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"Team Management is seeing something that suggests I can also win matches for them down the order": Fakhar Zaman

If you want to utilize Fakhar send him at the 1st down position because he is the one who can better capitalize on the power play compared to Babar.
 
Fakhar should have deposited that low full toss but he ended up being in two minds and lost his wicket eventually. He should open with saim with Babar 1 down and rest Rizwan. Let's see how this combo will go.
 
He should have opened with Rizwan.

Fakhar doesn’t have lots of years left. ATM he is superior to Saim in PSL. Off the back of a great PSL and World Cup it was the perfect chance to try him there again. If he failed, drop him from t20s and let Saim play as opener.

Saim is now playing as opener and we don’t know whether Fakhar will do better. And Fakhar is being carried in middle order. Saim also knows if he mucks up, Fakhar is there to take his position which is more pressure.

Fakhar has been kept around more or less as a passenger for too long in t20 cricket. Can’t keep doing this. Give him another shot at opening or/after drop him altogether.
 
ads101 said:
He should have opened with Rizwan.

Fakhar doesn’t have lots of years left. ATM he is superior to Saim in PSL. Off the back of a great PSL and World Cup it was the perfect chance to try him there again. If he failed, drop him from t20s and let Saim play as opener.

Saim is now playing as opener and we don’t know whether Fakhar will do better. And Fakhar is being carried in middle order. Saim also knows if he mucks up, Fakhar is there to take his position which is more pressure.

Fakhar has been kept around more or less as a passenger for too long in t20 cricket. Can’t keep doing this. Give him another shot at opening or/after drop him altogether.
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Saim and Fakhar both can open together. No need to drop Saim and he should not fear his place and should focus on his batting. Saim impressed many with his innings and he should be confident about it. Fakhar can move up and let these 2 lefties open for Pakistan with Rizwan either being rested of tried at number 4 if he has to play anyways.
 
Fakhar was never looking comfortable out there during the 4th T20I game today against New Zealand. Gone after scoring 9 off 15 balls. Pathetic stuff today from him.
 
BouncerGuy said:
Saim and Fakhar both can open together. No need to drop Saim and he should not fear his place and should focus on his batting. Saim impressed many with his innings and he should be confident about it. Fakhar can move up and let these 2 lefties open for Pakistan with Rizwan either being rested of tried at number 4 if he has to play anyways.
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You need one guy opening who you can trust getting a score. Rizwan has to open.

Fakhar should open with Rizwan. Thats the best combination right now with the highest chance of succeeding (if Babar doesn’t open, and for the good of the team he plays at 3 arguably as no one else will do anything at 3 if he doesn’t play there anyway).

If we have a scenario where both Rizwan And Fakhar start consistently performing, then you can look to drop down Rizwan, and try Saim knowing Fakhar is dependable. Need to make sure at least Fakhar can actually perform as opener before accommodating Saim too. We can’t be 10/2 every game.
 
Team management should send Fakhar and Sahibzada back home

What’s the point of trying to make them middle order players?
 
Rana said:
Team management should send Fakhar and Sahibzada back home

What’s the point of trying to make them middle order players?
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Fakhar flopped at opening now flopping in the middle. Get rid of him.
 
Rana said:
Team management should send Fakhar and Sahibzada back home

What’s the point of trying to make them middle order players?
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Vice captain will be angry and it will destroy the dressing room environment if he is being replaced as opener
 
No harm in trying him as opener again as Saim has shown he is not quite up to the mark yet.
 
Usman Chadda said:
Fakhar's stats as openers are much worse than both Rizwan and Babar.
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They are miles worse. If Babar or rizwan had the stats which fakhar has while opening these same posters would have wanted them out of the team. Let alone give him another opportunity as an opener.
 
I dont understand why he is not being tried as an opener. He last opened in 2019- Has been a beast in the PSL, is our most dangerous batsman and is capable of playing a blinder as hes proven in the world cup last year and also in the 2nd game of this series.
 
Every time Pakistan have moved away from Babar/Rizwan (limited times admittedly), why has Fakhar not been given a run . He last opened in 2020 and for the last two seasons in the PSL he has been amongst the top guns .
2022- top scorer
2023- Most sixers

Couple that with his World Cup performance, surely he deserves another run as an opener.

