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Sami Aslam might just have solved Pakistan's opening conundrum

Sami Aslam is young still, a couple of failures and some people already losing patience with him. I agree he scores too slowly but he is definitely the best opener in Pakistan, miles better than Shehzad, Masood, Manzoor etc but he should rotate the strike more but I back this guy to get runs in Australia
 
Nothing wrong with Sami getting a few failures on foreign tours.

He is still young and he showed a lot of promise on the Eng tour, leaving the ball outside the off-stump almost like a seasoned pro.

This guy is worth persisting with and if he is dropped, then Pak will get nowhere.
 
Happy Birthday Sami Aslam

Turns 21 today, Wish him best of luck, Hope he does fabulously in Australia and have a bright Test Career ahead for Pakistan.
 
Happy Birthday to him. Gets a lot of flak but he has done pretty well as far as Pakistani openers go, esp as he was only 20.

At first people didn't want him to play in England because of his failure in Bangladesh.

Now mid NZ series before the 2nd test some guy was like "let's drop him" :facepalm:

The scoring rate criticism is kind of valid, but that's just his comfort zone..
 
Suleiman said:
Happy Birthday to him. Gets a lot of flak but he has done pretty well as far as Pakistani openers go, esp as he was only 20.

At first people didn't want him to play in England because of his failure in Bangladesh.

Now mid NZ series before the 2nd test some guy was like "let's drop him" :facepalm:

The scoring rate criticism is kind of valid, but that's just his comfort zone..
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I think he top scored in our last test match against NZ. Very unfair to criticize him really, Because this guy has alot of potential to be a super test Batsman, Just needs to be slightly more fluent later on.

His ability to judge the ball and leave is very good.
 
Happy Birthday. Hope he performs well.

Somebody who went back to Fc Cricket and worked on his game unlike majority.

Hats off to Mansoor Rana of NCA whose work with him.payed off and than He had great time in Grade 2 three day tournament and things turned around for Good.

Hope he learns playing Big knocks and improves his fluency as a batsman. Needs to improve his catching aswell.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mark Nicholas "I'm very impressed by Sami Aslam, he clearly has the right temperament for this form of the game" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AUSvPAK?src=hash">#AUSvPAK</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/809684175729164290">December 16, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Excellent Test opener. Needs to improve his scoring rate a bit though. He's only 21 and has looked good against difficult bowling so far in his career
 
But if he keeps on blocking every delivery, when will be score?
I am not impressed at all. He lack shots.
He donot have the skill to rotate strikes
 
Wow.

He's definitely the best opener we've had in at least a decade. Who was better? Can't remember ANYONE barring Saeed Anwar.

At least in Tests!
 
No matter how much you hype him.... He is just a mediocre batsman...he is not there to survive overs like a night watchman.
Absolutely pathetic.
I don't know what's the fuss about.
 
Aviator said:
No matter how much you hype him.... He is just a mediocre batsman...he is not there to survive overs like a night watchman.
Absolutely pathetic.
I don't know what's the fuss about.
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You must know better than Brayshaw, Taylor etc.
 
He was playing like this even in UAE facing WI.. LOL!!
Yeah.. Brayshaw, Taylor, and xyz said he is an ATG so he is an ATG.
 
Aviator said:
He was playing like this even in UAE facing WI.. LOL!!
Yeah.. Brayshaw, Taylor, and xyz said he is an ATG so he is an ATG.
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Your are hilarious buddy!

People like you deserve to have Shehzad opening the batting.
 
Nowhere close to you my friend.
And people like you deserve shan masood and his carbon copy sami aslam?
 
Stats are still decent but looks poor at the crease. I can remember starting a thread on the same issue, and i was criticised for saying that i felt he had gone backwards and the reason for his poor SR was because he was batting on slow low wickets- That excuse cant be used today.
 
Aviator said:
Nowhere close to you my friend.
And people like you deserve shan masood and his carbon copy sami aslam?
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What about Sami is mediocre?

