failure like Waqar as bowling coach and no qualification/skill people like Younis as batting coach then nothing more can be expected.

 

[Abdurmirr]

We cannot have a revolution. What we can do as fans is accept that we have a deficit of talent and that the best players we can select are guys like Malik, Hafeez and Iftikhar who have semi decent game awareness and cricketing IQ's and have a much higher ceiling than failures like Asif, Khushdhil and Danish

It would be best that some barely talented youngsters such as Haider and Abdullah Shafique are made to grind it out in domestics and potentially county for the next 2+ years to ensure that they can develop their skills and game awareness but until than we need to accept the reality that we do not have the talent, think tank or skill to develop a modern day limited overs team

 

[Shafi]

Then what's the solution, should we stopped playing only sport at which Pakistan has some recognition?

According to Mamoon
Mani should announce to close down PCB. Rest in Peace Pakistan cricket.

 

[Shafi]

I think PCB should find good foreign batting coaches for U15, U17, U19, U23 teams along with 6 FC teams.
There is no future to youngsters like Danish, Haider, Khusdil, Shafiq.... and these players should be replaced by U19, U23 teams batsmen in 2-3 years.

 

[Mamoon]

Then what's the solution, should we stopped playing only sport at which Pakistan has some recognition?

As I have said many times, the issue is not with how pathetic we are. The issue is the fans expectation which needs to be managed.

Pakistan does not have a divine right to be a great cricket team.

For 60+ years, we have been fed the lie that “Pakistan me talent bohat hai”. The reality is that there is no talent in Pakistan. In fact, pound for pound, Pakistan is probably the least talented cricket nation ever.

Millions of sports fans around the world celebrate mediocre team without worrying about why they are mediocre. They have simple made peace with who they are and what their caliber is.

The problem is that Pakistani fans cannot come to terms with the reality of where Pakistan stands. We are a tier 2 cricket team like West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Occasionally we might punch above our weight and beat a tier 1 side like India, England, Australia and New Zealand, but we are equally likely to punch below our weight and lose to a team like Zimbabwe, which cancels it out.

Unfortunately, the fans investment too much time and energy on arguing that if we do this and that, we will become a great team.

Every time we get humiliated, it is the coach, the captain and the selectors fault because if they had picked XYZ players instead of ABC players, we would have won.

However, when we pick XYZ players, they are as bad as the ABC ones.

I can guarantee you that if Fakhar was not drafted into the T20I squad after his performance in the ODI series in South Africa, our fans would have blamed his absence as the reason for this embarrassment in Zimbabwe, just like they are now blaming the absence of Sharjeel.

If Haider Ali was not selected on this tour and played like a brainless tape ball hack, he would also be advertised as a savior and Misbah would be blamed for not trusting him.

Our fans keep going around in circles simply because their egos are too big for them to acknowledge that we are a deeply mediocre team.

When you have the ability of a tier 2 team but expect performances of a tier 1 team, you get nothing but disappointment.

 

[Farabi]

I'll preface this by stating that the well is dry and the existing batting stock is devoid of talent. However, there is this self-satisfied impression from the team management that Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are sufficient to propel the team in the rankings.

As good as they are, both Babar and Rizwan are accumulators and arguably don't possess the extra gear to belong amongst the elite modern-day white ball batsmen. The fact that the rest of the Pakistani batting order is mediocre and inept only compounds the pressure on Babar and Rizwan, which I'm not sure they are capable of bearing.

I am not naive enough to presume that the problem can be solved by selecting a few guileless hitters with limited ability such as Sharjeel Khan and Azam Khan, the problem goes much deeper than that. However, initially the management must realize that accumulation of runs, consolidating the innings, and waiting for the bad ball to score is an outdated concept in modern-day white ball cricket.

Results will remain patchy until there is sufficient technical development of young batsmen at grassroots level on how to play white ball cricket.

Extreme reaction after 1 game. Pakistan batting need evolution not revolution.

Top order is doing well and lower order has done okay. Middle order needs work:


1. Bring batsmen with List A/FC experience
2. Bring in Saud and/or Haris
3. Bring back Imad

 

[Farabi]

As I have said many times, the issue is not with how pathetic we are. The issue is the fans expectation which needs to be managed.

