zee-za-man
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We all know what Chief Selector Inzamam ul Haq [Chairman, Selection Committee] performed as chief selector. Will he show character and resign himself?
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He won't resign.
I think he will be sacked alongside the rest of the selection committee.
Who else could Inzy have picked?
Will be a knee jerk reaction if this happens.
Selection isn't the issue.
Taking steps like having a 6 team domestic structure is a move in the right direction & is tackling the real issue.
Sacking the captain, sacking the coach, sacking the selectors is hoping for miraculous overnight changes which is never going to happen and isn't the problem in my opinion
Yes.
Few examples of poor selection.
Malik: enough said
Hasnain: no experience and based on what performance
Wahab: played well but was not even in the initial probables. Shows a lack of clarity
Shinwari’s non- selection: he was Pak’s best fast bowler in the last year
Abid Ali: selecting him in initial squad based on a single match
Yasir Shah: selecting him after Shadab’s injury
The list goes on and on...
If somebody thinks that sacking Inzi wont solve the issue, then they clearly have not been following the bizarre selections over the last 2 years.
Inzi should resign for the sake of Pakistan cricket!
And don't forget about playing his laadla bhateeja![]()
Bhatija did alright in Asia cup, SA and Eng series to be fair.
If you take into account performances of Pak in last 2 years, you will realize that its not a knee jerk reaction.
Some posters find this a bitter pill to swallow - however, as far as I can see the players in the squad are the best players in the country.
I know it's hard to accept but it seems to be the way things are.
Look at the PSL. Amongst the top run scorers the only batsmen are either in the current team (Imam, Fakhar & Babar) or are TTFs (Shahzad and Kami)
Similarly with top wicket takers - we had our best bowlers as part of the squad.
The problem isn't talent selection - the issue is harnessing of talent.
If we keep changing the person who is picking the players without actually developing quality players - the selectors will always be an easy target to blame with no actual power to change anything.
Will be a knee jerk reaction if this happens.
Selection isn't the issue.
Taking steps like having a 6 team domestic structure is a move in the right direction & is tackling the real issue.
Sacking the captain, sacking the coach, sacking the selectors is hoping for miraculous overnight changes which is never going to happen and isn't the problem in my opinion
Kamran failed against the West Indies after a successful PSL 2017. And I'm pretty sure Malik and Hafeez are also far from being considered the "best players in the country." They are way past their prime, if they even had one for that matter. Yet Inzamam held back Haris Sohail in favor of these two. See how big of a mistake that turned out to be, when the lad made 89(59) and 68(76) in high pressure games. Haris isn't world class, but he's definitely way better than Malik/Hafeez. See how he dropped Shinwari who has been a pretty decent bowler this past year, and even Junaid Khan whose experience would be valuable, for a rookie Hasnain. And Hasnain has not even been given one game and is just occupying a free spot that could have went to either of the two. And not to mention his nephew. While Imam is doing okay to be fair, lets be honest his selection was nepotistic to an extent. So while I do agree that proper grooming in the domestic scenes is important, as Saud Shakeel, Saad Ali, Khusdil Shah have potential, I also think with a selector like Inzamam these names will be left behind in the dust and never heard of unless they take a 5 wicker haul in the PSL or make a quickfire 50 or 100. So the selector does play a big role and should be given to someone who can handle it and makes selections without bias and strictly on merit.
I agree with you. There will always be a few borderline selections.
Most of this forum hates imam, but he warrants investment. The only real let downs have been Hasan and Malik.
Again most team will have 2 or 3 in the squad who don't perform.
What has Maxwell/stoinis/zampa done for Aus.
What have guptill Munro/Latham done for NZ
What have Ali/Rashid done for England.
These team all reached QFs.
I think Pakistan have exceeded most of PPs expectations especially If we win Friday. Who wouldn't have taken only 3 losses out of 9 games.
You mentioned 3 issues in your post:
1. Absolutely I agree - you will get a player like Harris who has performed well and should be played ahead of Hafeez and Malik....however that doesn't solve the fundamental problem which is lack of harnessed talent does it? Not to mention - more than half of Harris's 58 international matches have been played with Inzi as selector and Inzi is also the person to select him in the World Cup squad.
