Selectors invite 19 probables for camp for Test series vs Bangladesh - Faheem, Bilal, Musa included

[MenInG]

Selectors invite 19 probables for Test camp

Lahore, 19 January 2020:

The national men’s selection committee has invited 19 probables for a training camp at the National Cricket Academy, Lahore. The camp will commence on Monday, 20 January, and is being set-up for the first ICC World Test Championship fixture against Bangladesh, which will be played in Rawalpindi from 7-11 February.

Players invited for the camp are:

1. Azhar Ali (captain) (Central Punjab)
2. Abid Ali (Sindh)
3. Asad Shafiq (Sindh)
4. Babar Azam (Central Punjab)
5. Bilal Asif (Central Punjab)
6. Fawad Alam (Sindh)
7. Faheem Ashraf (Central Punjab)
8. Haris Sohail (Balochistan)
9. Imam-ul-Haq (Balochistan)
10. Imran Khan Snr (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
11. Kashif Bhatti (Sindh)
12. Mohammad Abbas (Southern Punjab)
13. Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper) (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
14. Musa Khan (Northern)
15. Naseem Shah (Central Punjab)
16. Shaheen Shah Afridi (Northern)
17. Shan Masood (Southern Punjab)
18. Yasir Shah (Balochistan)
19. Usman Shinwari (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)

Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi are part of the Pakistan side for the three T20Is against Bangladesh and will join the camp following the conclusion series on 28 January.

Bilal Asif, Faheem Ashraf and Musa Khan have been added to the 16 players who were named for the two ICC World Test Championship fixtures against Sri Lanka.

Bilal has been invited after he finished as the second most successful bowler with 42 wickets in the just-concluded four-day first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy tournament, while Central Punjab’s Faheem has been named as an all-rounder after he regained complete fitness and took five for 54 and one for 59 in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final against Northern.

Musa was not a part of the Test squad against Sri Lanka, but he had remained with the side and trained under bowling coach Waqar Younis.

The squad for the Rawalpindi Test will be announced after the T20I series.

 

[moghul]

Oh, Gosh, Musa and Imran Khan Sr, ?? Misbah did not learn anything from disaster down under, he is really a stubborn man.

 

[Bleedgreen4ever]

No Zafar gohar
Our CS is drunk clearly

 

[Hasan123]

Misbah is a pathetic selector.

 

[m.shah]

Misbah is a pathetic selector.

Absolute pathetic

 

[Markhor]

Faheem Ashraf, Bilal Asif, Musa Khan, Imran Khan sr and Kashif Bhatti. Are these guys simply brain dead ?

 

[Khan12]

Shamefull selections by a shameless man. When are we going to kick him out?

 

[Titan24]

Not sure how Bilal Asif was rated by previous management and now by this management as well. Even if they wanted an offie Sajid Khan is younger, has a really good action and bowled really well in QAE trophy and can bat a bit too.

 

[Sunny_majoka]

Oh, Gosh, Musa and Imran Khan Sr, ?? Misbah did not learn anything from disaster down under, he is really a stubborn man.

It's waqar's choice he rates him heavily

 

[coy0607]

Looks like uncle 11- Bhatti, Asif, IK Snr... and those are just the new entrants.

What is Misbah's infatuation with Musa?

 

[Hasan123]

Absolute pathetic

Making him batting coach and CS was a stupid decision. He has no clue on coaching batting and he lacks the creativity to be a good selector.

 

[FreePalestine]

I agree with [MENTION=141839]moghul[/MENTION] here. Have thought for a while now that the chief characteristic of Misbah’s tenure as chief selector so far has been his stubbornness. He has caved to media pressure a few times, but he has never changed his thinking on anything! Imran Khan Snr and Musa Khan’s performances should tell you they are a) not good enough; b) not ready, so why include them in test squads? Give them A-tours or something!

 

[shah_1]

The spinning options are rubbish

 

[Forum363]

Misbah has proven to be surprisingly illogical with his selections. There seems to be no planning and he does not seem to be ‘learning on the job’ as hoped.

He might actually be a great coach and really helping the team to gel well etc. But his tenure will be overshadowed by his terrible nonsense selection decisions. He could well end up shooting himself in the foot by taking on this dual role.