Pakistan does not have a divine right to be a great cricket team.

For 60+ years, we have been fed the lie that “Pakistan me talent bohat hai”. The reality is that there is no talent in Pakistan. In fact, pound for pound, Pakistan is probably the least talented cricket nation ever.

Millions of sports fans around the world celebrate mediocre team without worrying about why they are mediocre. They have simple made peace with who they are and what their caliber is.

The problem is that Pakistani fans cannot come to terms with the reality of where Pakistan stands. We are a tier 2 cricket team like West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Occasionally we might punch above our weight and beat a tier 1 side like India, England, Australia and New Zealand, but we are equally likely to punch below our weight and lose to a team like Zimbabwe, which cancels it out.

Unfortunately, the fans investment too much time and energy on arguing that if we do this and that, we will become a great team.

Every time we get humiliated, it is the coach, the captain and the selectors fault because if they had picked XYZ players instead of ABC players, we would have won.

However, when we pick XYZ players, they are as bad as the ABC ones.

I can guarantee you that if Fakhar was not drafted into the T20I squad after his performance in the ODI series in South Africa, our fans would have blamed his absence as the reason for this embarrassment in Zimbabwe, just like they are now blaming the absence of Sharjeel.

If Haider Ali was not selected on this tour and played like a brainless tape ball hack, he would also be advertised as a savior and Misbah would be blamed for not trusting him.

Our fans keep going around in circles simply because their egos are too big for them to acknowledge that we are a deeply mediocre team.

When you have the ability of a tier 2 team but expect performances of a tier 1 team, you get nothing but disappointment.

Chill, it’s just 1 game.
And no Pakistan has been a top side for long periods of time in its history, specially during the 80s, early 90s.
Even right now Pak is ranked 4th in T20s, so it’s clearly not as bad as you’re describing it to be.

 

[shamaan]

Extreme reaction after 1 game. Pakistan batting need evolution not revolution.

Top order is doing well and lower order has done okay. Middle order needs work:


1. Bring batsmen with List A/FC experience
2. Bring in Saud and/or Haris
3. Bring back Imad

Saud is a good player and should play odis and tests but I don't think he's suitable for the t20s in the middle over.imad should be brought back in and bat at 6

 

[Mamoon]

Chill, it’s just 1 game.
And no Pakistan has been a top side for long periods of time in its history, specially during the 80s, early 90s.
Even right now Pak is ranked 4th in T20s, so it’s clearly not as bad as you’re describing it to be.

Pakistan has been an average team since the mid 90s with patchy success. We have never had a 4-5 year period since where we have genuinely played cricket like a top class team.

Even historically, Pakistan has never enjoyed a truly dominant period. Our best ever period of cricket was when we were the distant second best side behind West Indies from 1986 to 1993.

Overall, Pakistan is a middling cricket team and the future looks bleaker than the past. The economy is crippling, we don’t have much money to invest.

We have created a cheap version of IPL with third class players and then we tell ourselves that the standard of bowling is best in the world.

 

[Farabi]

Saud is a good player and should play odis and tests but I don't think he's suitable for the t20s in the middle over.imad should be brought back in and bat at 6

I agree, I meant for ODIs.
That’s said, If we are trying Asif Ali, Danish Aziz who are rookies even in Pakistan’s domestic, I’de rather go with Saud whose a solid Batsman and can evolve his game for T20 format.
Domestic batsmen who did well in T20 Middle order recently include:
1. SMaqsood
2. Malik
3. Talat

 

[Farabi]

Pakistan has been an average team since the mid 90s with patchy success. We have never had a 4-5 year period since where we have genuinely played cricket like a top class team.

Even historically, Pakistan has never enjoyed a truly dominant period. Our best ever period of cricket was when we were the distant second best side behind West Indies from 1986 to 1993.

Overall, Pakistan is a middling cricket team and the future looks bleaker than the past. The economy is crippling, we don’t have much money to invest.

We have created a cheap version of IPL with third class players and then we tell ourselves that the standard of bowling is best in the world.

Yeah that’s a more sensible response. Your initial comment was too extreme and harsh.
Pakistan is a middling team and can reach the top if it can find 2 MO batsmen.

