I get your point — and I actually agree with a lot of what you said about player development and flaws. But my comment wasn’t about Rizwan’s batting, the ODI lineup, or captaincy. It was about Pakistan’s T20I strategy — and the mindset that’s been holding our cricket hostage for years.
There’s a whole contingent of fans and ex-players who keep backing defensive options because they don’t trust our batting talent. And that mistrust becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
It’s a circular logic:
“We can’t modernize because we don’t have talent.”
But maybe we don’t have talent because we never give attacking players the time or space to develop.
Look at our selections. How many chances did Sharjeel Khan get after his return? How many games did Rizwan and Babar open together, blocking every experiment? Shan Masood was another defensive selection, made to “stabilize” things rather than push them forward.
Even when someone does break through, the system can’t stand it. It was Matthew Hayden who forced Mohammad Haris into the T20I side in 2022 World Cup — and Haris’ fearless hitting was a key reason Pakistan reached the World Cup final. And what happened next? He was dropped.
Saim Ayub — dropped from the Test side. Hassan Nawaz — a top six-hitter and match-winner all year — dropped after four failures. Sahibzada Farhan — top five in six-hitting this season — is the target of critique because of the inevitable failures that come with the territory. Every time a stroke-player fails once, he’s gone. Every time a “safe” player fails repeatedly, he’s told to take his time and find rhythm.
This isn’t pragmatism. It’s fear. And fear is why we’re stuck.
You said flaws get ironed out through international exposure — I completely agree. But how can they, if we never let these players stay long enough? Other teams back raw talent through failure. England stuck with Harry Brook and Phil Salt. That’s how you build modern batters.
Pakistan, on the other hand, keeps stabilizing mediocrity. We pick safe players, lose games, and then claim there’s no talent — repeating the same cycle every few years.
As for Rizwan — I’m not anti-Rizwan. He’s crucial to the Test side and can be a decent ODI player if someone can knock sense into his head. HE IS NOt a No. 4 ODI batter. He can use his captaincy to stay here but he’s failing Pakistan cricket. He doesn’t rotate strike well or play both sides of the wicket. He’d make far more sense lower. Saud Shakeel, meanwhile, is a much better fit at No. 4 — better against spin, better at finding gaps.
Saud Shakeel played the most assured innings against India in CT at no5 and he was dropped right after that for the WI tour? Why? Who is getting insecure? You see, I respect
@Rana because he smells politics much before many of us do.
On captaincy, Rizwan’s been average. A few calls were plain bad — taking three pacers to the Champions Trophy when spinners were available, or making Saud Shakeel and Babar open so he could play No. 4. Some fans say he lacked control, but those calls were his. WI is a mediocre side and losing like that to WI was embarrassing. His results speak for themselves.
At the core, this isn’t about one player or one format. It’s about a mindset that rewards safety and punishes intent. We’ve convinced ourselves that playing “responsible” cricket means batting like it’s 2005. We don’t back modern players, we don’t back risk, and then we wonder why we’re ranked No. 9.
Until Pakistan stops mistaking fear for stability — and learns to trust its own talent — we’ll keep getting what we deserve: tuk-tuk to the bottom of the rankings.