With Saim failing are they going to revert back to Riz/bab or do the sensible thing and give Fakhar a run .

Why isn’t this happening?
 
PakEngFan said:
They are miles worse. If Babar or rizwan had the stats which fakhar has while opening these same posters would have wanted them out of the team. Let alone give him another opportunity as an opener.
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Fakhar failing as opener and Sharjeel getting banned are the reason Babar and Rizwan are openers. And yet somehow people blame those two for Sharjeel and Fakhar not being our openers 😄. The guys who hate on Rizwan and Babar I have never seen them blame those two players at all funnily enough.

I am all for Fakhar getting another shot due to PSL. But don’t get how people pretend not to understand why they are not opening. Even Fakhar understands this, I don’t know how some fans don’t.
 
ads101 said:
Fakhar failing as opener and Sharjeel getting banned are the reason Babar and Rizwan are openers. And yet somehow people blame those two for Sharjeel and Fakhar not being our openers 😄. The guys who hate on Rizwan and Babar I have never seen them blame those two players at all funnily enough.

I am all for Fakhar getting another shot due to PSL. But don’t get how people pretend not to understand why they are not opening. Even Fakhar understands this, I don’t know how some fans don’t.
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Well, fakhar and Sharjeel are available to open together now…so why not do the right thing instead of continuing with rubbish?
 
Rana said:
Well, fakhar and Sharjeel are available to open together now…so why not do the right thing instead of continuing with rubbish?
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Fakhar by all means. He should have been first to try.

Sharjeel isn’t even in PSL now he was so bad. I think deep down you know he’s a former shadow of the player he was. Needs to focus on performing in domestic, getting his PSL spot back and then performing in PSL again before he gets back an international slot.
 
ads101 said:
Fakhar by all means. He should have been first to try.

Sharjeel isn’t even in PSL now he was so bad. I think deep down you know he’s a former shadow of the player he was. Needs to focus on performing in domestic, getting his PSL spot back and then performing in PSL again before he gets back an international slot.
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Sharjeel even now is better than Saim. Saim needs time. Sharjeel is the reliable, experienced campaigner. He just needs confidence which he is lacking. He’s been very good in Pakistan domestics for the past couple of seasons so he hasn’t lost his touch.
 
So they drop Ayub today and open with Haseeb. They should have opened with Fakhar to Farhan today instead. You can't have Rizwan and Haseeb openeing. If that's the case you might as well open with Babar and Rizwan because Haseeb is an accululator as well.

Poor thinking from the captain again.
 
Fakhar Zaman smashed 33(16) with 4 sixes and a strike rate of 206.25 in 5th T20I again New Zealand. He is the only batter we have who plays modern-day cricket. Unfortunately, we are wasting him down in the order.
 
First series in a long time I actually remember him performing. Did well again today too. Not earth shattering but average of 25 SR 165 is good for a middle order batsman, quite a few top teams have players with these sort of stats middle order.

I am still tempted to try him as opener, and see if he performs. If we could have a whole top 3 we could depend on, and one More consistent opener and another more aggressive with a guy at no.3 to stabilise the inning off an early wicket, that could work.

But I do think right now, fakhar is the only possible alternative for opening. The rest I don’t think are good enough. Or good enough yet at least, maybe in a few years.
 
Fakhar is worth another try as opener as it has been a few years now.

But he is doing well at 4 whereas in previous stints as opener he was rubbish.

As an opener he can look really baffled at times but in the middle overs he seems to take on a lot less pressure.
 
I think this position is suiting him now. He looks more relaxed at number 4. Opening is the real problem here for Pakistan though. Fakhar might be moved up the order to open with rizwan if the things do not improve in the next games.
 
FearlessRoar said:
Fakhar Zaman smashed 33(16) with 4 sixes and a strike rate of 206.25 in 5th T20I again New Zealand. He is the only batter we have who plays modern-day cricket. Unfortunately, we are wasting him down in the order.
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Worth pointing out FZ SR as an opener is 136 in 37 innings and only 4 innings where he scored above 50. 3 of those came vs Zimbabwe.

Maybe its worth trying again but FZ seems to be doing quite amazing batting at 4 and not having to face the new ball which is where he struggled most. He is one of the few middle order option with power and sixes ability... so it may make more sense to preserve that.
 
