Sharjeel Khan's ever improving off-side game

[Slog]

Or as I call him Super Sharjeel!!

He has always had a strong leg side game and can smash anything in his zone but often it it has ended up being his undoing as well as he attempted to force leg side shots on bowl in 4th or 5th stump lines.

Since Waqar brought him in the side earlier in the year he had a few good innings in the WT20 such as the unbelievable effort against New Zealand and the very good innings against Australia. He had a good innings of 50 or so at almost a 200 SR in the Trent Bridge ODI as well.

However all the above innings had runs off predominantly leg side shots and it was clear that Sharjeel had a weak to almost non existent leg side game.

But it seems over the course of the England your he has been working on his offside game as well

When he was selected for the WHOLE A tour a lot of people were of the opinion that he was wasting an FC slot and it would be a better exercise to have someone else. However I was in favor and had hoped that he would use this tour to tighten his technique a bit, work on his defensive game and most of all work on his off side game.

Well I don't know whether the England A tour played a great role or it is the work of the ever impressive Grant Flower but he definitely seems to be improving his offside game

The England t20 knock was a thing of beauty with shots on all corners of the ground and against both Pacers and spinners. The knock today again had a fair share of offside play

I like how Mickey Arthur is showing confidence in him because having a batsman like him who can provide impetus at the start of the innings is gold for a team like us. I hope he works hard on his fitness and rewards the team management and the fans. If we can have him averaging 30 at a 100+ strike rate then he will have more than done his job. Too long we have been struck with prima donnas who average 30 at a 70 strike rate!

 

[Salman CricBio]

Ya, plus he has improved his footwork as well.

 

[Hamza_]

Grant Flower I think is great influence here. Coaches need players with potential with whom they can work with, When you give them guys like Mansoor and Shehzad, What will a poor coach do rather than watching the team struggling in low scores.

 

[angrypathan]

In the last T20 and in the ODI today he also showed that he's been working a bit on a cover drive. Played it a couple of times although straight to fielders, but it's clear that it's something he's been working on. Previously he used to just drag the ball to the leg side

 

[Hawkeye]

Yes. Our 2nd best LOI bat after Umar Akmal (in form).

These days, our best LOI bat and constantly gaining confidence + improving.

BTW, he always had the off side game. I remember his brutal cover drives and cuts through the off. Was a dip in form for a while.

 

[Obstructing_the_field]

def improving and its a good time for him to test his offside game.. WI doesnt have the gr8 bowling attack so he can gain confidence on his straight and offside game ....

his game in the V isnt tht bad.. he just needs to stay a bit calm ...

 

[AlphaFighter]

Wont give too much credit to Grant Flower, he was there when clueless Waqar was at the helm of affairs as well. It is clear Mickey Arthur is the guy who is instilling very high standards, driving a powerful, no nonsense but enjoyable educated work ethic never seen before.

 

[angrypathan]

Sharjeel improving day by day

 

[Obstructing_the_field]

Yes. Our 2nd best LOI bat after Umar Akmal (in form).

These days, our best LOI bat and constantly gaining confidence + improving.

BTW, he always had the off side game. I remember his brutal cover drives and cuts through the off. Was a dip in form for a while.

really? akmal? he is not even close to being a batsmen.. he is just a blind slogger... to the most

if after over 150 off international games, he cannot mature to a club level cricketer, he shld not be named as a batsmen...

 

[Bade496]

Never doubted him, Khalid Latif or any other performer who happened to replace the likes of Shehzad, U. Akmal and Malik.

Don't think any other PP member had a problem.

This should be asked to those who certify new replacement players[for Akmals, Shehzads] who perform well, distributing certificates with newly coined words like 'legside hack' or '? hack'.

Praise Shoaib Malik but bash Khalid Latif or Sharjeel Khan, scrutinizing their performances even after they score better, have better averages than the establishment players like Akmal, Malik.

Both these players Sharjeel, Khalid Latif still have'nt got proper chance, Sharjeel is growing cos of not being thrown out, and bashed by 'certain' posters which then is used by PCB biased selectors to replace them with the same shehzads, wahabs. Khalid Latif scored at an average of 77 in T20s deserved to be in the ODI side, but 'certain' posters who support Malik, Akmal started minutely questioning his game, then fitness although same defend Shoaib Malik's pathetic game. Selectors first did'nt explain and threw him out replacing him with an Akmal and a Saad Nasim from Lahore region [with a lesser average and performance than LAtif in recent Natl. T20 cup] and gave the same excuse but used these selected players performance in the T20 and ignored Latif who gave better performances playing intl. matches for Pakistan,

Simply shameful.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Not improving. He always had it.

 

[Sherlock]

Yeah saw that recently. In fact he tried doing the same in the T20s but didn't last long enough to show his offside game.

The issues with him though is his temperament. He thinks 40-50s are enough and more often than not gives his wicket away.

Needs to improve in that regard too.

