Shoaib Malik or Asif Ali, who should be in the starting 11?

[JibranAnsari]

The 100 % players in the squad according to geo super are

Fakhar
Imam
Babar
Haris
Hafeez
Malik
Sarfraz
Shadab
Faheem
Imam
Shaheen
Hasan


And the other names in consideration are

M.amir
Abid ali
Asif ali
M.abbas
Rizwan

I think amir , rizwan and asif ali will be picked

Top 5 pretty much select themselves
Fakhar
Imam
Babar
Haris
Hafeez

Given than hafeez + haris can bowl a total of ten overs , pakistan can play either malik or asif ali at number 6 ( in maliks case may be number 5). Who you think should be in the starting 11?

 

[NauV]

I dont think Malik is competing with Asif Ali for a spot . . Malik is competing with Hafeez and Haris Sohail . . 2 of these 3 will be in the starting XI . .

Asif Ali is competing with Faheem Ashraf and Imad Wasim . . . other than that there is no space for him, cuz our batting becomes very thin . .

in my opinion, the XI will look like the following:

Imam
Fakhar
Babar
Haris
Hafeez/Malik
Sarfaraz
Imad/Faheem (depending on pitch)
Shadab
Hasan
Amir/Junaid/Shinwari/Hasnain
Shaheen Shah

So the only way you can fit Asif in is if you remove Imad/Faheem and play Asif . . then your bowling becomes thin and you'd need hafeez and haris to bowl 10 overs between them

 

[JibranAnsari]

I dont think Malik is competing with Asif Ali for a spot . . Malik is competing with Hafeez and Haris Sohail . . 2 of these 3 will be in the starting XI . .

Asif Ali is competing with Faheem Ashraf and Imad Wasim . . . other than that there is no space for him, cuz our batting becomes very thin . .

in my opinion, the XI will look like the following:

Imam
Fakhar
Babar
Haris
Hafeez/Malik
Sarfaraz
Imad/Faheem (depending on pitch)
Shadab
Hasan
Amir/Junaid/Shinwari/Hasnain
Shaheen Shah

So the only way you can fit Asif in is if you remove Imad/Faheem and play Asif . . then your bowling becomes thin and you'd need hafeez and haris to bowl 10 overs between them

After hariss current form , i dont think he is competing with anyone for his place. Hafeez is a must too given his all round ability and better ability to accelerate in the final overs. I don't know whats the team managements take on this but i think there is any way that haris and hafeez dont start in the 11.

 

[javid]

None of them
I think they should use Imad and Hassan as hitters

 

[Slim]

Ideally neither of them.

 

[waleed88]

I would have Malik, because atleast he has a waiting game over Asif Ali who doesn't exactly wait. He is in t20 mode all the time.

But this is in terms of really low standards being set. We are at the bare minimum in terms of batting, this is like the very low percentile.

Batsman get to 50's/ personal milestones and get out while chasing a big total.

Every man for himself.

 

[Chokli]

Asif Ali is only good for T20s.

He's not going to come off in ODIs, maybe 1 in 10 games.

He's a poor mans Afridi that doesn't even bowl to balance out the side.


No team, NO TEAM has a hitter solely as a batsman in their playing XI.

All of them can pitch in with a few overs here and there.

A team like Pakistan absolutely cannot afford to slot Asif Ali in their ODI side.

Malik doesn't deserve to be in the squad either.

 

[shahidbhai]

Asif Ali is only good for T20s.

He's not going to come off in ODIs, maybe 1 in 10 games.

He's a poor mans Afridi that doesn't even bowl to balance out the side.


No team, NO TEAM has a hitter solely as a batsman in their playing XI.

All of them can pitch in with a few overs here and there.

A team like Pakistan absolutely cannot afford to slot Asif Ali in their ODI side.

Malik doesn't deserve to be in the squad either.

