The baffling selections of Sohail, Imran, Sharjeel, Nawaz and Asghar for the Australia tour

[Zeshan547]

I mean literally has there ever been any more baffling squad selection ever, if our own management and particularly coach who have big input in final XI think,
Sohail have no chance in hell to even play out one test without breaking down and is useless in 2nd inning,
Imran Khan is only good enough for grassy pitches which are most probably not ever going to get on this tour and he is to slow, even though stats tell another story but our genius coach think so and have zero confidence in him,
Sharjeel the dasher we need at the top but wait on he won't last even first ten overs 5 out of 6 times, so no way we can take this risk of playing him in the XI, we need solid openers,
Nawaz, i mean he is ordinary as spinner at best and almost useless with bat 9 out of 10 times, and this aussie team have 7 left handers so he become even more useless,
and last but not the last, Asghar and left arm spinner as cover for yasir and same case as nawaz, even though he is quite better than nawaz as spinner but a jack with the bat, and too young to play and on these aussie pitches we almost certainly don't need such untested second spinner. So why in the world would selection committe select such useless alternatives in which team management have no faith whatsoever, they will play in emergency situation like in injury. Is this is the reason for which you select your squad? How could inzi get away with such a selections, and how just how in the world it happened in the first place that such a squad was selected in which our coach have zero faith?

 

[Dr_Bassim]

I mean literally has there ever been any more baffling squad selection ever, if our own management and particularly coach who have big input in final XI think,
Sohail have no chance in hell to even play out one test without breaking down and is useless in 2nd inning,
Imran Khan is only good enough for grassy pitches which are most probably not ever going to get on this tour and he is to slow, even though stats tell another story but our genius coach think so and have zero confidence in him,
Sharjeel the dasher we need at the top but wait on he won't last even first ten overs 5 out of 6 times, so no way we can take this risk of playing him in the XI, we need solid openers,
Nawaz, i mean he is ordinary as spinner at best and almost useless with bat 9 out of 10 times, and this aussie team have 7 left handers so he become even more useless,
and last but not the last, Asghar and left arm spinner as cover for yasir and same case as nawaz, even though he is quite better than nawaz as spinner but a jack with the bat, and too young to play and on these aussie pitches we almost certainly don't need such untested second spinner. So why in the world would selection committe select such useless alternatives in which team management have no faith whatsoever, they will play in emergency situation like in injury. Is this is the reason for which you select your squad? How could inzi get away with such a selections, and how just how in the world it happened in the first place that such a squad was selected in which our coach have zero faith?

Name your alternatives who were much better than the above duo.

 

[Major]

Name your alternatives who were much better than the above duo.

like always, the guys who didn't get selected would have taken the world apart

 

[Syed1]

Name your alternatives who were much better than the above duo.

Sohail Khan : No alternative, correct selection. Some even think he is best bowler in the squad, so should be in the side.

Imran Khan: Muhammad Asif/Junaid Khan/ Mir Hamza (left field decision)

Muhammad Nawaz: Better if we just drop him, mediocre with bat and ball. If we wanted someone in his mould then Imad Wasim was a correct option.

Muhammad Asghar: Correct selection in my opinion. Arguably best spinner in Pakistan after Yasir.


While I do not completely agree with the OP, there is an obvious room for improvement in the squad selection.

 

[Dr_Bassim]

Sohail Khan : No alternative, correct selection. Some even think he is best bowler in the squad, so should be in the side.

Imran Khan: Muhammad Asif/Junaid Khan/ Mir Hamza (left field decision)

Muhammad Nawaz: Better if we just drop him, mediocre with bat and ball. If we wanted someone in his mould then Imad Wasim was a correct option.

Muhammad Asghar: Correct selection in my opinion. Arguably best spinner in Pakistan after Yasir.


While I do not completely agree with the OP, there is an obvious room for improvement in the squad selection.

So you agree 2 out of 4 were correct.

Now you may criticize Nawaz but perhaps one exception can always be made as an iffy selection by ANY SELECTION BOARD not just PCB.

Which leaves Imran Khan.

Interestingly half of Pakpassion still thinks Imran Khan is a good bowler and other half thinks he doesn't. When the vote is split like this, there is almost every likelihood

that the 3 others you mentioned (Asif, Junaid, Mir Hamza) are just hopeful scenarios because our two right arm bowlers are not good enough to your liking.

There is absolute no proof that the bowlers waiting in Pakistan like Asif, Junaid or Mir Hamza, are going to turn the world alight.