 

[boomboom6]

It's a simple case of being allowed the chance to improve at this level instead of being prematurely discarded like last time. The more he plays, the better he will get. Still has some ways to go in terms of improving against spin, especially leg spin but as far as Pak cricket is concerned, he is exactly what we need at the top. Now if we can pair him with either Khalid Latif or Shahzaib Hasan at the top in both ODIs and T20s that would be great!

 

[marlonbrowndo]

Too much was being made of his preference towards the leg side. Today we saw him play some great shots through the covers too. He is easily the best Limited Overs opener in Pakistan. When he fails you get the usual Shehzad fans bashing him hoping that he gets dropped.

 

[itsme]

Too much was being made of his preference towards the leg side. Today we saw him play some great shots through the covers too. He is easily the best Limited Overs opener in Pakistan. When he fails you get the usual Shehzad fans bashing him hoping that he gets dropped.

Or asad shafiq's fans lately

 

[syed abbas]

He has clearly improved his off-side game.He also needs to play well against spin.If he overcomes these both weaknesses,then he will be absolute beast.

 

[LowKiiSavage]

Wont give too much credit to Grant Flower, he was there when clueless Waqar was at the helm of affairs as well. It is clear Mickey Arthur is the guy who is instilling very high standards, driving a powerful, no nonsense but enjoyable educated work ethic never seen before.

Agree. Grant Flower is useless too in my book.

By the way, [MENTION=138463]Slog[/MENTION], i think you should have waited a bit to create this thread. I also have noticed the improvement in this match but you should have given it two series at least to see if its an anomaly or not.

 

[from_da_lost_dim3nsion]

Always backed him . Need shahzaib in the team too.

 

[Hawkeye]

Not improving. He always had it.

You can have the privilege of agreeing with me here.

 

[Slog]

Well one thing I like about him that atleast it seems he works hard on his game

He has many limitations and most of them will always be there so its foolhardy to expect great things from him

However I think he has improved considerably since his return in Feb 2016 or so in Asia Cup.

He def has got in some patience and restraint in his game. His offside game has improved. Still nowhere as good as it should be but a year ago it was nonexistent

Fitness is lacking but if you compare it to a year ago there is some progress but seems like still hasnt gotten off the nihari and parathas

Basically my point is that he has put in more effort and willingness to improve than guys like Imran Nazir and Afridi ever did so I like his attitude

 

[Hasan123]

He has a decent offside game it's just that he prefers the legside more. Definitely worth investing in.

 

[Stallion__]

He was always a strong backfoot player be it on off or leg side. Improved his game a little against spinners over the last year.

However I haven't seen him getting better in playing the balls below his eyeline.

 

[MenInG]

Interesting. I didnt watch him play today. By the time I got to my TV, he was already out!

 

[Speedster777]

Very impressive. He looks like a down to earth hard working type of cricketer. He should be included in all formats.

 

[Abdullah719]

Some nice shots through the off-side today. Looks comfortable playing on both sides of the wicket.

 

[Varun]

I think he's a brilliant batsman.

Pakistan shouldn't do the usual meddling with him by dropping him / making him captain / playing him in all formats at once, etc.

Just let him develop organically.

 

[Hamza_]

Should have got that Hundred.

 

[shaz619]

Or as I call him Super Sharjeel!!

He has always had a strong leg side game and can smash anything in his zone but often it it has ended up being his undoing as well as he attempted to force leg side shots on bowl in 4th or 5th stump lines.

Since Waqar brought him in the side earlier in the year he had a few good innings in the WT20 such as the unbelievable effort against New Zealand and the very good innings against Australia. He had a good innings of 50 or so at almost a 200 SR in the Trent Bridge ODI as well.

However all the above innings had runs off predominantly leg side shots and it was clear that Sharjeel had a weak to almost non existent leg side game.

But it seems over the course of the England your he has been working on his offside game as well

When he was selected for the WHOLE A tour a lot of people were of the opinion that he was wasting an FC slot and it would be a better exercise to have someone else. However I was in favor and had hoped that he would use this tour to tighten his technique a bit, work on his defensive game and most of all work on his off side game.

Well I don't know whether the England A tour played a great role or it is the work of the ever impressive Grant Flower but he definitely seems to be improving his offside game

The England t20 knock was a thing of beauty with shots on all corners of the ground and against both Pacers and spinners. The knock today again had a fair share of offside play

I like how Mickey Arthur is showing confidence in him because having a batsman like him who can provide impetus at the start of the innings is gold for a team like us. I hope he works hard on his fitness and rewards the team management and the fans. If we can have him averaging 30 at a 100+ strike rate then he will have more than done his job. Too long we have been struck with prima donnas who average 30 at a 70 strike rate!

I call him Sharjeel "Bad Intentions" Khan

He has surpassed those stats in Australia, in the ODI series he finishes with three 50+ scores the most for a Pak batsman in any bilateral series vs AUS having score 250 runs @ an average of 50 with an S/R of 115

 

[Markhor]

Driving and cutting the ball through the off really nicely. Seems a batsman whose game is based on strong hand-eye coordination and he's timing the ball so well.