I think PSL is a decent brand and will only get better with time but it will never have the resources to compete with IPL, so I won’t compare the 2. PSL is lifting Pak cricket and currently 4-5 Pakistan T20 players were discovered in PSL already.

 

[shamaan]

I agree, I meant for ODIs.
That’s said, If we are trying Asif Ali, Danish Aziz who are rookies even in Pakistan’s domestic, I’de rather go with Saud whose a solid Batsman and can evolve his game for T20 format.
Domestic batsmen who did well in T20 Middle order recently include:
1. SMaqsood
2. Malik
3. Talat

Yeah fair enough definitely middle order in odis.i think the next options are like you said S maqsood,malik and azam Khan but I still think haider will be in around the squad even though he's flopped horribly.

 

[Farabi]

Yeah fair enough definitely middle order in odis.i think the next options are like you said S maqsood,malik and azam Khan but I still think haider will be in around the squad even though he's flopped horribly.

Yeah i’de have Azam Khan in the mix as well.

 

[Mamoon]

Yeah that’s a more sensible response. Your initial comment was too extreme and harsh.
Pakistan is a middling team and can reach the top if it can find 2 MO batsmen.

I think PSL is a decent brand and will only get better with time but it will never have the resources to compete with IPL, so I won’t compare the 2. PSL is lifting Pak cricket and currently 4-5 Pakistan T20 players were discovered in PSL already.

Anyone can reach the top if XYZ happens. Zimbabwe can become better than India and England if they get 11 world class players.

The point is that Pakistan cannot find those two world class middle-order batsmen, and even if a miracle happens and they do find a couple, the bigger sides will also find better alternatives.

Pakistan’s best batsman has always been inferior to the best batsmen of the top sides of their time. For every Miandad and Zaheer, there were Viv and Greg, for every Inzamam, there was Tendulkar and Lara and for every Babar, there is a Kohli, Smith, Rohit etc.

That is why the deficit in our batting remains. We just don’t have the capacity to build a batting lineup that the world would look at with envy.

 

[Amjid Javed]

This humilation was always on the cards when no thought is put into the structure of the batting line up or the bunch of joker selected to fill the middle order. pakistan will keep going backwards under misbah and mo wasim is turning out to be a woeful selector.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

Kamran and Saud who avging 45+ can't get in to the side which consist of Asif and Danish avg 19+ in FC tells you alot of our management thinking

 

[Justcrazy]

The PCB does not want to change , they have mediocre officials , who will continue to relish mediocre results , we would be saying the same things again in 2030 . Those who wanted to change their approach changed it already in the last 10 years .

 

[Ahmed216]

Our batsmen are malnutritioned probably and have zero intelligence.

 

[Hasan123]

We don’t have the quality to do a revolution. It’s really that simple.

 

[street cricketer]

The current Pakistani team reminds me a lot of the Indian team of 2015-19. A top heavy batting line up with a very vulnerable middle order made up of batsmen like Kedar Jadhav, Rayudu, Pandey, Shankar, etc.

Thankfully batsmen like SKY, Iyer, Pant, Pandya and Jadeja have stepped up their game and strengthened the Indian middle order. Perhaps Pakistan could try shuffling their batting line up so that their middle order isn't weak.

 

[Farabi]

Anyone can reach the top if XYZ happens. Zimbabwe can become better than India and England if they get 11 world class players.

The point is that Pakistan cannot find those two world class middle-order batsmen, and even if a miracle happens and they do find a couple, the bigger sides will also find better alternatives.

Pakistan’s best batsman has always been inferior to the best batsmen of the top sides of their time. For every Miandad and Zaheer, there were Viv and Greg, for every Inzamam, there was Tendulkar and Lara and for every Babar, there is a Kohli, Smith, Rohit etc.

That is why the deficit in our batting remains. We just don’t have the capacity to build a batting lineup that the world would look at with envy.

