Should Umar Siddiq be Pakistan's 2nd choice wicketkeeper behind Mohammad Rizwan?

[bizenjo]

Umar Siddiq is a left handed wicketkeeper batsman from Lahore and is 27 years old, playing for Southern Punjab domestically and he was part of the Multan Sultans in 2019.

From what I've seen, Siddiq's career is very reminiscient of Mohammad Rizwan's. Both are very consistent domestic performers, where both average quite highly, with Rizwan beating Siddiq (Rizwan's FC: 42, Siddiq's FC: 39) (Rizwan's LA: 49, Siddiq's LA: 42). Siddiq also played in the PSL in 2019, where he was a good player for his side, the Multan Sultans.

Seeing how Sarfaraz Ahmed is not only aging but also becoming redundant to the side and considering Siddiq's incredible domestic season, where he averaged 50 as the 11th highest runscorer in the QeA Trophy and 51 in the Pakistan Cup at a SR of 99 as the 10th highest runscorer last year, do you think he should be given a spot on the national team as Mohammad Rizwan's backup?

 

[moghul]

Anyone but Sarfraz, but better be some youngster, why not Mohhamd Haris, under 19 player.

 

[Thunderbolt14]

Rohail, Haris should be the main players to develop.

Rohail’s main weakness has been power hitting but he has showed he is intent on improving this. That shows a good self-awareness of where he stands and what he needs to do to break into the team. He is also mentally quite strong, and responsible for some excellent fighting century knocks in U19 in both winning and losing causes.

Haris meanwhile is a strong hitter who can accomplish a Khushdil-like finisher role in the team. He is dynamic and has lots of potential. He however has yet to show he can replicate performances against stronger players - for that he needs to avail the upcoming season with KPK and Razzaq is an excellent mentor to have regarding his power hitting. Good performances in FC, LA, and National T20 will go a long way to place him in the same list as Saud Shakil, Abdullah Shafique, Saif Badar, and Rohail Nazir — that is, in the lists of people who have an eye on upcoming talents.

From there, he can be picked for the PSL: we know that Multan has Zeeshan and Rohail, Karachi and Chadwick and Rizwan, Quetta has Sarfaraz and Azam, while Islamabad and Peshawar have relatively more room for an up and coming wicket keeper batsman with a strong presence in the middle order. Kamran Akmal will retire in 2 years, and with Mohammad Akram’s intelligence and experience, I fully expect them to start developing a backup wicket keeper this coming year (PSL 6) who will bloom by the time of Kamran’s retirement. Haris is the prime candidate and must seize it with both hands by performing in domestics this year.

Then there is obviously Pakistan A and so forth, should he keep developing — there will always be a spot for a number 5/6 finisher and power hitter, given how few alternatives there are, even if Rohail is already in the Pakistan A team.

My feeling is that Pakistan will see some depth in keeping options for some years to come, the way England and India are seeing right now.

 

[shamaan]

Anyone but Sarfraz, but better be some youngster, why not Mohhamd Haris, under 19 player.

Agreed Harris can be a specialist t20 odi player

 

[shamaan]

I hope muhammad Harris and rohail nazir get big opportunity in t20 cup and the 4 day competition I am defo looking forward to muhammad Harris he has the power hitting ability and can fit into the team at number 5 but he needs experience against good opposition I hope razaq develops him