 

[moghul]

Buzdar and Misbah, never understood the logic behind their appointment, and then persisting with them.

 

[KhanNn]

Our bowling almost fully Pathan! Brilliant! New hub for fast bowlers. Watch out for Waseem in U19 world cup

 

[Junaids]

Shamefull selections by a shameless man. When are we going to kick him out?

It is very difficult indeed to disagree with these comments.

Imran Khan and Musa Khan have no domestic performances behind them, and their selection after their appalling international performances should really lead to the PCB issuing the Chief Selector with a "Show Cause" notice.

(Which means that Misbah has to Show Cause as to why he should not suffer demotion or dismissal for gross incompetence on specific charges of incompetently selecting players with no domestic credentials to counter-balance their international failures.)

The selection of Kashif Bhatti is equally appalling - both Zafar Gohar and Mohammad Asghar have far superior recent domestic credentials and are a decade and twelve years younger respectively.

The Bilal Asif selection is foolish and incompetent, but does not constitute gross incompetence in quite the same way as the other absurd selections.

Bilal Asif is 34 years old and was exposed previously in Test cricket. But at least he took 43 wickets at 23.16 this season. But it's hard to imagine that he will improve at his age.

Sajid Khan is also an off-spinner, and is 8 years younger and took 25 wickets at 24.96 this season. A competent selector would have picked him instead of Bilal Asif, given that Asif will be 37 years old by the end of the next World Test Championship cycle while Sajid will only be 29.

Overall it's a ridiculous squad of 19 players:

3 teenagers
11 players in their thirties
5 players in their twenties

A good Chief Selector balances his squad:

3 players over 30 (maximum)
1 teenager
15 players in their twenties

Misbah clearly does not have a clue how to assemble a squad to build a long-term team.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

That potential bowling attack doesn't inspire a whole lot of confidence. The batting imo is underrated. Fawad needs to given the long rope. Haris Sohail has been out-of-form for ages!

Also, Bilal might not be a bad pick. He bowls well in domestic and had a good season.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Unpopular opinion but Faheem Ashraf needs to come back to the test side. Whenever I've seen him play the Pakistan attack has just looked good...and balanced. In Pakistan you can get away with 4 bowlers. Overseas you put too much reliance on your fast-bowlers. And if they don't take wickets it becomes punishing for them with the longer spells. Since Yasir Shah has been failing consistently in SENA it becomes all the more harder. Also, Faheem Ashraf has a pretty decent record in the few matches he has played. Got Pakistan out of jail against Ireland with the bat, bowled pretty well in South Africa in that one game.

 

[Junaids]

Unpopular opinion but Faheem Ashraf needs to come back to the test side. Whenever I've seen him play the Pakistan attack has just looked good...and balanced. In Pakistan you can get away with 4 bowlers. Overseas you put too much reliance on your fast-bowlers. And if they don't take wickets it becomes punishing for them with the longer spells. Since Yasir Shah has been failing consistently in SENA it becomes all the more harder. Also, Faheem Ashraf has a pretty decent record in the few matches he has played. Got Pakistan out of jail against Ireland with the bat, bowled pretty well in South Africa in that one game.

I agree.

For Pakistan, a lot of thought should be going into what would be the best test team for the World Test Championship series in England in 5 months and in New Zealand in 11 months.

Pakistan should beat Bangladesh and South Africa at Home. If they can do well in those away series in England and New Zealand they should come 3rd in the World Test Championship and guarantee that if the next cycle has Division 1 and Division 2, Pakistan will be in the top division.

Pakistan's best chance at this stage to do well in England is for Azhar Ali to fail against Bangladesh and decide to retire (just as FAF du Plessis is about to do). Haris Sohail's Test record outside Asia is so horrible that he needs to be dumped too.

The team could then be:

1. Abid Ali
2. Sami Aslam
3. Shan Masood
4. Babar Azam
5. Asad Shafiq (final year)
6. Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
7. Shadab Khan
8. Faheem Ashraf
9. Naseem Shah
10. Mohammad Abbas
11. Shaheen Shah Afridi

That team could do really well in England and New Zealand, especially with the England team so inexperienced and the New Zealand one well past its best.