 

[Major]

Arthur should had give Imran Khan a match against West Indies. THats where he messed up. It would had given us a better assessment on how good he is.

Lets not forget that he was our main man for UAE.

 

[Zeshan547]

I want to make this clear to you guys i in no way arguing that these are best players selected or not point of my thread is no matter how good or bad these players are if our coach has zero faith in him and nor have captain have much faith in these five players to be in actual XI for one reason or the other than why would inzi select such a squad, if our management don't think they are good enough for this series, i mean how there can be such contradicting views? Or the other and only way to look at this is that these were the best players available to be selected in squad even though five of them or only there in emergency insurance for injury as a backup, and otherwise are not good enough to be in the starting XI? But i don't think things are this bad, i atleast would have selected those players which management think have better chance of getting in playing XI then these non selectable five players, that my issue, i think it's clear to everyone now, and mods please add this post to OP if possible, because it will help to clear out this confusion.

 

[ExplicitAI]

Seriously don't get why people hate on Sohail Khan since his comeback in the 2015 WC where he ran through the Indian lineup and had a great tournament. After coming back in 2016 for the Eng tests he ran through their batting lineups too, he's picked up more wickets than Rahat who's been useless. Probably the best tailender in the team.

 

[Major]

Because you cannot drop and bring in a new guy all of a sudden.

Dropping Sohail and Imran and Rahat means that you are dropping your whole bowling attack.

 

[Dr_Bassim]

In general it's job of the selectors to decide who to pick.

They may consult with captain but in general selectors have the right to choose who they feel will be important for the team.

Captain has to chose his playing XI.

If captain and coach DO NOT trust the players, how is that Inzimam's fault?

He's given them a squad he thinks is the best one.

Unfortunately for Pakistan, the captain and coach don't agree.

Mickey can try becoming selector of Pakistan instead of coach then, and then we can see the players that he likes. But till then, I am sure he has to be content with what has been laid for him.

 

[Pete Rose]

There's nothing baffling or wrong about these selections

 

[Zeshan547]

[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] & [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] [MENTION=138463]Slog[/MENTION] would love to see opinions of you guys on this? And do you agree with my sentiments, and i know that pcb sucks but it's terrible even by their standards, there is zero yes zero good enough alternative according to our genius coach and management in this squad, and we know for the love of good this playing XI isn't the ideal for these conditions, and at the very least rahat has to be replaced, but our management think alternatives are even worse and we will most likely end up playing rahat at MCG as well.

 

[Major]

Seriously don't get why people hate on Sohail Khan since his comeback in the 2015 WC where he ran through the Indian lineup and had a great tournament. After coming back in 2016 for the Eng tests he ran through their batting lineups too, he's picked up more wickets than Rahat who's been useless. Probably the best tailender in the team.

this has already been explained.

When Sohail Khan took 5 wickets, i made a thread criticizing his fitness levels. Posters bashed me and some even went on to say that they would rather have unfit bowlers who take 5 wickets.

Few days later, same Sohail Khan bowled bad.

Arthur said it in simple words what the problem was with Sohail.

His first spell is great, second is ok, and by the third he can't even bowl. That means after 10 overs, Pakistan only has 2 pace bowlers in the whole playing 11.

DOn't look at the wickets only, look at the fitness. If he doesn't bowl well in the first spell, then you are just carrying extra backage.

You need bowlers who could earn you a breakthrough. The thin about Wahab and Rahat is that they could atleast get you a breakthrough, though Rahat is not consisstent with his bowling

 

[Zeshan547]

this has already been explained.

When Sohail Khan took 5 wickets, i made a thread criticizing his fitness levels. Posters bashed me and some even went on to say that they would rather have unfit bowlers who take 5 wickets.

Few days later, same Sohail Khan bowled bad.

Arthur said it in simple words what the problem was with Sohail.

His first spell is great, second is ok, and by the third he can't even bowl. That means after 10 overs, Pakistan only has 2 pace bowlers in the whole playing 11.

DOn't look at the wickets only, look at the fitness. If he doesn't bowl well in the first spell, then you are just carrying extra backage.

You need bowlers who could earn you a breakthrough. The thin about Wahab and Rahat is that they could atleast get you a breakthrough, though Rahat is not consisstent with his bowling

but my question is why inzi think otherwise and retained him for this series? How can there be such a communication gap between coach and selector? Can't they have asked for a better alternative in time? Is their any such example where a coach have zero faith in five out of 16 members of a squad to be good enough?

