POTW : barah_admi

[MenInG]

Some great food for thought as we look ahead to our Test assignments is this week's Post of the Week winnr - Congratulations to [MENTION=146504]barah_admi[/MENTION]


http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/showthread.php?289138-Possible-Pakistan-Test-Squad(s)-for-2019-20

Pakistan are soon to travel to Australia for two tests, then, following a huge number of T20s, they are to arrive in England for three tests. The reality is, both series are winnable, with both sides struggling for consistency and form (England more so than Australia). Yet we know the Aussies and the English can recover from slumps and find replacements for out of form players pretty quickly in the test arena. Even with Warner, Khawaja and plenty of others looking terrible in the batting line up, they will have found replacements/improvements by the time the test series arrives...but Pakistan have failed to register a competitive test side for years now.

There are bright spots with the bowling at times (Abbas has been exceptional, Shaheen is young and gifted, Shadab will only improved) but the batting is too inconsistent and there are too few centurions, so which set of players can be brought in to improve things? I think a major overhaul is needed in some areas and this is the squad I'd go for to start things off in Australia -

1. Imam Ul Haq
2. Fakhar Zaman
3. Sami Aslam
4. Babar Azam
5. Haris Sohail
6. Usman Salauuddin
7. Mohammad Rizwan wk
8. Rohail Nazir wk (only 17 but already has a hundred and from what I have read, is a good keeper)
9. Shadab Khan
10. Yasir Shah
11. Zafar Gohar
12. Shaheen Afridi
13. Mohammad Abbas
14. Mohammad Hasnain
15. Usman Shinwari

Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed are done away with. I think the obvious choice for captain would be Babar and the team I would pick to start in that first test would be:

1. Fakhar Zaman
2. Imam Ul Haq (why split the ODI pair?)
3. Babar Azam c
4. Haris Sohail
5. Usman Salahuddin
6. Mohammad Rizwan wk
7. Shadab Khan
8. Yasir Shah
9. Mohammad Abbas
10. Shaheen Afridi
11. Mohammad Hasnain

The youth is exciting and seemingly fearless of failure, plus Hasnain and Shaheen bring genuine pace to Abbas' line and length. Shadab is a genuine bat and can back up with 10-15 overs a day if needed, while Shah can bowl around the others. Leg spin can be a great weapon if captained properly (Ask Morgan). Babar seems to be clued in enough to know how to use them best, better than Sarfraz and Arthur anyway. Hopefully Misbah's advice can help at this stage.

The batting is new, inexperienced and an unknown but again, like the bowling, it is all about bleeding in the new and letting them have experience of the highest quality, in preparation for England.

This Pak side may well be beaten easily by Australia, but the aim is to build a side that is confident and experienced at the highest level by the time they arrive in England, and then travel elsewhere in the years to come.

Invest now to build for 20-21.

 

[trickyone]

Stopped reading after Yasir Shah name... Have you seen his stats outside of Asia?

 

[MenInG]

Stopped reading after Yasir Shah name... Have you seen his stats outside of Asia?

Why dont you enlighten us?

 

[Mesozoic]

Excellent analysis.

Except that Fakhar Zaman will be a liability on Aussie Wickets. He has time and again showed glaring weakness against short pitched bowling. In addition, his technique is too flawed to face the likes of Hazlewood and Cummins. So, best bet would be to play Shan Masood who looked good in patches in south Africa.

Agree fully on showing the door to Sarfraz and Shafiq but Azhar Ali ? Don't think so. He has a solid technique for gun barrel straight wickets and can do what Pujara did to the Aussies. He can be played at no.3.

Abbas is a risk that's worth taking. He lacks pace , but has a great control and he can go either way. If the wickets are like the ones India got at Adelaide , he must play. On flatties, he'll most likely get pummeled. So, shinwari could be the better option.

Yasir and Shadab may/may not work. But that's the best Pakistan have got at the moment. Shadab at no.7 and 4 fast bowlers looks likely.

 

[Danyaalr01]

We don't need Yasir ouside Asia, he has been horrible everywhere apart from England.
Hasnain does not have control on his seam or accuracy.
Abbas will not be useful in Australia as he won't get much lateral movement, also he won't be able to successfully target the stumps as the pitches are too bouncy so it is easy to just stand outside the crease.
Fakhar and Imam shouldn't be there due to a weakness against the short ball.
Why would you play 2 spinners in Aussie land.

My line up would be:

1. Abid Ali
2. Shan Masood (both play short bowling well)
3. Haris
4. Babar (C)
5. Usman Salahuddin/ Asad Shafiq
6. Rizwan (WK)
7. Aamer Yamin (good batsman and can get through 10 + overs in a day)
8. Shadab Khan/Zafar Gohar (Shadab's batting is better and a leggie might be a bit more useful in Aus)
9. Ehsan Adil/ Sameen Gul (Sameen has brilliant FC stats and I think can do very good in Aus as he is tall, good seam position, accurate and swings it. Ehsan is having a good FC season and is bowling with control with a good seam and deserves a go too)
10. Shaheen Shah
11. Naseem Shah (Pace, accuracy, swing and aggressive bowling).

It's a young bowling attack but it's the best we have. Personally I would like to see Sameen ahead of Ehsan. I have included Shafiq there because we don't have any experience otherwise, but tbh I would rather give Usman a go.

 

[barah_admi]

I was not expecting this at all, thanks again guys!

As for people debating the selections, I think that is the point, there are options and we have to choose the best possible ones. Many of you may disagree but Shah is one of the best test bowlers around and Fakhar could potentially develop into a very good test batsman. At the very least he should be given a run, heck he may end up like Jason Roy and/or Johnny Bairstow but he should be given a chance to showcase his abilities.

The overall point is that a squad of 15 can be picked without resorting to Malik, Hafeez, Ali and Shafiq. If we look at the development of any top test side, it starts with being brave, picking new/newer players and building a side that can still be playing 3-5 years down the line. It may start with a few bad test results to begin with but as that crop of players develop, they can only get better.

People are forgetting how long it took for the great West Indian side to develop in the 70s, the likes of Rose and Lloyd couldn't stop losses to India and New Zealand, even the return f Sobers did not help all that much. The 75 world cup win could have been a blip because when they got back to test cricket, they were thrashed by Australia....yet they stuck to a formula and continued to grow. The likes of Roberts, Viv and Holding came of age but had to be persisted with.

Rome, as they say, was not built in a day.

 

[sweep_shot]

Congratulations.

Good post.

 

[DRsohail]

congrats for pow but I think you selected wrong player, stopped reading after I saw Fakhar and Yasir there.