He is strong willed, has a good defensive technique and is performing decently on abroad tours having played no more than 10 test matches at the brisk age of 20.
 
Azhar and sami are good openers they do their jobs more often than not,their problem is changing gears when set,you have to make it count when you get in.
But the main problems are the number 4,5,6.
 
Bewal Express said:
Stats are still decent but looks poor at the crease. I can remember starting a thread on the same issue, and i was criticised for saying that i felt he had gone backwards and the reason for his poor SR was because he was batting on slow low wickets- That excuse cant be used today.
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Hard to score when your constantly facing 145 K bumpers from the end your facing.
 
He needs to score more instead of thinking of survival at the crease. I know he's got more shots in him.
 
You can't afford to have 3 liabilities when it get easier to bat, you have to cash in.
 
he needs to up the scoring rate even a S/R of 40 is the minimum required in Test Cricket. Sami batting at 20 S/R means that to get a 100 he needs to bat 350-400 balls which will only happen once in a blue moon. Needs to stop with the tailender blocking
 
Sami Aslam should learn from Dean Elgar.

Both play the same style but Elgar is far more effective and doesn't get bogged down.

Hopefully Sami can play that role for us.
 
Ridiculous decision to drop such a player for a fixing oaf. He needs to immediately be brought back to the team if Pakistan's to ever have a settled opening pair. The Pakistanis should not worry about his dot balls...

I haven't seen a Pakistani opener perform how he he did in NZ and here in England for a crap ton of time and it's quite frankly blasphemous to drop him for Sharjeel.

It's sad that PPers have forgotten a good talent.
 
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He has played most of his matches outside the UAE. Deserves at least 2 full series in the UAE.
 
Haz95 said:
Ridiculous decision to drop such a player for a fixing oaf. He needs to immediately be brought back to the team if Pakistan's to ever have a settled opening pair. The Pakistanis should not worry about his dot balls...

I haven't seen a Pakistani opener perform how he he did in NZ and here in England for a crap ton of time and it's quite frankly blasphemous to drop him for Sharjeel.

It's sad that PPers have forgotten a good talent.
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am i missing some thing is he drop from test squad ??
 
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Haz95 said:
Benching him for Sharjeel in the first place was bad enough. It should never have happened.
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why? sharjeel did ok in his only match.
Sami Aslam seemed lost to me for most of the tour.
 
Haz95 said:
Benching him for Sharjeel in the first place was bad enough. It should never have happened.
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oh thanx god you are talking about last test series i thought he was drop from test squad for w.i

i think it was good decision at that time to drop him he was clue less against hazlewood so that

drop from last test some how save him from getting drop for next series
 
saeed5646 said:
oh thanx god you are talking about last test series i thought he was drop from test squad for w.i

i think it was good decision at that time to drop him he was clue less against hazlewood so that

drop from last test some how save him from getting drop for next series
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He has been going backwards quicker than an Italian warship. Lets see if he works on his game.
 
Bewal Express said:
He has been going backwards quicker than an Italian warship. Lets see if he works on his game.
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i think he has done ok in foreign condition then most of our openers in recent years .he just

needs to improve his attacking game and strike rate minimum in high 50s though his defense

and temperament is top notch
 
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Bewal Express said:
He has been going backwards quicker than an Italian warship. Lets see if he works on his game.
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he is still the best test opener... even though he didnt get much runs in australia... I remember in the 1st test 1st inns he was the second highest run scorer and he is the one who has faced 100 deliveries... He has the temperament for tests, and plays a long waiting traditional opener... he is one 100 away with having more to come in the future... In all his 9 tests he has played since last year only 3 in UAE and scored 280 runs with an avg of 46.83.... If he is dropped from the test squad, then INZI will be the worst of chief selectors of all that pak had ever in their past...
 
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If he can improve his strike rotation and shot range he is potentially a class opener.