Agreed, Asif is ruins the balance of the side, not to mention he doesnt have the temperament to play a big innings or help a team out of a difficult situation, power hitting sounds good in theory but that is only if you have other ways of contributing (i.e with the ball) but to just to say he is going to come in at 6 or 7 and start swinging from the hip...in english conditions? is almost comical. Much better suited to have an all rounder play that can contribute with both bat and ball, hafeez, fahim , shadab...or add another pure batsman in the top 6, but asif ali makes 0 sense in a tournament of this magnitude

 

[Arsalan Pro]

Ideally, both of them shouldn't be in our squad, let alone the playing XI. Still, knowing our team management both of them are likely to be in the 15.

Asif Ali can't be trusted in ODI's to bat inside the Top 6, as that will just ruin our batting completely and will be highly risky in crucial matches. Only way Asif Ali can get into the lineup is by playing at number 7, when you drop one of Imad and Shadab by playing one less bowler, which itself is pretty risky during WC. So, including Asif Ali in the playing XI will be a huge gamble, let's see if Mickey is willing to take it.

This will be the lineup if he plays:

Fakhar Zaman
Imam Ul Haq
Babar Azam
Haris Sohail
Sarfraz Ahmed(C)(Wk)
Mohammad Hafeez
Asif Ali
Imad Wasim/Shadab Khan
Hasan Ali
Mohammad Amir
Shaheen Afridi

Coming to Shoaib Malik, he tends to fail big time against any good pace bowler and when the tournament is in England, this situation gets even more worse. He may be even less useful than Asif Ali if he doesn't bowl, as he will score the same amount of runs by consuming more deliveries and with Haris confirming his spot, he too can't fit in the Top 6 anymore and will have to wait until Imam is dropped so he can fit in the middle order with Haris Sohail opening the innings.

 

[wasiqwaqar]

Agree with the playing XI

I dont think Malik is competing with Asif Ali for a spot . . Malik is competing with Hafeez and Haris Sohail . . 2 of these 3 will be in the starting XI . .

Asif Ali is competing with Faheem Ashraf and Imad Wasim . . . other than that there is no space for him, cuz our batting becomes very thin . .

in my opinion, the XI will look like the following:

Imam
Fakhar
Babar
Haris
Hafeez/Malik
Sarfaraz
Imad/Faheem (depending on pitch)
Shadab
Hasan
Amir/Junaid/Shinwari/Hasnain
Shaheen Shah

So the only way you can fit Asif in is if you remove Imad/Faheem and play Asif . . then your bowling becomes thin and you'd need hafeez and haris to bowl 10 overs between them

 

[wasiqwaqar]

Though Asif can fit instead of hafeez/malik if batting order is swapped and safaraz plays at 5

 

[Justcrazy]

Considering the record of Malik in England , he should not be anywhere near the squad.

 

[PakLFC]

Shoaib Malik. He will score more runs then Asif no doubt about it.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Malik is no AB Devilliers but he is a much superior batsman to Asif Ali. Malik knows the art of constructing an innings which often helps Pakistan to reach a respectable total. Asif has not done anything of note in ODIs yet.

 

[Sunny_majoka]

Leave asif.I fear team management will prefer to play malik and hafeez both on harris..

 

[giri26]

Can someone enlighten me about the credentials of Asif Ali? I remember after the Asia Cup all the Pakistan cricket experts were criticising the PCB for selecting too many T20 players who cannot think beyond 20's and 30's. Asif Ali is one of them. Malik any day when it is between these two for one spot.

 

[Suleiman]

Ideally only 1 of Hafeez or Malik go.

I’m no Hafeez fan but he’ll feel pretty gutted for getting dunked on 2 WCs straight.

Malik will feel even worse as he missed 2011 and 2015 when he was dominating domestic charts.

 

[Justcrazy]

Its a huge blunder to go with Malik in the squad , he is a big liability against pace . Wastage of a spot.

 

[Ilan Bluestone]

I would say neither.

 

[Abdullah]

I would love for Asif to be in the team.
We have to remember , it is the job of 2 3 4 to bat most of the overs. We don't need Asif until the back end so that is where he gives us upside compared to a shadab or sarfaraz

 

[Cric_lover4487]

Harris has no place in final 11. Hafeez makes by merit
Shoaib is done and dusted but somehow still able to keep himself relavant. Media loves him.