mominsaigol
Test Debutant
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2021
- Runs
- 13,805
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I never thought I'd ever be making a post on this. Before going into this world cup, it seemed the problems would lie with our bowling, fielding and middle order, but the opening was something that was set.
I mean pakistan has had the same opening pair for the last 5 years and a very very succesful opening pair at that. And yet ore world cup here we are boys.
Fakhar and Imam opening dilemma:
Unlike posters who would critise this opening pair, I use to forward this opening pair in the past when fakhar was inform. Imam and fakhar complimented each other, with Imam consistently rotating strike and keeping the score board ticking and fakhar striking freely and when he clicked he would almost certainly outbat the opposition and win single handedly.
But recently with fakhar fizzing out, Imam is now left with the responsibility of accelerating and being the aggressor and senior player, something he is not fit to do.
Imam and Abdullah opening dilemma
The issue with Imam and Abdullah is that unlike fakhar and Imam which was the perfect opening player, one was a striker and the other a stabiliser, we now have 2 stabilisers at the crease who like taking their time to go on their merry way. We saw the warmup game, how New Zealand top order approached the first 10 overs and how our top order approached the first 10 overs.
Let's be honest 33 for 1 on a batting paradise surface for the first 10 overs simply isn't good enough. While I have called Imam and Abdullah good players in the past, opening with the 2 of them is a recipe for disaster as we can't afford to be 3.5 runs in the opening power play when most teams will obviously be looking to go at 5 runs per over in the opening powerplay, especially England who will be looking to target 7 to possibly even 8 runs per over.
So what are our options?
Option 1: Back fakhar to open
This option seems risky, but fakhar is an impact player, and unlike the slow pitches of Sri lanka, Hyderabad looks to be a belter pitch which is something fakhar seems to enjoy. However in the current video on YouTube realesed by sports central, Fakhar seems to be struggling even in net practise. So it's a risky move, but fakhar and imam have been our opening pair for a while and they have won us games multiple times in the past.
Option 2: Bring Rizwan to Open along with either Abdullah or Imam
Ik people on this forumn hate rizwan, some like him some hate him, my problems with rizwan however aren't related to his batting. I just hate his golden boy treatment and his Crybaby no 4 slot argument. However with that being said irrespective of the whole rizwan only feasts on 2nd string attack argument which is the same argument people made for babar and imam and virtually everyone in our squad (Haters gotta hate)
Rizwan is capable of atleast scoring at 90 Sr and accelerating to a 110 Sr at the back end of the innings. A 90 ball 100 isn't too bad, and he does consistently play at a 90 to 110 Sr which is something we saw in Sri lanka Asia cup game as well. Along with the fact that he has been more consistent then imam and Abdullah this year and he clearly has experience with opening.
Rizwan may lack the ability of fakhar where he can outright outbat the opposition, but a consistent opener who can up the ante to a 110 SR, is a 90 ball 100 really a bad thing? Cause let's be honest, with imam and Abdullah expect a match losing 100 of 110 or 120 balls.
Rizwan opening also opens up the no 4 slot for saud.
Option 3: Bring babar to open
This is honestly the least appealing option to me, Babar is a good player and hence I feel bringing him to open will once again weaken the no 3 spot like it did with our t20 squad. Ontop of that if babar opens who will be our no 3? Rizwan? Saud? Fakhar?
However babar at opening does give us an improved version of imam and Abdullah, one who can accelerate at will.
Lastly I am known on this forumn as being an analyser as people have now started to notice I was right about saud's technique adjusting to odi as well. So believe me when I say this
Babar seems to have improved against spin. I have always loved babar for his batting improvements, He use to lack the ability to take singles and hit sixes at the start of his career and he's ironed out those issues.
In the warm up, he was playing spin on the backfoot and he seems to have ironed out his issues against spin, again only time will tell, but babar is an improvement type player and I knew he'd ironed it out eventually.
Again I maybe wrong, but he played satner and sodhi on the backfoot extremely well and no longer seemed to get stuck on the front foot anymore.