That's because Pakistan hasn't really tried many MO batsmen from 2015 to 2020 and only began frantically throwing in options last year when Haris, Malik and Imad were all let go together creating a huge gap. What didn't help is injury to Saud.
As pointed out by recently, selections of rookies like Danish and Haider are questionable because they are not your best List A batsmen yet. They should be in the domestic scene for at least the next 2-3 years. As for Asif, his domestic stats are for all to see.
Khusdil and Talat deserved more games, Ifti chachu wasnt doing too badly in T20s after looking at the rest lol
Also, India have tried 14 players in their White ball middle order since April 2016. Their top 3 was running the show ever since Yuvi retired and Dhoni lost his form. 2015 WC, 2017 ICC Champ, 2019 WC are all great examples where a weak MO cost India multiple games and series from 2015-2019. Emergence of Pant, Pandya have helped a lot as well as Jadeja now stepping up his batting in LOI.

 

[Farabi]

The current Pakistani team reminds me a lot of the Indian team of 2015-19. A top heavy batting line up with a very vulnerable middle order made up of batsmen like Kedar Jadhav, Rayudu, Pandey, Shankar, etc.

Thankfully batsmen like SKY, Iyer, Pant, Pandya and Jadeja have stepped up their game and strengthened the Indian middle order. Perhaps Pakistan could try shuffling their batting line up so that their middle order isn't weak.

Yes, I agree.

 

[UzmanBeast]

Anyone can reach the top if XYZ happens. Zimbabwe can become better than India and England if they get 11 world class players.

The point is that Pakistan cannot find those two world class middle-order batsmen, and even if a miracle happens and they do find a couple, the bigger sides will also find better alternatives.

Pakistan’s best batsman has always been inferior to the best batsmen of the top sides of their time. For every Miandad and Zaheer, there were Viv and Greg, for every Inzamam, there was Tendulkar and Lara and for every Babar, there is a Kohli, Smith, Rohit etc.

That is why the deficit in our batting remains. We just don’t have the capacity to build a batting lineup that the world would look at with envy.

Agreed. However, just as talented players are found, some players are also made.

The problem is that our thinking is of such an inferior and pathetic mindset that we expect the domestic system to present us with a batsman or two who are already talented and performing so that our coaches have to do nothing.

You can look at all the bowlers we have had over the last decade and see how many faded away simply because they neither received the support nor coaching to take them to the next level.

The way Pakistan perceives the game of cricket from a technical standpoint is utterly shocking. We'd wait 100 years for a miracle to happen to find a world-class player, but we'd ignore all the players who could have been made into something much better.

That's the story with Pakistan Cricket, always has been, and will always be unless there is a strong change in professionalism and proper investments made in the right areas to develop players.

What Pakistan will need to admit is that there is no visible raw talent in the country which is ripe for the international stage. We can keep lying to ourselves that we have an abundance of talent in all formats of the game, whereas in reality, we have none. That being said, that doesn't mean that there aren't good players, there are quite some good players who can be made into better players if they are worked with and developed.

Until we move on from the mindset and the illusion that we possess a miraculous depth of talent which is far from the truth, we will continue to be a mid-table team who fails to utilize their existing resources while being blinded by something which doesn't even exist.

 

[ElRaja]

pakistan has been having a revolution since the clear out post the 2003 world cup debacle, its been 18 years and no limited overs pak team has come close to the ability of that squad which was disbanded.

there are no revolutionary short cuts, it would take years of hard work and persistence, but no one has the patience or appetite for that.

 

[topspin]

Misbah ul Haq.

He won’t land a job as the head coach of a Private school in England just on qualifications. Here, he is the Don Corleone of Pakistan cricket

Yep not even Nepal or Papua New Guinea would let Misbah coach their sides. Only in Pakistan cricket do you find free passes given to such incompetence.

 

[Farabi]

Agreed. However, just as talented players are found, some players are also made.

The problem is that our thinking is of such an inferior and pathetic mindset that we expect the domestic system to present us with a batsman or two who are already talented and performing so that our coaches have to do nothing.

You can look at all the bowlers we have had over the last decade and see how many faded away simply because they neither received the support nor coaching to take them to the next level.

The way Pakistan perceives the game of cricket from a technical standpoint is utterly shocking. We'd wait 100 years for a miracle to happen to find a world-class player, but we'd ignore all the players who could have been made into something much better.

That's the story with Pakistan Cricket, always has been, and will always be unless there is a strong change in professionalism and proper investments made in the right areas to develop players.