Nasty Naz said:
Worth pointing out FZ SR as an opener is 136 in 37 innings and only 4 innings where he scored above 50. 3 of those came vs Zimbabwe.

Maybe its worth trying again but FZ seems to be doing quite amazing batting at 4 and not having to face the new ball which is where he struggled most. He is one of the few middle order option with power and sixes ability... so it may make more sense to preserve that.
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Yep, exactly my point as I said earlier. He struggles against new ball seaming and swinging. Number 4 will provide him with a chance to bat against spinners, which he is good at playing.
 
Nasty Naz said:
Worth pointing out FZ SR as an opener is 136 in 37 innings and only 4 innings where he scored above 50. 3 of those came vs Zimbabwe.

Maybe its worth trying again but FZ seems to be doing quite amazing batting at 4 and not having to face the new ball which is where he struggled most. He is one of the few middle order option with power and sixes ability... so it may make more sense to preserve that.
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It does make sense but then again there has to be an opener alongside Rizwan who's an aggressor.

I think Mohammad Harris has to be an opener alongside whomever.
 
RidiculousMan said:
It does make sense but then again there has to be an opener alongside Rizwan who's an aggressor.

I think Mohammad Harris has to be an opener alongside whomever.
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Yes. Haris should be there. Fakhar and babar are looking comfortable on their new positions. Lets just keep this combo more and see where it goes.
 
Fakhar has been way better at #4 than he was as an opener in T20I. Should certainly get a longer run at #4.
 
A another run as opener makes sense for him . He is arguably our best ever opener in one day cricket , and given he is selfless and a team player it makes sense to give him a run again at the top.
 
Cricket Warrior said:
To make Fakhar open, Rizwan needs to sacrifice his position which seems like an impossible task for the management.


https://twitter.com/x/status/1749445197245898836
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Fakhar last opened in 2020. His last two psl seasons in PSL have yielded over 1000 runs with an average of 40 and SR of 150.

He also in that period has played some blinders for Pakistan as an opener in 50 overs .

Reality is , that he is your only genuine match winner with the bat and one of the most feared batsman in white ball cricket .

People point to his figures as opener , that was 4 years ago . He is much improved now.

Even the two most eye catching impactful innings were played by Fakhar in this series .
50 of 24
33 of 16.

In my opinion it’s simply a no brainer .
 
GreenKhan said:
Fakhar last opened in 2020. His last two psl seasons in PSL have yielded over 1000 runs with an average of 40 and SR of 150.

He also in that period has played some blinders for Pakistan as an opener in 50 overs .

Reality is , that he is your only genuine match winner with the bat and one of the most feared batsman in white ball cricket .

People point to his figures as opener , that was 4 years ago . He is much improved now.

Even the two most eye catching impactful innings were played by Fakhar in this series .
50 of 24
33 of 16.

In my opinion it’s simply a no brainer .
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Agree completely. He has been the best batsman in PSL in recent years too.

Don’t understand the order of trying openers. Fakhar should have been tried first, who also has the highest chance of succeeding.

I like Saim. But it was much easier to try Fakhar and if he fails move on to Saim. If Saim fails move on to Haseebullah or someone else. The order of trying people is wrong.

And after such a good World Cup, you strike when the iron is hot. It was perfect time to get him in.
 
ads101 said:
Agree completely. He has been the best batsman in PSL in recent years too.

Don’t understand the order of trying openers. Fakhar should have been tried first, who also has the highest chance of succeeding.

I like Saim. But it was much easier to try Fakhar and if he fails move on to Saim. If Saim fails move on to Haseebullah or someone else. The order of trying people is wrong.

And after such a good World Cup, you strike when the iron is hot. It was perfect time to get him in.
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Really don’t see the logic of not giving him a run. Not sure who’s idea it is of doing this but something seems to be stopping them from playing him as an opener .


Baffling really
 
GreenKhan said:
Really don’t see the logic of not giving him a run. Not sure who’s idea it is of doing this but something seems to be stopping them from playing him as an opener .