I think his over defensive batting cost him in the end.
 
Hawkeye said:
Ridiculous post.

Our best Test opener in probably last 5-10 years.
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I would have agreed with all the sentiments after his innings at Edgbaston where he mixed defence and attack but after that he was awful. I even started a thread and commented how poor he was even though he scored 70+ in the UAE. As you guys know, i am very rarily wrong about players, whether that be Yasir Shah, Sami Aslam or Mohammed Nawaz. Look back at my threads and contributions and you will see what i mean.
 
I swear it wouldn't surprise me if Misbah goes for Hafeez (instead of someone like Sami) just because he provides that off-spin option as a third spinner.
 
Needs to expand his game. Relying on bad balls to score won't cut it against top ranked teams. They won't bowl many.
 
He'll expand his game as he grows, but the raw materials are there. And let's face it now Misbah and Younis are over the hill we need a stodgy opener like him so we aren't exposing the middle order with the new ball, like we have been doing for decades since Saeed Anwar retired. People have short memories and are very quick to forget how hopeless openers have been in Pakistan, don't be so quick to discard Sami since there's hardly anyone waiting in the wings either.
 
Disgustingly boring and hardly any ability apart from knowing were his off-stump is, so he has not managed to solve the opening conundrum after all.

Dropping him for the WI tour was the correct decision. Time to drop him again. He is a terrible role model for any young domestic batsman who wants to play for Pakistan; this is not how a youngster should play the game.
 
Mamoon said:
Disgustingly boring and hardly any ability apart from knowing were his off-stump is, so he has not managed to solve the opening conundrum after all.

Dropping him for the WI tour was the correct decision. Time to drop him again. He is a terrible role model for any young domestic batsman who wants to play for Pakistan; this is not how a youngster should play the game.
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I find it quite shocking that he simply looks to
Stay at the crease for a long time, and doesn't even look to play any shots. What exactly is he trying to accomplish with this approach? This may seem harsh but I'm tempted to put him in the same category as Masood due to his ineptitude to score runs.
 
Deserves another shot in England next year before he is dropped imo.
 
Faran96 said:
I find it quite shocking that he simply looks to
Stay at the crease for a long time, and doesn't even look to play any shots. What exactly is he trying to accomplish with this approach? This may seem harsh but I'm tempted to put him in the same category as Masood due to his ineptitude to score runs.
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He is a selfish player who always talks about his statistics in interview, but cricket is a game leveler. Selfish player cannot thrive in international cricket, and he is both.
 
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Boi said:
Deserves another shot in England next year before he is dropped imo.
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Yeah I agree, no point changing and chopping players with potential otherwise no one is going to settle.
 
I managed to get a glimpse of him on the 5th day and to be honest he was horrible in his technique, balance and looked like a right handed version of Ashwin the batsman. It is hard to comprehend and accept players like him after seeing the likes of Saaed Anwar.
 
I'm all for backing players and giving them 10 Tests or more continuously to see whether they will succeed at the Test level or not but you have to back players who you see potential in. You can't just pick duds and play them for 2 years just so you can say at the end that we gave him enough chances. In that case, giving him enough chances is actually ruining Pakistan's team.

Babar is one whom you could invest in and despite him failing so far in Test cricket, you can still see potential of him succeeding because of his achievements in ODI cricket. Having said that he's living on a tight leash as well for me.

Our opening combination is probably the worst in Test cricket right now. Both one-dimensional ultra defensive batters that will suck the momentum out of the game. If you still want to keep faith in Sami, then you have to pair him with a guy like Fakhar who can take the pressure of scoring out of Sami's mind. However, I also think Fakhar is nowhere near Test quality. He has a hack-ish technique with absolutely zero ability to negotiate bouncers as we saw how many times he got hit on the helmet in the CT.

It's just demoralizing that we cannot produce 3-4 quality batsmen.
 
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