What Pakistan will need to admit is that there is no visible raw talent in the country which is ripe for the international stage. We can keep lying to ourselves that we have an abundance of talent in all formats of the game, whereas in reality, we have none. That being said, that doesn't mean that there aren't good players, there are quite some good players who can be made into better players if they are worked with and developed.

Until we move on from the mindset and the illusion that we possess a miraculous depth of talent which is far from the truth, we will continue to be a mid-table team who fails to utilize their existing resources while being blinded by something which doesn't even exist.

I think the point that is being reiterated is that there is no country where “talent is ripe for international stage”. There are very rare exceptions to this rule.
Pakistan has done pretty well in the U19s since 2000s, yet where we lack is developing that talent into international quality.
A great blueprint is Babar who, despite a VERY successful U19 tournament in 2010, he was NOT picked for Pakistan and played domestics for 5 years before getting selected in 2016. That allowed him to develop and be ready for international cricket.
What we often do is pick rookies before they are ready and then blame them and chuck them away as “TTFs”.

process/mechanism:
1. no one, no matter how talented the player “looks” lol, he will not be picked from U19 or Franchises and groomed in the Pakistan team.

2. The Player must play and ACE FC and List A for at least 2 seasons (30-50 FC games and 50-100 List A) to be eligible for selection.

3.Batsmen must have a minimum of list A and FC average of 35 to be considered for a batting role in the Pakistan team.

4. when selected, batsman should be given similar roles to the role the player has shown success in domestics (opener for opener role)

5. new player must get at least 2 full series in one go before judging

 

[indianpanacea]

Sharjeel
Fakhar
Babar
Hafeez
Rizwan
Azam khan(wk)
M.wasim jnr
Hassan Ali
Usman qadir
Arshad Iqbal
Afridi

 

[Farabi]

Sharjeel
Fakhar
Babar
Hafeez
Rizwan
Azam khan(wk)
M.wasim jnr
Hassan Ali
Usman qadir
Arshad Iqbal
Afridi

Sharjeel
Fakhar
Babar
Hafeez
Rizwan
Fahim
Imad
Hassan Ali
Zahid Mehmood
Amir
SSA

 

[Ahmad-GERMANFC]

We can do that but first we need to start selecting brave, attacking batsmen who aren’t mental midgets.

 

[Mamoon]

No one, absolutely no one is telling you pakistan is brimming with talent.

Only paranoid, traumatised people will tell you that fans are deluded to believe Pakistan has a thousand Tendulkars coming through

There are challenged people on this forum who think the obese garbage Sharjeel will transform this team, Rauf and Naseem are great bowlers in the making, Babar is as good as Kohli and better than Rohit and the list goes on and on.

These are the deluded and cricket ignorant people that I am referring to.

No one said anything about Tendulkar.

 

[Mamoon]

That's because Pakistan hasn't really tried many MO batsmen from 2015 to 2020 and only began frantically throwing in options last year when Haris, Malik and Imad were all let go together creating a huge gap. What didn't help is injury to Saud.
As pointed out by recently, selections of rookies like Danish and Haider are questionable because they are not your best List A batsmen yet. They should be in the domestic scene for at least the next 2-3 years. As for Asif, his domestic stats are for all to see.
Khusdil and Talat deserved more games, Ifti chachu wasnt doing too badly in T20s after looking at the rest lol
Also, India have tried 14 players in their White ball middle order since April 2016. Their top 3 was running the show ever since Yuvi retired and Dhoni lost his form. 2015 WC, 2017 ICC Champ, 2019 WC are all great examples where a weak MO cost India multiple games and series from 2015-2019. Emergence of Pant, Pandya have helped a lot as well as Jadeja now stepping up his batting in LOI.

You can try as many players as you want, it won’t make a difference. They are all rubbish.

Every player that we select is apparently the wrong one and the fans overhype the next in line. When they get the chance and fail to live up to the hype, they overhype the next bunch.

If Haider Ali was not selected on this tour, everyone would be singing his songs and abusing Misbah for not giving the youngster a chance.

Similarly, if Fakhar was not retained for the T20Is after the South African ODI series, we would have been told that his presence would have prevented this humiliation in Zimbabwe.