Baffling really
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Just the whole poorly planned youth project movement thats going on in recent years. We‘re desperate to try them out, move around positions, make them compete against each other etc. We don’t care if they’re ready or if they fail. It’s what a lot of fans wanted tbh. I don’t think you should pick guys just because they were young. When Babar and Umar akmal first came into the scene they were young. But they were better than the seniors at that age too. There weren’t better older options at the time. We weren’t weakening our team to try them out.

Saim is even probably second in line to try as opener after Fakhar. He could have a go if Fakhar doesn’t work out. If we had no one better than it was fine. But how many people honestly think Saim would have outperformed Fakhar as opener right now especially after that World Cup? It’s just wrong. Even in PSL alone Fakhar was better than Saim, Babar and Rizwan. And as you said, people haven’t given him much credit, he’s improved a lot in PSL, where now he literally outperforms every Pakistani batsman.
 
While talking to media in Lahore, Fakhar expressed his willingness to contribute in any capacity for his team, however he emphasized his desire to open the innings for his PSL team:

"I am prepared to bat at any position, but my preference is to open in the PSL."

"The dynamics within the Pakistan team are different,there we have players from all across the country. You cannot compare Pakistan team with the PSL franchise."
 
FearlessRoar said:
"I am prepared to bat at any position, but my preference is to open in the PSL."
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That is the issue every senior player in the team wants to open and nobody wants to play in the middle order. Due to that we are losing our genuine openers like Sahibzada Farhan and Saim.
 
Fakhar Zaman T20I Stats
IMG_20240320_183535.jpg
While Fakhar has been inconsistent in his T20I career - Hence the low average.

But interestingly his strike rate increases massively at no. 4 position, and it's a substantial increase.
 
Fakhar is just a slightly more refined version of Asif Ali, who only knows how to swing a bat wildly. It's better now to drop him and give a chance to a player who can perform more consistently unlike him who delivers a once in a year performance.
 
Cricket Warrior said:
Fakhar is just a slightly more refined version of Asif Ali, who only knows how to swing a bat wildly. It's better now to drop him and give a chance to a player who can perform more consistently unlike him who delivers a once in a year performance.
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How on earth can you possibly say that or even think that when he's the only player in the past 10 years to

- score a 200
- score 3 centuries in a row that were mighty with a score of 180 being added
- score a 60 ball 100 causing Pakistan to win a rain affected game where 400 was scored
- Have the highest ever runs scored in a single psl stint
- Being dubbed as the one and only X factor as an opener
- score an all important 114 in a icc final

Fakhar was poor in the cpl as well until he came back with a bang in the world cup, fakhar is and always has been undroppable and should never have been replaced at opening.

Fans just want medicore consistency with endless rizwan 25 of 25's or babar's 50 ball 40's.
 
The same posters who bash Babar and rizwan scoring against b or c teams are the same posters singing tune of other players scoring against them. The hypocrisy.
 
Fakhar played the entire PSL as opener and he was rubbish. Is that Misbah’s fault?

He averaged 19 at a SR of 115. He could have put pressure on PCB to open with him in the World Cup by having a big tournament.

Who asked him to fail so miserably?
 
Rana said:
Who asked Babar to continue failing miserably as an international opener after proving he is a solid number 3?
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What is Babar’s record as T20I opener and how does it compare to Fakhar’s PSL 2024?
 
Mamoon said:
What is Babar’s record as T20I opener and how does it compare to Fakhar’s PSL 2024?
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Why was Babar unsold in the hundred draft 3 seasons in a row? If he’s an international top quality opener??
 
Rana said:
Who asked Babar to continue failing miserably as an international opener after proving he is a solid number 3?
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Babar did pretty well as a no 3 in the nz series against a much stronger attack.

Don't know why he doesn't switch on while opening though.
 
Rana said:
Why was Babar unsold in the hundred draft 3 seasons in a row? If he’s an international top quality opener??
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Since when is a poorly run tournament that no one cares about a yardstick for who’s good and who’s not?

The Hundred is complete shambles run by incompetent people who have stumbled upon a great idea but don’t know how to execute it.

It’s been three years and the format has made zero impact.
 
Stats definitely have shown that Fakhar is excelling at number 4 atm. He looks comfortable because he has to operate against Spin when he comes a bit late. Opening is not the spot he should be fighting for, number 4 is his spot, make that spot permanent for yourself.
 
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