But they need to be rid of Azhar, Haris and Yasir to succeed outside Asia.

 

[Thunderbolt14]

I agree.

For Pakistan, a lot of thought should be going into what would be the best test team for the World Test Championship series in England in 5 months and in New Zealand in 11 months.

Pakistan should beat Bangladesh and South Africa at Home. If they can do well in those away series in England and New Zealand they should come 3rd in the World Test Championship and guarantee that if the next cycle has Division 1 and Division 2, Pakistan will be in the top division.

Pakistan's best chance at this stage to do well in England is for Azhar Ali to fail against Bangladesh and decide to retire (just as FAF du Plessis is about to do). Haris Sohail's Test record outside Asia is so horrible that he needs to be dumped too.

The team could then be:

1. Abid Ali
2. Sami Aslam
3. Shan Masood
4. Babar Azam
5. Asad Shafiq (final year)
6. Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
7. Shadab Khan
8. Faheem Ashraf
9. Naseem Shah
10. Mohammad Abbas
11. Shaheen Shah Afridi

That team could do really well in England and New Zealand, especially with the England team so inexperienced and the New Zealand one well past its best.

But they need to be rid of Azhar, Haris and Yasir to succeed outside Asia.

Azhar Ali won’t retire even if he gets four ducks against Bangladesh. He’s the captain and there’s no replacement. He also got a century against Sri Lanka, which is too recent for him to be dropped immediately. Since that won’t happen, I would much rather have Azhar perform well and regain his confidence heading into the England series. Perform well there (at least half centuries) and retire by the end of this year or (more likely) the end of this World Test Championship cycle. They will probably replace the test captaincy with Babar for the next cycle, don’t know who else they’d give the captaincy to.

I also think Azhar wouldn’t do terribly since he has county cricket experience and is used to English conditions.

 

[Thunderbolt14]

I would much rather have Asad Shafiq and Shan Masood fail. In addition replace Haris with Fawad Alam as soon as possible. I’m curious as to whether you guys think Fawad would perform in SENA especially England, where Haris has already performed in the world cup.

 

[Monsee]

Not sure how Bilal Asif was rated by previous management and now by this management as well. Even if they wanted an offie Sajid Khan is younger, has a really good action and bowled really well in QAE trophy and can bat a bit too.

Been thinking about this ever since we lost the two tests against Kiwis in UAE due to this inept jam of an offie who could not by a single wickets despite deteriorating and turning pitch...he looks like the Imran Khan snr version of a spinner i.e. ball upon all, he bowls pretty much the same tripe and barely looks threatening on Int'l level!

If one looks at his 5 test matches so far, what stands out is his ineptness and literally dhaggi bowling in the 2nd innings...in the 5 matches he has played so far, his 2nd innings bowling reads out as follows:

5 Matches - 2Nd Innings stats: 119 Overs, 265 runs conceded for 1 wicket, yes one lone wicket.

He went wicketless in 4 out of the 5 matches in the 2nd innings. In a day and age when spinners thrive on the turning and crumbling pitches in the 2nd innings, this stats shows how toothless he has been on the Int'l level. Infact, if one takes out the two innings where he got a fiver for (6+5), he got 5 wickets in the remaining 8 innings

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...=1;template=results;type=bowling;view=innings

 

[Thunderbolt14]

Been thinking about this ever since we lost the two tests against Kiwis in UAE due to this inept jam of an offie who could not by a single wickets despite deteriorating and turning pitch...he looks like the Imran Khan snr version of a spinner i.e. ball upon all, he bowls pretty much the same tripe and barely looks threatening on Int'l level!

If one looks at his 5 test matches so far, what stands out is his ineptness and literally dhaggi bowling in the 2nd innings...in the 5 matches he has played so far, his 2nd innings bowling reads out as follows:

5 Matches - 2Nd Innings stats: 119 Overs, 265 runs conceded for 1 wicket, yes one lone wicket.

He went wicketless in 4 out of the 5 matches in the 2nd innings. In a day and age when spinners thrive on the turning and crumbling pitches in the 2nd innings, this stats shows how toothless he has been on the Int'l level. Infact, if one takes out the two innings where he got a fiver for (6+5), he got 5 wickets in the remaining 8 innings

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/en...=1;template=results;type=bowling;view=innings

Why would you take out his two 5 wicket hauls? That’s two 5-fors in 10 innings which isn’t spectacular but not bad at all. How many 5-fors does Yasir Shah have in his last 10 innings?