Now Saud Shakeel is the new savior, but in due time, he will also prove to be rubbish like Abdullah Shafique and everyone else.

 

[Rauf's_Lungs]

You cannot have a revolution when you don’t have the tools required.

We simply have no talent. We can replace this bunch with the next in line and they will be equally mediocre.

Pretty much 99% of the players in the country are bog average.

England could do a revolution in 2015 because they had the personnel. It was simply a case of picking the right players and adopting a different style.

We don’t have the right players. That is the problem.

Our lack of talent is exposed every year in PSL.

Strange thing to say when the team is captained by a 26 who is also the greatest batsman in the world.

 

[Mamoon]

Strange thing to say when the team is captained by a 26 who is also the greatest batsman in the world.

Yes, the greatest batsman in a world where Kohli, Smith, Root, Williamson and Rohit do not live.

 

[UzmanBeast]

I think the point that is being reiterated is that there is no country where “talent is ripe for international stage”. There are very rare exceptions to this rule.
Pakistan has done pretty well in the U19s since 2000s, yet where we lack is developing that talent into international quality.
A great blueprint is Babar who, despite a VERY successful U19 tournament in 2010, he was NOT picked for Pakistan and played domestics for 5 years before getting selected in 2016. That allowed him to develop and be ready for international cricket.
What we often do is pick rookies before they are ready and then blame them and chuck them away as “TTFs”.

process/mechanism:
1. no one, no matter how talented the player “looks” lol, he will not be picked from U19 or Franchises and groomed in the Pakistan team.

2. The Player must play and ACE FC and List A for at least 2 seasons (30-50 FC games and 50-100 List A) to be eligible for selection.

3.Batsmen must have a minimum of list A and FC average of 35 to be considered for a batting role in the Pakistan team.

4. when selected, batsman should be given similar roles to the role the player has shown success in domestics (opener for opener role)

5. new player must get at least 2 full series in one go before judging

The problem is the lack of coaching available to raw talents at their developmental level, as the PCB has not invested there àt all.

PCB is quite incompetent as they manage to demonstrate this whenever presented the opportunity.

Unless the board is run by professionals who understand the importance of player development, we'll continue to lose potential prospects.

 

[saeedhk]

Surely Misbah can’t be sitting there thinking Babar Rizwan is a better opening combo than Fakhar Sharjeel.

That’s exactly the problem, he actually thinks that.

 

[Markhor]

Firstly it's amusing to see the hysterical reaction to this defeat on here. Yes it's sucks losing to Zimbabwe but it's not the first time a stronger team falls flat on a poor pitch to a lower ranked side. And it's inconsequential T20 - I wish we showed this emotion when we're losing Test series after series.

Secondly, whenever defeats like this happen, it's amazing how many fans delude themselves into thinking the issue is simply of selection - if only we played "XYZ" or another combination we'd be dominating teams. Or begin looking for scapegoats as if we haven't had a revolving door of coaches and selectors for the last 20 years. Then there's the cliches like "there is so much talent/there is no talent."

A little bit of domestic knowledge beyond the cursory reading of Cricinfo Profiles shows the same Danish Aziz and Asif Ali we are cursing now are same batsmen who piled on the runs in the recent Pakistan Cup and National T20.

So the question nobody's asking is why are these international flops like Danish, Asif, Khushdil and Iftikhar able to score so heavily in domestic tournaments ? Despite the improvements in our system - there's STILL a huge gulf between our domestic cricket and international competition.

It shows three things about our domestic cricket a) how poor and unrefined our bowlers are contrary to the myths about our "bowling depth"; b) how abysmal the quality of opposition planning and analysis is; and c) the mediocre standard of cricketers being fed into our FC setup by our grassroots cricket.

We constantly make comparisons to IPL and Indian cricket and totally ignore WHY or HOW they got there as if their cricketers just grew from trees.

 

[Saurav]

It's not all doom and gloom

You have two very solid batsman in Babar and Rizwan you can build your lineup around

The rest of them need to be fearless aggresive batsmen like Fakhar and Sharjeel.I'm sure PSL throws up options

but they will be inconsistent and will need backing

I already see posters writing off young talent like Haider,thats not how you build a lineup