 

[Kashmiri_Pak_fan]

Can anyone give analysis of sohail khans spells...then it will clear all doubts

 

[Major]

but my question is why inzi think otherwise and retained him for this series? How can there be such a communication gap between coach and selector? Can't they have asked for a better alternative in time? Is their any such example where a coach have zero faith in five out of 16 members of a squad to be good enough?

because their isn't any better alternative. To find an alternative you have to look at his skills in Pakistan A.

Amir and Sohail were big gambles when they were selected during the England squad, thank god they were good.

But by selecting players like that without testing them against weaker oppositions is very very risky.
This is why i'm critical of Arthur of not playing Imran in west Indies

 

[AlphaFighter]

Not sure what the OP is on about. Playing Sharjeel will be a risky but bold move. You cannot have one dimensional tukkers at the top of the order. I would rather we have someone who can get the team off to a quick flier and even put pressure on Starc and Hazelwood up front.

Imran Khan's pace is immaterial, he has much better control than brainless, clueless Rahat. I'l take a guy who has consistently done the job for Pakistan, will put the ball on the spot 6 times out of six compared to a guy like Rahat who operates at the same pace as Imran Khan who btw is also a reverse swing specialist.

 

[Speedster777]

Seriously don't get why people hate on Sohail Khan since his comeback in the 2015 WC where he ran through the Indian lineup .

that's total exaggeration. He took a fiver but it was useless since India scored 290 plus. in the very next match he was back to his mediocre self.

 

[AlphaFighter]

Not sure why so much hate for Imran Khan. This is his delivery to Michael Clarke at 135 km/hr on a flat pitch. Not sure what Mickey is thinking and the brown nosery of people over here who jumped on what Mickey said about Imran Khan without thinking for themselves.

 

[darksher]

There's nothing baffling or wrong about these selections

Yes there is, the five players in question are probably the most inept bunch coming through the ranks and eventually playing for Pakistan, they're practically nobodies devoid of any talent and extremely limited on skill set. I bet a thousand bucks that none of the players mentioned would warrant a spot in any of the major teams A sides let alone find their way into their international squads. But only and only in Pakistan will you see ordinary and incompetent people appointed to positions they're not suited for and this phenomenon isn't exclusive to cricket but rather prevalent in all social institutions.

 

[Zeshan547]

Guys i'm in no way criticizing or defending inzi squad selection, the thing i'm baffled at is why our management and specially coach have zero faith in selected guys?

 

[Zeshan547]

And you can put it otherway around as well that if management would have zero faith in such five players would any sane selector select those players in first place just because only he think that they are good enough no matter if management don't agree?

 

[Pete Rose]

Yes there is, the five players in question are probably the most inept bunch coming through the ranks and eventually playing for Pakistan, they're practically nobodies devoid of any talent and extremely limited on skill set. I bet a thousand bucks that none of the players mentioned would warrant a spot in any of the major teams A sides let alone find their way into their international squads. But only and only in Pakistan will you see ordinary and incompetent people appointed to positions they're not suited for and this phenomenon isn't exclusive to cricket but rather prevalent in all social institutions.

Oh please spare me this 'system is corrupt' weeping commentary. Each and everyone of those players has a strong case to be there. Just because your favorite players is not a good enough reason.

 

[Pete Rose]

Guys i'm in no way criticizing or defending inzi squad selection, the thing i'm baffled at is why our management and specially coach have zero faith in selected guys?

How do you know they have zero faith? Which part of mickeys statement is an issue that sohail khan is huffing and puffing after a long spell? How do you know whether sohail khan took it personally?

 

[MMHS]

[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] & [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] [MENTION=138463]Slog[/MENTION] would love to see opinions of you guys on this? And do you agree with my sentiments, and i know that pcb sucks but it's terrible even by their standards, there is zero yes zero good enough alternative according to our genius coach and management in this squad, and we know for the love of good this playing XI isn't the ideal for these conditions, and at the very least rahat has to be replaced, but our management think alternatives are even worse and we will most likely end up playing rahat at MCG as well.

May be, there were not many options apart from Nawaz. If I go by the names you have listed, here is my answer -

1. Sohail: Not a bad selection actually, if I consider the skill set of the player. 6'4", fast medium right-arm pacer, who can use the new ball well & has improved batting considerably. If he was genuine 33, probably would have been 1st choice partner of Amir - but at 38, it's impossible for him to play 5 Day Test. Still for 10 overs he is better than most & I'll take him in ODI.

