Square Drive
Test Star
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2011
- Runs
- 37,660
I have already named Hassan Ali. He is ready for test cricket. I didn't see Junaid Khan bowl in BPL but if he is bowling as good as 2012, he is another alternative. And then you have M Abbas and Mir Hamza who are of the same pace as Imran Khan. Mir Hamza was highlighted by Wasim and Abbas has topped bowling charts for 2 consecutive years. Atif Jabbar is supposed to be the quickest in domestic. Now granted I haven't seen the domestic performers, 1-2 are bound to be good.
You can't carry fast bowlers averaging 35+, namely Rahat and Sohail, and expect to win test matches. Rahat and Wahab deliver 2 out of 10 times, highly inconsistent. But if I had to drop 2 fast bowlers, it would be Rahat and imran. If 3, sohail because his fitness is not upto intl standards.
There is no quality fast bowling all rounder at the moment. Hammad Adam had a decent season but his pace is slightly better than Yamin. Inzimam rates Fahim Ashraf but I haven't seen him. So no need to force a medicine all rounder to the test team just for the sake of an all rounder. Play 4 regular bowlers.
Again, I really don't think Hasan/Junaid should be inducted in the Test side without even cementing their places in the LOI sides. We've seen enough Talhas, Tanvir Ahmeds, Sohail Khans (1.0), Ehsan Adil (raw) being thrown into the Test side, only to disappoint. If Hasan can keep it up for another few months and if Junaid can make a successful comeback to the ODI side then yes I'm all for it.
Hamza and Abbas I agree seem to be suited more towards Tests (unlike Hasan & Junaid) and they should indeed start international career through Test cricket. Don't know much about Jabbar.
Why on earth would you drop Imran? If you're interested in averages, he has the best averages among pacers in our squad at the moment. Averages 26 after all but one Test in UAE, and you want him dropped just because you think someone can do better? That makes no sense. You judge based on performance, not hypothetical situations.
Open to dropping Rahat (with Asif the replacement) but Sohail has shown something with the bat and there can be a better way to utilize him, which is in a 5-man attack in my opinion. In a 4-man attack, yes, I agree that he should not play.
You can see Pakistan playing with 4 bowlers at the moment and the result is in front of you. They're failing to take 20 wickets and are being run into the ground.
Yamin has shown he has potential with the limited chances he's been given internationally, only to be dropped for no particular reason. What wrong has he done in the first place? He most definitely deserves a recall.
Haven't seen Fahim yet so don't know much about him. Personally like Hammad but he's been out of international action for just so long now.
Like a broken record. But but we can't know for sure that what is coming is any better.
Who can predict the future with 100% certainty? What selection system ever operated
on this logic.
Lots of bowlers doing well in domestics. The last ones who were promoted from the domestic ranks, Sohail and Hasan, have been better than Rahat and Wahab and Amir.
Yet we should be afraid to give more chances to newcomers. Because resting Wahab for 4-5 Tests in favor of someone who averages literally 10 points better than him in domestics is a risk we can't live with.
Because 'doing just about enough to keep their place' is how you believe one produces excellence these days.
Each one of our current pacers can be of great use in the side if utilized properly under a legit captain who has guts, bar maybe Rahat.
Yeah well done for pinpointing Sohail and Hasan while conveniently ignoring Talha, Tanvir, etc. You also seem to forget how everyone was drooling over Rahat when he was performing in domestics, and now you're crying for him to be axed.
I hope through this post I've provided reasons for retaining at least 4/5 of these bowlers.
I fully acknowledge that Wahab is inconsistent, which is why I believe he should not be an automatic selection (see post #64) and should be rotated.