I don't know why you keep doing this to yourself. You know what you are doing and you think I am like the others who have no idea the subtext that you continuously try to gloss over. I am flattered by the attempt to use my own methods against myself, except that in my case, you are simply making things up or making assumptions which I have never made to make it seem as though I said those things. Oh well, this is fun.
Gobbling like a turkey and deviating the discussion to other players who have nothing to do with Sarfraz and his shambolic wicket-keeping will not serve.
Well no, actually I am giving mere examples of where you have been wrong numerous times and have tried to instead of accept you were wrong, grasp at straws to find some sort of method of proving some sort of correctness. You were wrong about Sarfraz's batting, now you made up the narrative that you thought he was a poor keeper from the get go to somehow devalue what he's done and grasp on something to make you right. That narrative only started after the fact he started performing with the bat, we both know that.
I'm yet to see a single post by you where you have acknowledging that his wicket-keeping is really poor. All I see is you clutching at straws and defending his keeping, going to such lengths to suggest that not going for a catch doesn't count as a drop because he didn't get his fingers on it.
Actually Mamoon, I never said Sarfraz was a good keeper, I'm merely pointing out how you vilify him for anything and everything you can due to the former point of you being wrong and trying to create a new narrative that you're right. He's not a good keeper, he's average just like the rest of the keepers in Pakistan. Adnan is probably the best but when you combine the batting it is not even close in terms of value Sarfraz brings over Adnan. I have seen bad drops by all (although Kami will forever take the cake for drops that your and my own mother could make) so jumping on Sarfraz simply because of again, your true intention in all this, is just actual straw grasping. Again I know why you are doing this.
You also suggest that Azhar's match winning knock in that epic Sharjah chase was overrated (because you don't like Azhar) and Sarfraz's 48 won us the game (which is factually incorrect).
Another fallacy. I think Sarfraz's knock won us the match because it did. He put the foot on the gas pedal and if he didn't we wouldn't have had enough time to chase SL's total. Of course Azhar was a key part of it, but Sarfraz to me was the catalyst. I even said right after that Azhar deserves a run for playing a key role in a match winning effort that almost looked impossible. I give him a lot of credit for fighting adversity with his team life on the line. I was a really big fan of his, but his flaws really irked me over time. He still has them but he is a gritty batsmen and really values his wicket. His SR this year has been the best of his career with an average of 50. Well done to him.
I, on the other hand, have appreciated his batting a hundred times over the the last few months and acknowledged the positive impact he has had on the team with the bat and the improvement that he has shown.
Again, me, me, me. You try so hard to be right it's a bit sad. You made up a narrative and had to try extremely hard to show you were right. I have no problem in being wrong, but I don't care much for being right. I just want the best team out there. I look at analytics deeply and they have rarely failed me when it came to team selection and production.
As far as his batting is concerned, he overdid the sweep shot and he was bounced out by NZ yesterday which is obviously disappointing because it highlights a weakness in his game. Now of course you can say that its not a weakness just like Fawad's series vs. Australia was a one off and the tactics they employed will not cripple him in the future.
That's the thing. I don't look at one bad match and define a career. Yes I will refer to others because you are being a hypocrite here. I have seen now 70 awful matches between Amin and Shafiq, and you mean to tell me that they have not looked awful or figured out at the crease? You support them, fair enough, but to give them freedom to play (and even you now are realizing these two in LOI's especially will be nobodies), those who have done nothing (Shafiq in ODI's) and not Sarfraz whose body of work against good bowling attacks, is simply unfair. If I see ten ODI's of the same thing, fine, argument is there, but one ODI is a blip on the radar. He scored hundreds and 50s against Australia, came to T20s and produced right away. He had a strong last match and threw it away, and just couldn't find the boundary in this match. This is an awful argument.
Did I say he should be kicked out of the team? Nope.
You did say he has potentially been figured out based on one match though.
You on the other hand brought XYZ players into the discussion simply because you don't have a credible defense to his keeping other than the lame not-going-for-a-catch-is-not-a-drop.
Secondly, Shafiq and Amin have nothing to do with his poor wicket-keeping. If you think I'm working on agenda here and giving him the short end of the stick because I don't like him, what about the rest of the posters here who have been disgusted with his shoddy keeping?
