i am sure he is better than many in the team now. Pak middle order is nothing to boast about. But i did not comment about him looking at score sheet.. i looked at the posted video and he seems to be a technically correct batsman in the mold of Rahane. he will be an excellent addition to Pak test team and a good addition if he bats in top three/four for pakistan. But Pakistan already have number of players of his type, Babar, Harris and others.. So he may not offer much more than what existing players are offering. Of course, i could be wrong and some of you who have watched him more intently be better judge
I fully understand from where you are coming.
I explained the situation in another thread of M Bevan - why he had a short Test career. It was not because he was poor (against short staff) or there was nepotism; simply the guy didn't get enough chances to prove himself in that star studded line-up. Same goes for Rahne - he is a Bombay boy, with a FC average at one point almost 70; can't be that he is poor against spin and maintained those numbers - but he might have to adjust few things in his game, which easily could have done had he got the chance in IND team early - but, he had to wait for some of the best in business, so no hard feelings there. And same goes for ODI as well - he hardly got the chance in ODI team - give him 35-36 ODI at No. 4, he is good enough to make them count.
Coming to PAK youngsters (not only Saud), there might be lots of short comings in their game, but batting development is a continuous process - you learn every day & learn to counter different situations. What is key is the natural ability, personality traits and batting fundamentals, and obviously that one gets the chance at right age & gets the proper guidance to develop. Young man has a natural sweet timing & placement, and a good range of shots around 360. What he might lack is power, and obviously experience at highest level. But, he is not 35 pretending to be 29, among very few PAK players I believe thus guy is genuine or near genuine in age, so time is at his side - if he is given regular chances at 3 (flanked by openers & may be Hari 4, Sarfraz at 5), there is no reason why he can't transform his game in a year or 2.
Normally, if there is a great team, often it results in generation gap - because great teams are built with 5/6/7 greats, everyone blocks the path for next man for a decade. It has happened to many teams, not only in cricket but other sports as well. Look at Laker or Bulls team now or that French, Dutch or German team in soccer. Problem is that, those team (s) faced a generation gap for Kobe, MJ, Pippen, Henrey, Zidane, Pires, Cruyff, Neskiens, Gulit, Basten, Rijkard, Klinsmann, Mathus, Haesler, Voelar ....... for PAK, this generation gap is happening for Misbah, MoHa, Malik, Azhar, Wahab, Irfaaaan, Gul ......