Also, are we supposed to ignore domestic performances then? He looks to have improved since his last time playing test cricket.

 

[TeamPak95]

Lol Imran khan snr. I’m done.

 

[Xoib]

Yes i find it funny whenever people cherry pick stats by taking out the best or worst performances to show how bad/good a player is.

 

[Shoaibbtt]

I would much rather have Asad Shafiq and Shan Masood fail. In addition replace Haris with Fawad Alam as soon as possible. I’m curious as to whether you guys think Fawad would perform in SENA especially England, where Haris has already performed in the world cup.

Fawad is much more fitter than Haris. Haris is too lazy and is only good for Odis or t20s.

 

[NoBallZombie]

Fawad is much more fitter than Haris. Haris is too lazy and is only good for Odis or t20s.

Wouldnt have Haris anywhere near the T20 squad, only good for ODIs. Agree Fawad is way fitter and has the hunger for big runs too.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

I agree.

For Pakistan, a lot of thought should be going into what would be the best test team for the World Test Championship series in England in 5 months and in New Zealand in 11 months.

Pakistan should beat Bangladesh and South Africa at Home. If they can do well in those away series in England and New Zealand they should come 3rd in the World Test Championship and guarantee that if the next cycle has Division 1 and Division 2, Pakistan will be in the top division.

Pakistan's best chance at this stage to do well in England is for Azhar Ali to fail against Bangladesh and decide to retire (just as FAF du Plessis is about to do). Haris Sohail's Test record outside Asia is so horrible that he needs to be dumped too.

The team could then be:

1. Abid Ali
2. Sami Aslam
3. Shan Masood
4. Babar Azam
5. Asad Shafiq (final year)
6. Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
7. Shadab Khan
8. Faheem Ashraf
9. Naseem Shah
10. Mohammad Abbas
11. Shaheen Shah Afridi

That team could do really well in England and New Zealand, especially with the England team so inexperienced and the New Zealand one well past its best.

But they need to be rid of Azhar, Haris and Yasir to succeed outside Asia.

To be honest I don't think Pakistan would improve their chances of doing well in those countries if they get rid of Yasir, Azhar, Haris. Granted, all have been in atrocious form recently but they've all played in England. Yasir and Azhar have even had some significant individual achievements. Pakistan's best hope would be these guys finally pulling their weight. Haris, I feel hasn't gotten enough chances in tests to be labelled a failure. He doesn't deserve a place in the starting 11 but he should be in the squad.

I agree with most of your line-up but I don't think Sami Aslam should be in there. Again, Azhar has not been doing any better lately but you still hope his experience will pay off. He's done very well for Pakistan in pre-2018 period and I still feel he should be given time. I would probably drop Asad Shafiq for Fawad Alam. Shafiq is too erratic, plays one great innings, gets out for a duck in the next. You can't ever really tell if Shafiq is in-form or out of form. Without Faheem Ashraf though Pakistan will make things for their fast-bowlers very, very difficult.

 

[Junaids]

To be honest I don't think Pakistan would improve their chances of doing well in those countries if they get rid of Yasir, Azhar, Haris.

Granted, all have been in atrocious form recently but they've all played in England.

Yasir and Azhar have even had some significant individual achievements.

Actually, the records of Azhar Ali and Yasir Shah in England and Ireland are horrible, and it's only because of the occasional good return in favourable conditions that people get tricked into thinking they did well there.

Here are the FACTS.

Batting in England and Ireland - highest averages first
1. Shadab Khan: 171 runs in 3 Tests at an average of 42.75
2. Asad Shafiq: 428 runs in 7 Tests at an average of 35.66
3. Haris Sohail: 152 runs in 3 Tests at an average of 30.40
4. Azhar Ali: 659 runs in 13 Tests at an average of 27.45
(Also, for the record, Yasir Shah: 92 runs in 4 Tests at an average of 15.33)

Bowling in England and Ireland:
1. Shadab Khan: 7 wickets in 86 overs at an average of 34.42
2. Yasir Shah: 19 wickets in 238 overs at an average of 40.73

The arguments for picking Azhar Ali and Yasir Shah and Haris Sohail in England are non-existent: they were useless there when they were in their twenties and they are hardly going to improve now that their records show that they are in age-related decline.