Again, already answered this. We know this is a personal agenda to prove a point and be right, which I don't understand why it matters so much. I am wrong all the time, and in fact, I love to be wrong. I wanted Shafiq to succeed, I wanted him to go out and score a hundred and shut me up. I don't have hate for anyone. I saw Amin scored that beautiful 50 against WI in T20s, a flawless innings by him, not one bad shot, and I thought, okay this kid has a lot of talent, left handed, good fielder, could throw a couple of overs with the ball, level headed. He just never showed that again. He reminded me of a left handed Yousuf. Elegant batsmen who keeps the bat close, never leaves the crease, footwork. He has all these things, but the ability to score runs, same with Shafiq, just isn't there.
Are they all focusing on his keeping now simply because they want to divert attention from his batting?
As I said, he isn't a great keeper, but what he provides with the bat overshadows what others provide with the gloves. He has also made some brilliant dives of which you cannot deny. He has done well so far so I will give him time as I did with the bat to come good.
Everyone barring you and a few others can see that his keeping is pathetic and only you and a few others are making excuses for every dropped chance.
No, I accept where a sitter is dropped, but I also see when people try to find anything and everything they can to stick it to him to be right. Yesterday's drop wasn't a sitter, if you think it was, so be it, but it wasn't, so we shouldn't continue that argument because we are going to just talk about semantics as to what a sitter is vs what it isn't.
Only yesterday I said this series should have been Shafiq to prove that he belongs in the ODI team but he hasn't take his chances yet and its not working. Of course you did not see it, did you?
Shafiq has had 50 ODI's to prove his mettle and he didn't. He and (we can both agree on this one) YK are like going in with 9 players. I never understood the affection for him. No I'm not trying to say I was right and you were wrong, I'm saying we had a body of work already to suggest he would not come good and it didn't need 50+ ODI's to tell us that. I wish he came back and blazed away against Australia and NZ but unfortunately he hasn't. When I see a guy like Sarfraz come and literally blitz away when his career is on the line, I am going to back that guy. He came in, all the pressure on, and he delivered and marvelously. I love pressure players. This is another reason why I am a fan of Fawad. He came in, knowing he had to perform and had a fantastic tourney. He had adversity and pressure and he performed. When you drop that kind of player after a couple of innings because they looked bad, but then give others who have "technique" who have never performed in any sense of the word, then it is just being picky and choosy based on nothing. Shafiq may be the worst LOI batsmen ever to play 50 ODI's. His highest scores are against Zimbabwe and Ireland, and that 50 against Australia was nothing special considering if he really was going to be a player of that calibre, given he was settled, and had played that man balls with a below average SR, he would have won us the match. Continuously the argument is X cannot score due to technique but Y can, but X actually historically has, but 2-3 bad matches after a plethora of good ones is simply unfair and unjust to drop them. Shafiq doesn't even have a half decent score against India and SL, the teams everyone says Fawad can score against, but ignore that these technique filled players have never scored against.
Historically Pakistan has never had players who have been good against Aus, Eng and SA, so why would you be selective against those who can score and score very well against the rest? I just don't understand the logic.
Pure selectivity, nothing else. The same selectivity which has lead you to churn excuses after excuses because you REFUSE to see that he's a very poor wicket-keeper.
Very poor, okay, if you say so, but again, we don't even have average WK's in Pakistan. At this point he makes it on his batting alone, considering we have guys like YK and Shafiq on the team. If you know another WK who can bat decently and keep I'm all for it. I just want the best 6 batsmen in the country and a WK who can bat as well. If we have a WK who can only keep but not provide you 10 runs, it's counter productive.
You made an assumption, which was false. I just am not a fan of vilifying him when looking at the situation holistically, there is no better option overall as a package. He has work to do, but he again, worked very hard to be where he his now so we have to give him some room to operate and not get at him for every mistake he makes, especially when you of all people say that about players who have been given a plethora of more chances.
By no means does this mean that he won't be dropped, or Shafiq won't stay, or YK won't stay. I don't select the team, but I will criticize the selection and question those who justify certain players selection based on almost 0 evidence that they will perform. This is an argument people continuously use against me, that they know that a player won't be dropped but I think differently. No, PCB is hilarious to watch, but when certain guys are selected and are in the team, I will predict what they will do while on the team. I'm not proud to say Amin failed, Shafiq failed, Tanvir failed. I was wrong about Jamshed, I thought Sharjeel could become something (although I have no idea why he isn't given a chance in T20 at least), or Anwar Ali would be a solid allrounder, I was wrong. I don't care about being wrong. I am just not a fan of vilifying an getting on a guy for other reasons than what they provide to the team and using hypocritical arguments to get on them, simply talking about Sarfraz's batting here, nothing to do with his keeping.