Team management are often criticised but they've handled Sharjeel well, he's clearly improved since his return and has been given backing to tee off and get us to brisk starts by the management.

 

[Syed1]

Sharjeel looks like a guy who works hard and improves his game. He has lost like 20 kgs since starting international cricket (still a long way to go) and developed an off-side game which was non-existent before. These are the kind of cricketers I want in the side, not some uber 'talented' cricketers who just regress and regress and develop huge bulging bellies.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Sharjeel magically developed offside shots or posters made to look silly. He always had these shots, you guys are just an impatient bunch.

 

[srh]

I think he's a brilliant batsman.

Pakistan shouldn't do the usual meddling with him by dropping him / making him captain / playing him in all formats at once, etc.

Just let him develop organically.

Most likely Pakistan will screwed him up too; as long as Arthur is here Sharjeel may develop

 

[Pete Rose]

Deserves the promotion to the test team. Sami might need to wait till misbah retires so that Azhar can move down and a place opens up for sami as opener

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Sharjeel magically developed offside shots or posters made to look silly. He always had these shots, you guys are just an impatient bunch.

Yep. I was also dubious first couple of times I saw Sharjeel, but after he scored a century in the PSL last year it really opened my eyes that his range of shots was much more expansive than first appeared. Some peoples eyes just remained shut a lot longer, all they saw was the leg side hoiks.

 

[Hasan123]

Seems to have improved working with professional coaches such as Arthur and Rixon and playing international cricket. Has shed some weight and has made improvements in his batting. His strike rotation seems better and he looks much better through the offside compared to when he started playing. We need to produce more batsmen with Sharjeels mindset.

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

I will hope he doesn't score against us in the champions trophy. He is just like sehwag. He can take the game away from the opposition in few overs.

 

[Syed1]

I will hope he doesn't score against us in the champions trophy. He is just like sehwag. He can take the game away from the opposition in few overs.

We have other players who bring the game right back, so no need to worry.

 

[yasir]

He is developing more like Shewag than Afridi, Umar end up being later, that is major reason for his demise...He thinks himself as a batsmen, and have relatively sound head(not like Afridi or UA), its about time to unleash him in test, he can really develop well...In test you have time to develop temperament for long innings and better defense, while not giving up your true nature, like Shewag, Warner, Hyden....He will be better LOIs player after playing test cricket...

Key for his success is pull/cut short against bowlers of 145/150K(world best attack ATM), that will give him lot of confidence...When you can play those shots against some serious pace, wacking the fuller length become easy...None of the other Pakistani batsmen can do that, Can Shazab play cut and pull like him or as a matter of fact anybody in domestic?? - This is not a typical Pakistani feature, we normally don't see any Asian forget about Pakistani playing pull and cut with so much consistency and authority, his pull is lot like Caribbean style, there are not desi examples of great puller of the ball

 

[yasir]

I will hope he doesn't score against us in the champions trophy. He is just like sehwag. He can take the game away from the opposition in few overs.

One of my good Indian friend is keep saying for many months now that Sharjeel is just like Shewag, you guys need to let him develop more and he is must in test

 

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

One of my good Indian friend is keep saying for many months now that Sharjeel is just like Shewag, you guys need to let him develop more and he is must in test

Benefits of having players like sharjeel in the team is they won't allow smaller teams to surprise you. When you have guys like azhar and shehzad opening even teams like zimbabwe get the confidence and chasing targets against them becomes difficult.

 

[Brilliance]

Deserves the promotion to the test team. Sami might need to wait till misbah retires so that Azhar can move down and a place opens up for sami as opener

Babar isn't moving from no. 3 spot whilst Mickey is in charge too soon.

 

[Varun]

He is developing more like Shewag than Afridi, Umar end up being later, that is major reason for his demise...He thinks himself as a batsmen, and have relatively sound head(not like Afridi or UA), its about time to unleash him in test, he can really develop well...In test you have time to develop temperament for long innings and better defense, while not giving up your true nature, like Shewag, Warner, Hyden....He will be better LOIs player after playing test cricket...

Key for his success is pull/cut short against bowlers of 145/150K(world best attack ATM), that will give him lot of confidence...When you can play those shots against some serious pace, wacking the fuller length become easy...None of the other Pakistani batsmen can do that, Can Shazab play cut and pull like him or as a matter of fact anybody in domestic??

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Don't rush him into the test team; let him progress from strength to strength naturally.

 

[Cricket World]

He seems to be ever improving and developing his game which is great watch.

The best thing about him is that he has power to clear boundary at will.

 

[Pete Rose]

Babar isn't moving from no. 3 spot whilst Mickey is in charge too soon.

I am not fixated with babar or Azhar's position

 

[Pete Rose]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Don't rush him into the test team; let him progress from strength to strength naturally.

He did reasonably ok in the second innings at Sydney