And history shows that Asad Shafiq was ALWAYS better than Azhar Ali in England and Ireland.

 

[Thunderbolt14]

To be honest I don't think Pakistan would improve their chances of doing well in those countries if they get rid of Yasir, Azhar, Haris. Granted, all have been in atrocious form recently but they've all played in England. Yasir and Azhar have even had some significant individual achievements. Pakistan's best hope would be these guys finally pulling their weight. Haris, I feel hasn't gotten enough chances in tests to be labelled a failure. He doesn't deserve a place in the starting 11 but he should be in the squad.

I agree with most of your line-up but I don't think Sami Aslam should be in there. Again, Azhar has not been doing any better lately but you still hope his experience will pay off. He's done very well for Pakistan in pre-2018 period and I still feel he should be given time. I would probably drop Asad Shafiq for Fawad Alam. Shafiq is too erratic, plays one great innings, gets out for a duck in the next. You can't ever really tell if Shafiq is in-form or out of form. Without Faheem Ashraf though Pakistan will make things for their fast-bowlers very, very difficult.

Would you play Shadab or Yasir as the spinner in England?

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Actually, the records of Azhar Ali and Yasir Shah in England and Ireland are horrible, and it's only because of the occasional good return in favourable conditions that people get tricked into thinking they did well there.

Here are the FACTS.

Batting in England and Ireland - highest averages first
1. Shadab Khan: 171 runs in 3 Tests at an average of 42.75
2. Asad Shafiq: 428 runs in 7 Tests at an average of 35.66
3. Haris Sohail: 152 runs in 3 Tests at an average of 30.40
4. Azhar Ali: 659 runs in 13 Tests at an average of 27.45
(Also, for the record, Yasir Shah: 92 runs in 4 Tests at an average of 15.33)

Bowling in England and Ireland:
1. Shadab Khan: 7 wickets in 86 overs at an average of 34.42
2. Yasir Shah: 19 wickets in 238 overs at an average of 40.73

The arguments for picking Azhar Ali and Yasir Shah and Haris Sohail in England are non-existent: they were useless there when they were in their twenties and they are hardly going to improve now that their records show that they are in age-related decline.

And history shows that Asad Shafiq was ALWAYS better than Azhar Ali in England and Ireland.

Azhar's record is worsened by the last series in which he did very poorly. And I agree that both Yasir and Azhar have bad records in England. But they still have experience of the conditions. Azhar has since played a lot of county cricket aswell. I also think Yasir had one very bad game in Manchester which has taken a toll on his overall average but otherwise he bowled well and was effective. Unlike SA, NZ, AUS where he had no impact at all.

Asad Shafiq is too frustrating a player. His template is playing an outstanding innings when the chips are down and the batting line-up is falling around him. Then when the team gets back in the game and the onus is on him to play a match-turning innings, he fails. I would rather back Fawad Alam in the middle-order, which needs stability.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Would you play Shadab or Yasir as the spinner in England?

Shadab. He is the more logical option eventhough Yasir is the better bowler.

 

[amvbfm]

Not very surprising but certainly disappointing. The Bangladesh series was a great opportunity to build up our bench strength but Misbah again decides to go with his favorites, regardless of talent, performance or any other logical reason. Ranging from questionable to absolutely ridiculous, disagree with the following selections

- Imran Butt could've been given a chance instead of Imam

- Musa's continued selection is pretty baffling unless there is something about him that only Waqar and Misbah can see

- Haris should have been left out. Perhaps the reason he wasn't was that the only real contenders for his place were the Akmal brothers

- Bilal Asif has proved to be a total failure at the international level. Really can't see how it will be any different this time. Moreover, if this selection was based on domestic performances, then Nauman Ali deserved a chance. However, if the objective was to pick a right arm offspinner (given Kashif's presence) then Sajid should have been picked instead

- Imran Khan snr. I assume continuity, performance, past record and potential are some of the factors that a selection panel looks at when choosing a player and some of Misbah's selections are justifiable based on these. Kashif and Fawad haven't been afforded proper chances so continuity demands that they be persisted with, Musa and Haris might be there for their potential, Yasir's past record merits giving him a long rope but there is no reason, absolutely NONE, that one can think of that might have led to Imran's selection.