2. Imran: This one I won't agree - not a bad choice for NZ & ENG, even for UAE, where the role of pace bowler is 20 overs/match, mostly to take the shine off & sometimes exploit reverse swing. They didn't gve him a single Test in UK & the only Test he played in this year, actually bowled well apart from Day 1, when it was needed most. But, for AUS, I won't have taken such one dimentional player - on top of that, they didn't play him only possible scope, which is D/N Test at Gabba. I would have taken Hamza over him for sure.

3. Sharjeel: On 2 aspects I don't disagree with this one. First, there are not many options left, unless we consider that after 6 years, Butt is still the player he was - that's average of 30, boasted by 42 in AUS . Normally, you don't change your opening pair in a 3 Test series, barring injury & PAK has one of the most settled opening pairs in few years, therefore the back-up opener doesn't have much role here. Inzi could have picked Shehzad (went to BPL), Shaan (to face 145km bouncers after struggling agaist 125km short staff), MoHa (with an average of 16 outside Asia in 10 years, including 96 in 1st innings) or a Hollywood pick - Jaahid, Fakhar or ..... Manzoor. 2nd factor is ODI - Sharjeel is certain to play every ODI, unless he does horrible in first 3 matches (PAK shouldbe 0-3 in any case by then),therefore may be it's not a bad idea to keep him in squad. Waise, playing in this Corp. League will distort his game - 50 overs turnaments are producing lower scores compared to T20 & PCB wants PAK team to play modern, dynamic ODI after 161-170 sort of per score matches!!!!!!!!!

4. Nawaz: Inzi & Misbah can explain better than me why someone SLAO, not trusted for more than 15 overs against WI in UAE was picked for AUS on rock-hard true wickets against 6/7 left-handers, that too after showing potential to average "may be" in double digit with bat. Total wastage of spot - no point naming alternatives, as there are many. Personaly, I would have taken MoHa once he cleared his off-spin.

5. Asghar: It's a panic pick, hence questionable. Inzi & Misbah felt the heat once Yasir had a little injury scar & they pressed the panic button to bring an SLAO spinner, when there was already one sitting with the team, having apparently better batting skills. As a spinner, Asghar isn't a bad choice, though I probably would have taken Ajmal considering the number of lefties in Aussie line-up; or could have been a 2nd leggi, but I take Ajmal for the 6 lefti. It might happen (if he gets the chance at MCG/SCG), that Misbah will under bowl him, because Misbah doesn't new players, neither inspires them to take responsibilities - safe mood works best in repetitive task - that's killing Yasir for 85 overs. Had Ajmal been there, Misbah would have shared the load.

Actually, PAK Test team is very settled & much better than it looks - there is hardly any open batting spot, as Misbah holds it as Captain & YK is holding it in quest of a National pride - may be KAkmal should have been there as 2nd WK, but rest picks themselves. While, most bowlers are the best available in PAK in terms of skills - only issue is that, they have faked 3 to 6 years, hence barring Amir, everyone is actually beyond expiry age of a Test match work load outside Asia. Asif can't be an option, because he was out injured for 4 weeks, when the team was selected - you can't pick a bowler in his position, if Asif was picked & then had he got injured, I am sure most of us here would have slaughtered Inzi, Misbah, Arthur. I would have picked Hamza, because he is young & performing really well this winter, where he is bowling 30-35 tight overs in one innings - one such beast of burden could have released Amir & Wahab to go flat out for 18 overs/100 overs innings

Out of the 16, probably 13 or even 14 could have been picked by the kid opening his PP profile yesterday - for that you don't need a high profile CS; but for the limited options & lack of imagination (I won't say whose), it's a poor squad for AUS.

 

[StreetSmart]

Guys i'm in no way criticizing or defending inzi squad selection, the thing i'm baffled at is why our management and specially coach have zero faith in selected guys?

or at least if you don't have faith in them don't publically criticise them

 

[StreetSmart]

On what basis is Imran Khan's selection baffling? You don't understand cricket at all, you seem to be a cult follower, like many over here. Imran Khan averages 26 with the ball in Test cricket, he is your best Test fast bowler. What else he has to do win recognition? He is criminally underrated. Most of the people over here like flashy things, this is our state as a nation as well, no wonder we are passing through our worst phase. We keep living in fantasies, rather than facing realities. In reality, Imran Khan has outperformed every other bowler in our team, he deserves more recognition than Mohammed Amir.

if Jackson Bird can play why he can't

 

[asfandyar]

I agree that Rahat's exclusion is long overdue, but Sohail has performed well in recent days, Imran Khan has a decent overall record which warrants persistence, Sharjeel was included to provide another dimension to the lineup. Nawaz is an anomaly as pitches in Australia don't suit spinners, so I agree Imad would have been a better choice as he is a better batsman even if a poorer bowler. Asghar is OK too, but taking two specialist spinners and one part time spinner to Australia shows lack of planning.