All I am trying to say is we shouldn't just blame the selectors for selecting players who have failed and not crediting them for picking a player like Harris who has done well. Before the WC Inzi should have been sacked for picking Amir according to half the posters on the forum - however, now that Amir has gone on to become one of the leading wicket takers in the tournament Inzi or the management get no credit what so ever.
Can't have it both ways.
2. The bowlers - whoever came in place of Hasnain would have been on the bench. We had a limited number of spots so we could not bring Shaheen, Amir, Junaid, Hassan, Shinwari, Wahab & Hasnain.
Picking Hasnain was gamble but he gave something the other bowlers didn't have which is extra pace. The ability to ball above 150kph. Now sure that hasn't been used in the WC so far - however, if Shinwari or Junaid had come they would have been on the bench instead.
Again - regardless of whoever was dropped - the fans would have been quick to say that the person who got dropped should have been in the squad.
3. The third and final thing you mentioned was Imam which I simply do not get! "Imam is doing okay....but he shouldn't be in the team"....what?!?!? I don't know what's worse - selectors picking family members in the team out of favouritism or fans wanting a selector to resign to allow his family members to play in the team - since even if the player plays well and his relative is a selector he doesn't deserve to be in the team.....
Surely that sounds crazy!
Again - I go back to my original question - if not Imam then who? The likes of Shehzad and Kami have been tested and failed. Sharjeel looked promising but he threw it away. Imam was amongst the highest Pakistani run scorers in the PSL. I mean on what basis should Imam not be selected?!?!
Fans are quick to blame nepotism for Imams selection when in fact it's the complete opposite and it would be discrimination if he wasn't selected and he was discriminated against because his uncle is the selector despite being the best opener we have in the country.
You have hit the bullseye!Resign? He should be sacked because of his brain dead nepotistic selections & failure to build a solid team.
1) He has gifted us his nephew, an opener from the 80s, who averages 26 in the World Cup at a spectacular strike rate of 67.
What makes Imam's selection more ridiculous is the fact that Inzi used to hate Fawad Alam for his mediocre strike rate (rightly so) but loves Bhateeja for the very same reason. What a hypocrite.
2) Haris Rauf looked thrice as ready for the international arena as Hasnain, yet he picked latter, who's done nothing else except warming the bench. Another dumb call.
3) Kept persisting with the biggest TTF ever, Malik, who averages a monstrous 18 in England.
4) Kept giving Yasir Shah a free ride despite his countless pathetic performances in ODIs.
5) Invested heavily in a Relu Katta like Faheem, while a reliable batsman like Amir Yamin, who has shown his capability in 2-3 ODI/T20i chances given to him, kept getting ignored.
He should be sacked even before the team arrives.
1. The thing is certain selections like Amir are necessitated because Amir has shown that he is a tournament player and turns up in big matches. This is where I can support the "experience" argument. Same goes for Wahab. Some people were clamoring that he didn't deserve it, but my gut told me it was a good decision when I saw his recent PSL and domestic records. But if Inzamam didn't just rely on PSL then we could have easily also harnessed talents like Saud Shakeel, Khusdhil Shah, it was on him to kick Malik and Hafeez out after CT 2017 to make room and groom new players who would have settled in by now.
2. Indeed Hasnain has pace, but why didn't they give him a game? I wouldn't have minded. Are they afraid of the risk he might fail in a crucial game? If that is the case, they should have just went with either Junaid or Shinwari. When Hasan Ali failed, the fact that we still had Amir, Wahab, and Shaheen (who thankfully came clean eventually) calmed us down, if Junaid/Shinwari were also a part of the squad, we wouldn't have even been worried at all.
