As a cricketing country, we first need to correctly diagnose the disease that is plaguing our batting lineup. I've seen so many comments on PP where everyone is throwing names around that so and so player should be in the team without realizing the disease that we have in our cricket. It seems like those who are outside the team are the best players.
The problem stems from the fact that we as a nation are not producing any proper batters who have their techniques aligned. Small glitches in technique will always be there in a batsman but overall we are only producing genuine hacks at the domestic level. Forget power hitting for a moment, how many genuine batters at the domestic T20 and ODI level can you name who can play in the V by simply presenting the full face of the bat?
Awais Zia and Mukhtar Ahmed are simply a product of this hack factory that we are nurturing at the domestic level. These guys will flay bowling attacks on the dead pitches of Faisalabad where the ball does not seam or swing and cross batted shots actually give you runs. The moment you give them a seaming and a bouncy pitch, these players look like fools. If you look at the first three dismissals of our innings today, every single one of them fell to a cross batted slog on the on-side. This has been ingrained into their batting by having wild slogs giving them runs on the Pakistani pitches.
The rest of the countries are so ahead of us simply because they have incorporated power hitting into their games without losing much of their technique as batsmen. With us, forget power hitting we haven't reached the first level yet which is to become a proper batsman playing proper cricketing shots. I can bet that if you asked Fakhar to bat for 20 overs in a T20 without caring for the Run Rate, he would still not survive the 20 overs. He will have an exceptional day but that is an exception, not the rule. So unless you have that base of being a proper batsman, consistent power hitting will be a distant dream.
This is why I believe that we need to identify batsmen at the Pakistani domestic level who have the ability to play proper cricketing shots irrespective of which format you're playing. Once you get that core, gradually you can incorporate power hitting into their game which is not that difficult to be honest. But when you don't have the technique of a batsman at all, power hitting is like searching for a needle in a haystack.
The four batsmen who I feel we can genuinely work with going forward are Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Umar Amin and Ahmed Shehzad.
Crucify Ahmed Shehzad all you like, but the guy at least has the ability to bat. His problems are three fold - selfishness, attitude and insecurity. A good selection committee can get rid of his insecurity and a good coach can get rid of his selfishness and attitude. Its not rocket science. Not saying that Ahmed Shehzad is not at fault himself, but others need to do their bit as well. Once you have four solid batsmen, you can add a couple of all-rounders like Faheem and Imad who can hit out.
And yes Umar Amin got out at 0 slogging but I'm seen enough at the domestic level which suggests that he is a good batsman by Pakistani standards. The pressure of being 0 off 6 balls initially got to him which could be a reason of his wild slog. But he's not bad. Give him time and consistent chances.