Babar is a solid player, ( Clueless captain) but clearly our best bat, but again him at opening will weaken our batting due to us already having a non existent middle order.
I mean pakistan has had the same opening pair for the last 5 years and a very very succesful opening pair at that. And yet ore world cup here we are boys.
Fakhar and Imam opening dilemma:
Unlike posters who would critise this opening pair, I use to forward this opening pair in the past when fakhar was inform. Imam and fakhar complimented each other, with Imam consistently rotating strike and keeping the score board ticking and fakhar striking freely and when he clicked he would almost certainly outbat the opposition and win single handedly.
But recently with fakhar fizzing out, Imam is now left with the responsibility of accelerating and being the aggressor and senior player, something he is not fit to do.
Imam and Abdullah opening dilemma
The issue with Imam and Abdullah is that unlike fakhar and Imam which was the perfect opening player, one was a striker and the other a stabiliser, we now have 2 stabilisers at the crease who like taking their time to go on their merry way. We saw the warmup game, how New Zealand top order approached the first 10 overs and how our top order approached the first 10 overs.
Let's be honest 33 for 1 on a batting paradise surface for the first 10 overs simply isn't good enough. While I have called Imam and Abdullah good players in the past, opening with the 2 of them is a recipe for disaster as we can't afford to be 3.5 runs in the opening power play when most teams will obviously be looking to go at 5 runs per over in the opening powerplay, especially England who will be looking to target 7 to possibly even 8 runs per over.
So what are our options?
Option 1: Back fakhar to open
This option seems risky, but fakhar is an impact player, and unlike the slow pitches of Sri lanka, Hyderabad looks to be a belter pitch which is something fakhar seems to enjoy. However in the current video on YouTube realesed by sports central, Fakhar seems to be struggling even in net practise. So it's a risky move, but fakhar and imam have been our opening pair for a while and they have won us games multiple times in the past.
Option 2: Bring Rizwan to Open along with either Abdullah or Imam
Ik people on this forumn hate rizwan, some like him some hate him, my problems with rizwan however aren't related to his batting. I just hate his golden boy treatment and his Crybaby no 4 slot argument. However with that being said irrespective of the whole rizwan only feasts on 2nd string attack argument which is the same argument people made for babar and imam and virtually everyone in our squad (Haters gotta hate)
Rizwan is capable of atleast scoring at 90 Sr and accelerating to a 110 Sr at the back end of the innings. A 90 ball 100 isn't too bad, and he does consistently play at a 90 to 110 Sr which is something we saw in Sri lanka Asia cup game as well. Along with the fact that he has been more consistent then imam and Abdullah this year and he clearly has experience with opening.
Rizwan may lack the ability of fakhar where he can outright outbat the opposition, but a consistent opener who can up the ante to a 110 SR, is a 90 ball 100 really a bad thing? Cause let's be honest, with imam and Abdullah expect a match losing 100 of 110 or 120 balls.
Rizwan opening also opens up the no 4 slot for saud.
Option 3: Bring babar to open
This is honestly the least appealing option to me, Babar is a good player and hence I feel bringing him to open will once again weaken the no 3 spot like it did with our t20 squad. Ontop of that if babar opens who will be our no 3? Rizwan? Saud? Fakhar?
However babar at opening does give us an improved version of imam and Abdullah, one who can accelerate at will.
Lastly I am known on this forumn as being an analyser as people have now started to notice I was right about saud's technique adjusting to odi as well. So believe me when I say this
Babar seems to have improved against spin. I have always loved babar for his batting improvements, He use to lack the ability to take singles and hit sixes at the start of his career and he's ironed out those issues.
In the warm up, he was playing spin on the backfoot and he seems to have ironed out his issues against spin, again only time will tell, but babar is an improvement type player and I knew he'd ironed it out eventually.
Again I maybe wrong, but he played satner and sodhi on the backfoot extremely well and no longer seemed to get stuck on the front foot anymore.
Babar is a solid player, ( Clueless captain) but clearly our best bat, but again him at opening will weaken our batting due to us already having a non existent middle order.