3. I really don't get your point. So him being selected because of his uncle is not discrimination towards other players, but being dropped because his ex-uncle was a cricketer is discriminating against Imam? The thing is, while Imam has done okay (and I don't mean particularly great, just okay), his strike rate is a big problem. Making 50 off 75 balls like in the Australia isn't really impressive. We should be taking advantage of the power play overs, but his slow batting puts pressure on Fakhar and Babar. And it's Babar and now Haris Sohail whose mostly been carrying our batting. So you can't blame people for feeling he's only in the team cause of his uncle. And I honestly wouldn't mind bringing back Sharjeel, a lot of people will be against it, but the first thing is he has already done his time. Second, if Australia can bring back Warner and Smith, why the double standards when it comes to Pakistan? Him and Fakhar could destroy opposition lineups.
1. I am glad you support Amir & Wahab's selection - however there were many who didnt and thought this should be a sackable offence, if you look through past forums. What Im trying to say is not every selection will please everyone - however, credit for good selection should be given to the selectors as well, rather than just desperately trying to get them sacked when players dont perform - specially when there isn't an abundance of high quality players to pick from. We cant sack coaches depending on the gut feel and feelings of individuals like you and I.
Inzi - or any selector - relying on PSL has no impact on if talent is being harnessed or not. The PSL is the only high quality domestic cricket competition Pakistan has and THAT is the issue when it comes the inability of harnessing talent. Talent isn't being harnessed because players like Saud Shakeel and Khusdil Shah wont become world beaters by playing on run down pitches, with crappy training facilities in extremely one sided games.
The method of harnessing talent isn't for the national selector to play them in the international and hope that their raw talent will be enough to carry them.
2. A few things here. You would think that Hasnain not getting a game is down to Micky and Sarfraz and not Inzi - so sacking the selector who sent Hasnain with the squad makes no sense. As for why he wasnt played - if he was played the question would be asked "why was Shaheen not played?". Wahab and Amir have been our main bowlers throughout the competition so their was never any question about dropping them. Shaheen performed well when he we given a chance. So i would ask the question why should Hasnain - or Junaid/Shinwari if they were in the squad for that matter - be played at the expense of one of your bowlers who are performing well?
3. Imam being dropped because his uncle is a selector - despite being the best opener in the country - is discriminating against him and just as bad as nepotism.
Imam's okay is a lot better than anything that the other openers we have tried could do so this takes me back to my very fundmental point. The issue isn't the selection of talent - the issue is the lack of talent! We wont overcome this fundamental issue by changing coach, captain or selector.
As for bringing back Sharjeel and the morals behind it is a matter of opinion and whole different story. Again - changing the captain, coach or selector wont change the PCB's stance on whether Sharjeel will paly or not.
Having said that - replacing an ODI player who averages 53 at a SR of 80 with a player who averages 32 - albeit at a SR of 113 - doesnt seem like a revolutionary idea to me; particularly when we have another opener who averages just under 50 at a SR of 100.
Now again - I am going off track - the bottom line is I dont think Imam's selection is a sackable offence given the fact that he has performed better than any other option we have tried at international level or have seen at domestic level in competitions such as the PSL.
Thank you for this! Agree with every point you've been putting in this thread.
Some posters find this a bitter pill to swallow - however, as far as I can see the players in the squad are the best players in the country.
I know it's hard to accept but it seems to be the way things are.
Look at the PSL. Amongst the top run scorers the only batsmen are either in the current team (Imam, Fakhar & Babar) or are TTFs (Shahzad and Kami)
Similarly with top wicket takers - we had our best bowlers as part of the squad.
The problem isn't talent selection - the issue is harnessing of talent.
If we keep changing the person who is picking the players without actually developing quality players - the selectors will always be an easy target to blame with no actual power to change anything.
My dear how hard is it to figure out that a so called 'senior' batsman has an average of 10+ in England and as a consequence not be selected for the most important tournament that happens only every 4 years.
We need a modern and evidence-based approach to selecting players based on hard data that is unbiased and credible. Once the system is strong enough and players are confident they will be selected based on merit, talent will gravitate towards this sport.
Hmm that's an interesting way of looking at it.
However, there will always be a human making the selection so there will always be scope of accusing the selector for bias.
There wont - and shouldn't - ever be a day that we simply pick the players with the highest batting average and lowest bowling average. There's a lot more that goes into it then that.