 

[Shoaibbtt]

Wouldnt have Haris anywhere near the T20 squad, only good for ODIs. Agree Fawad is way fitter and has the hunger for big runs too.

My playing XI for the test
1. Shan Masood (Southern Punjab)
2. Abid Ali (Sindh)
3. Babar Azam (Central Punjab)
4. Azhar Ali (captain) (Central Punjab)
5. Fawad Alam (Sindh)
6. Asad Shafiq (Sindh)
7. Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper) (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
8. Kashif Bhatti (Sindh)
9. Shaheen Shah Afridi (Northern)
10. Naseem Shah (Central Punjab)
11. Mohammad Abbas (Southern Punjab)/Usman Shinwari (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)

If they play this XI i see them completing dominating. Shinwari is subject to fitness following his illness, some of these guys have played a saving grace innings in the previous test which is a shame. Anwar Ali, Saud Shakeel, Saad Ali, Sami Aslam or Imran Butt deserved a chance.

 

[ahmedzee]

Oh, Gosh, Musa and Imran Khan Sr, ?? Misbah did not learn anything from disaster down under, he is really a stubborn man.

Misbah never learns. He did something similar when he was captain as well.

 

[ahmedzee]

This selection is ridiculous. I know test team is fairly settled, but in camps such as this, please look into the future and call someone who can gain from such camps.

Misbah has no clue who would lead the spin dept after Yasir, who is nearing the end of his career. Misbah did something very similar when he was a captain and didn't groom a spinner after Ajmal (yes Yasir was there but I am talking about a younger spinner, a second fiddle to Yasir).

Have a close look at the domestics. Someone named Umer Khan, Asghar, etc. should be invited to such camps.

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

I agree.

For Pakistan, a lot of thought should be going into what would be the best test team for the World Test Championship series in England in 5 months and in New Zealand in 11 months.

Pakistan should beat Bangladesh and South Africa at Home. If they can do well in those away series in England and New Zealand they should come 3rd in the World Test Championship and guarantee that if the next cycle has Division 1 and Division 2, Pakistan will be in the top division.

Pakistan's best chance at this stage to do well in England is for Azhar Ali to fail against Bangladesh and decide to retire (just as FAF du Plessis is about to do). Haris Sohail's Test record outside Asia is so horrible that he needs to be dumped too.

The team could then be:

1. Abid Ali
2. Sami Aslam
3. Shan Masood
4. Babar Azam
5. Asad Shafiq (final year)
6. Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
7. Shadab Khan
8. Faheem Ashraf
9. Naseem Shah
10. Mohammad Abbas
11. Shaheen Shah Afridi

That team could do really well in England and New Zealand, especially with the England team so inexperienced and the New Zealand one well past its best.

But they need to be rid of Azhar, Haris and Yasir to succeed outside Asia.

All things considered, our team will most likely be

Abid
Shan
Azhar
Babar
Haris
Shafiq
Rizwan
Faheem/Yasir
Abbas
Naseem
Shaheen

For the away tours and I think it's an okay team. Yasir barring an injury etc. will maintain his place in England.

 

[Kroll]

How on earth is Yasir Shah still getting an invite despite his mediocrity? The mind boggles! Who's idea was it to appoint this genius Misbah-ul-Haq?

Oh wait...he appointed himself.

 

[Monsee]

Why would you take out his two 5 wicket hauls? That’s two 5-fors in 10 innings which isn’t spectacular but not bad at all. How many 5-fors does Yasir Shah have in his last 10 innings?

Also, are we supposed to ignore domestic performances then? He looks to have improved since his last time playing test cricket.

Way to read the whole post, ignore the main point, and only respond to something that looks bad when not read within the context!

He did well for a new bowler in those two innings but fact is (and that is what I argued and it was main point too): Spinners the world over will do very well when the pitch starts crumbling and spinning; he did the complete opposite and then some i.e. he got a solitary wicket to show for those 5 second innings!

