There's no real lobbies lol. Fans love their conspiracy theories. Gives them excuses when their team loses. The fact of the matter is our seniors simply weren't very good. Hafeez and Malik were just the best of the bunch of seniors despite being mediocre. And Hafeez for a long while held his place as an allrounder. Malik's averaged just a shade under 50 since 2015. Hafeez even after the bowling ban has averaged around 40 since 2015. Hafeez especially in the period he played, generally had the second best numbers in a weak batting side, often being 2nd or 1st highest rated batsman in our side.
Now are younger/newer players are stepping up e.g. Fakhar, Babar, Shadab (and with the return of Haris), even Sarfraz they will be forced out.
There's a lot of batting spots, and teams don't field a batting line up full of newer guys, there's always one or two seniors to keep it together. Difference is we don't have very good seniors unlike other teams. The best choice now is to move on from Hafeez and Malik. Babar despite his young age is now the mainstay of our batting. Sarfraz has to provide that experience down the order too, though it's not like he's incredibly experienced either, doesn't even have 90 ODIs under his belt, and fewer than that since he cemented his place in the side.
Guys that should have cemented their place in the side and had the talent to do so, umar, Jamshed, Maqsood, Sharjeel etc. for whatever reason didn't. That was our issue.
The only players I can think of keeping people out is Kamran as a wicketkeeper (mainly because fans were happier with a flashier batsmen who was inconsistent with the bat, and poor with the gloves, as were unwilling to give a longer rope to a new wicketkeeper). And Afridi as a bowler (not as an allrounder really though) as he may of kept out a spinner. That's about it. And in fairness to them both Kamran and Afridi were very talented and should have achieved far more than they did, you can't fault selectors for giving them chances (even though especially in the case of Kamran, too many chances). However again if the majority of fans wanted Afridi to play, what can they do? He cultivated his fame well and while not spectacular, he had his uses and a replacement to him could well have been worse.
The only conspiracy theories I entertain, are that Masood probably was given a chance partly due to family backing. Farhat while deserved his initial chances due to being a prolific domestic opener, was probably given a few more again than he deserved due to connections.
Certain players also haven't been given their chances/dropped too quickly because they haven't impressed the eyes of selectors etc. despite impressive records. Fawad was a culprit of this despite doing pretty well (especially in comparison to his peers). Sadaf not getting a chance yet again. And Cheema despite taking wickets for years, only given a chance when he was too old. This is more to do with Pakistan's ethos when it comes to selecting, they're more of fan of aesthetically pleasing bowlers, batsmen even if they're a little inconsistent, compared to the uglier techniques which still generate results. Which is why in Pakistan we give a lot of guys debuts/chances with inferior records, hoping they'll do better in international cricket than domestic. And it hardly ever works out.
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