 

[aloo paratha]

Sohail Khan has literally been more effective than Amir since he came in the side, what is more baffling than his selection is the fact that Rahat isn't in your list...

Imran too, hasn't done much wrong, takes wickets but doesn't get recognition.

Sharjeel is third opener and is unlikely to even get a game

Nawaz is the same case as Sharjeel, although I don' think he's good enough right now.

Asghar was only in the squad because of Yasir's injury scare

Seriously people use your brains

 

[FlickedOffHips]

Sohail Khan has literally been more effective than Amir since he came in the side

that third spell though

 

[aloo paratha]

that third spell though

I know his fitness is poor, despite that he's still taken wickets and it's clearly gotten better compared to the England series. Rahat won't be too effective at any point in the game so I'd ratehr take someone who's only effective for the 1st innings.

 

[Bilal7]

There were no better options if one considers that Asif and Butt may have been blacklisted by the PCB. Sharjeel is made to play on Australian pitches; Imran and Sohail have been involved with the team for some time now and we couldn't drop them for the one series where we need a good number of pacers; Asghar and Nawaz are useful options, especially if Shah was to get injured (God forbid).

 

[Bilal7]

On what basis is Imran Khan's selection baffling? You don't understand cricket at all, you seem to be a cult follower, like many over here. Imran Khan averages 26 with the ball in Test cricket, he is your best Test fast bowler. What else he has to do win recognition? He is criminally underrated. Most of the people over here like flashy things, this is our state as a nation as well, no wonder we are passing through our worst phase. We keep living in fantasies, rather than facing realities. In reality, Imran Khan has outperformed every other bowler in our team, he deserves more recognition than Mohammed Amir.

Worst phase? Talk about living in a fantasy (nightmare). We were #1 not too long ago buddy and just gave the Aussies a scare they won't forget.

 

[Ellipsism]

On what basis is Imran Khan's selection baffling? You don't understand cricket at all, you seem to be a cult follower, like many over here. Imran Khan averages 26 with the ball in Test cricket, he is your best Test fast bowler. What else he has to do win recognition? He is criminally underrated. Most of the people over here like flashy things, this is our state as a nation as well, no wonder we are passing through our worst phase. We keep living in fantasies, rather than facing realities. In reality, Imran Khan has outperformed every other bowler in our team, he deserves more recognition than Mohammed Amir.

I wonder why Imran "Pakistan's best test bowler" Khan was being ridiculed in New Zealand.

Despite what his statistics show he simply doesn't have the pace to trouble batsman on flat pitches as pointed out by Pakistan's head coach.

 

[LordJames]

if Jackson Bird can play why he can't

Because Bird has the height and thus gets bounce to trouble PAK batsman while IK has no pace or bounce.


He can put the ball in the same spot but surely there must be better pacers in Domestic

 

[ExplicitAI]

this has already been explained.

When Sohail Khan took 5 wickets, i made a thread criticizing his fitness levels. Posters bashed me and some even went on to say that they would rather have unfit bowlers who take 5 wickets.

Few days later, same Sohail Khan bowled bad.

Arthur said it in simple words what the problem was with Sohail.

His first spell is great, second is ok, and by the third he can't even bowl. That means after 10 overs, Pakistan only has 2 pace bowlers in the whole playing 11.

DOn't look at the wickets only, look at the fitness. If he doesn't bowl well in the first spell, then you are just carrying extra backage.

You need bowlers who could earn you a breakthrough. The thin about Wahab and Rahat is that they could atleast get you a breakthrough, though Rahat is not consisstent with his bowling

Yeah I will admit that his fitness levels are the worst in the team but in terms of ability he's the best bowler or at least on par with Amir who's getting better and better with each game. I honestly think that Sohail should play the next two games since he's played in Aus before but I'd much rather have him in opening bursts where he can at least try and get rid of Warner, Khawaja and Smith alongside Amir.

I don't see any improvement in Rahat who's a total dud with the ball. Wahab whom I've been criticising all year round is suddenly showing glimpses of form with the ball, but then again we're missing Asif on this tour who could complete our attack. For me I think we need to go to the boot camp again and make sure Sohail goes there too.