That is as bad as it gets because he was not able to deliver when Pakistan really needed him to and pitch was assisting him too. This also raises another point, due to his mechanical same revs type action, and same sort of line-n-length over and over again, batsmen are able to read him well and counter him with absolute mastery despite turning pitches in UAE!

Finally like another poster suggested "if his selection was based on domestic performances, then Nauman Ali deserved a chance. However, if the objective was to pick a right arm offspinner (given Kashif's presence) then Sajid should have been picked instead"

 

[MenInG]

Pictures from practice:

Practice session of probables for the Test team underway at the LCCA Ground, Lahore.

]

 

[MenInG]

Scoresheet for practice game

 

[Titan24]

Good to seem Musa improving, Abbas coming into rhythm and Faheem delivering something with bat and ball.

Definitely Pak prospective xi is outperforming the second xi. Zeeshan had a big opportunity to impress but unfortunately he missed, these are the kind of opportunities you need to make count to come into radar.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Imam, Asad and Azhar failing, nothing new then!

 

[Markhor]

How bad is Azhar that he was dismissed for a duck by Musa.

 

[Shoaibbtt]

Team 2 has a much worse bowling attack.

 

[Shoaibbtt]

Imam, Asad and Azhar failing, nothing new then!

Asad I’m not a big fan of but reckon he just about passes with his performances, doesn’t shine just passes.

Azhar Ali needs to go pronto, I’m not fooled by his 100.

Imam ul haq aka sir don Bradman jr can’t say much about him he’s a superstar .

 

[shah_1]

Team 1 is the starting 11 it seems

 

[HappyWarsFan]

Team 1 is the starting 11 it seems

It would be madness to put faheem in starting 11. He is trash.

 

[shah_1]

It would be madness to put faheem in starting 11. He is trash.

They are looking for an AR and he has performed well in this match

He will be picked

 

[ahmedzee]

Misbah needs to select Umer Khan or Zafar Gohar as a second spinner. Sami Aslam should also be selected, as he is still one of the best test openers in the country. Imran khan Jr, Musa, Bhatti, Faheem, and some others are not ready for International Test cricket or are very average at best.

 

[Titan24]

It would be madness to put faheem in starting 11. He is trash.

Did decently in QAE trophy. We shouldnt confuse the formats, Faheem averaged 16, 17 in List A while around 30-32 in FC so in LOIs him failing regularly with the bat shouldn't be a surprise. Pak wanted him to be a hitter which he wasnt.

 

[Nasty Naz]

It is disgusting to see Faheem playing in the starting XI.

What a joke it would be to see him playing and predictably fail because he is just terrible at everything.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Seriously poor selection of spinners, also fahim is not good enough to batting 7 in test cricket, nor is our batting good enough to be playing 5 batsmen and a tail starting at 7

 

[iniqbal223]

This guy Misbah is the worst thing to happen to Pakistan :

1) Played tragic innings of WC 2011 at Mohali
2) Teamed up with Waqar , and ousted Afridi from the team in 2011
3) Lucky enough to have played only one series outside Asia (in SA 2013) during his captaincy from 2011 - 2016 (July)
4) No other captain had the luxury to captain a team continuously and yet leave the team in doldrums
5) Pathetic cricketing brain, only waits for things to happen
6) Now back again to loot Pakistan again

 

[iniqbal223]

 

[coy0607]

Scoresheet for practice game

View attachment 98663

LoL at the Azhar duck .. looks like things are back to status quo

 

[Hasan123]

Man why can't we move on from Yasir and Azhar?

We have some decent batters coming through. They won't be Kohlis or Rohits but they can be good international players. My worry is Misbah as a batting coach. Can he teaches these guys the technical aspects of batting? Really doubt. Hopefully PCB appoint a top Australian batting coach .

 

[Shoaibbtt]

LoL at the Azhar duck .. looks like things are back to status quo

It was nothing more than a fluke 100. He’s been poor for a while and 1 hundred after a long time does not justify continuous selection and the same also goes for Shan.

 

[Shoaibbtt]

Scoresheet for practice game

View attachment 98663

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