However - I do find your point about attracting talent yo cricket by eliminating corruption/increasing transperency absolutely correct and something that does need to happen
Glad you agree
I just feel we need to look for long term solutions and not sure term knee jerk reactions such as sacking the coach, captain or the selector.
We have seen many coaches, captains and selectors come and go in the last decade or two but that hasn't solved our fundamental issue of not having sufficient talent to pick from. THAT is the issue we need to look to tackle.
Selecting Wahab was a good out of the box move and his world cup squad was not too bad, nobody thought Malik would be so bad.
But his tinkering in the previous few series was terrible and for this reason should go.
I'd give Inzy 7/10 as selector but be careful what you wish for in Pakistan cricket, the next selector will probably be worse.
Only if the replacement is better, i.e. not Iqbal Qasim, Mohsin Khan, Intisaurus Rex or Haroon Rasheed.
No, but the selectors around him need to be replaced. They keep playing favourites and are not qualified.
And don't forget about playing his laadla bhateeja![]()
The main factor of Pakistan not making WC semifinals is Pakistan’s worst fielding in WC especially dropping Finch and Warner 3-4 times in the match vs Australia.
Besides 2,3 selections selections were fine. Major blunder was not selecting Saud Shakeel in last 2 years. That’s it.
Bazid Khan, Mohammad Yousuf (if not considered for coaching at junior level) need to be part of selection committe.
Inzamam should be persisted with in my opinion.
[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] what do you say ?
Yes selectors are still needed that have the ability to synthesize data using advanced analytics to select the best players from the available pool. We need to instil confidence that the system is fair and based on objective criteria supported by hard data that can be audited based on request or be used to provide feedback to the players so they can improve their game.
Our major issue is not that the selectors are not sincere but rather their low intellectual capacity to employ modern methods in the selection process using advanced video and software technology. We are still of the opinion that evidenced-based approaches offer no value and selector's subjectivity to uncover talent trumps player performance metrics collected over a large sample of data.
Professional teams in the west now have dedicated data science teams within their organizations looking at different metrics to judge the performance of players and trying to find an edge against the competition. Some have even won championships by forming teams by looking at their stats collectively.
We desperately need more educated people who have decent knowledge of cricket and played at the first class level to be making smart decisions and not rely on hall of fame players who unfortunately spent most of their formative years playing cricket and dropped out of school early.
Agreed.
I have to say though the team will definitely be better with certain people out of the team. Besides that, Inzi hasn't done terribly in his tenure. He inducted youngblood into the team which most of the previous selectors were always reluctant to do.
In the end, no matter what selector it is, they are not going to make decisions that everyone will agree upon. Every human being gets criticized for any of the decisions they make, by anybody.
That's one good player he picked, laadla bhateeja or not.
He was good today, but needed to perform like this in earlier matches where it was desperately needed.
I think essentially we are both saying the same thing:
You: Fix the system - this will attract more talent and you will have a bigger pool of players to pick from.
Me: Fix the domestic structure & improve facilities - this will give existing talent a chance to harness and you will have a bigger pool of talent to pick from.
I think both statements are right in there own regards. I'm not convinced the issue is talent attraction - I think harnessing the talent is the issue; however there is every possibility that I am wrong.
Either way - if you sack Inzi today and hire another selector tomorrow - which is most likely gonna be someone like Aamir Sohail or Mohsin Khan - you cannot expect results to change.
What you certainly cant do - IMO - is blame the current selectors for selecting the players they did because given the current talent in the country these are the best players. You can run whatever algorithm you want to pick the best players - I'm guessing majority of the current 15 will be the output.
We need to harness and grow talent. That's the key issue we need to solve. not look for short term knee jerk firings and hirings.
solid reliable player with game sense
Should be sacked, his pathetic selections are one of contributing reasons to why we are a poor ODI and test side.
We have been a poor side even before he joined as chief selector. He just didn't make much of a difference, that's all.
Hopefully the PCB brass can bring in more educated people with enough knowledge of cricket to select players using objective criteria so that talented players have confidence in the system to keep playing the game and not get disheartened because of their lack of trust in the selection process.