The cupboard for openers is bare for Pakistan and there is need for an alternate approach

[Kaddy]

The elephant in the room is - Salman Butt is probably a better Test opener than all of the recent openers that have been tried.

I think he's retired.

Not a fan of him but I must admit he's a good commentator. Most of the time he talks about technical aspects of the game unlike some of our other local commentators who don't know the difference between radio commentary and tv commentary.

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pakistan's last 14 first wicket partnerships in Test cricket:<br><br>0, 21, 22, 5, 3, 4, 0, 28, 49, 6, 6, 6, 36, 2<br><br>0 opening stands of 100 runs<br>0 opening stands of 50 runs<br>9 opening stands of 6 runs or less<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1357975741909118976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2021</a></blockquote>
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[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As soon as this match ends, both Abid Ali and Imran Butt should be put on a plane to Lahore and told to immediately start work with Mohammad Yousuf <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PAKvSA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PAKvSA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1357987293630500864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2021</a></blockquote>
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[moghul]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As soon as this match ends, both Abid Ali and Imran Butt should be put on a plane to Lahore and told to immediately start work with Mohammad Yousuf <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PAKvSA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PAKvSA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1357987293630500864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2021</a></blockquote>
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After this performance they don't deserve a plane ride, send them by bus.

I won;t waste time on Abid, he is too old to improve and come back, Butt can improve and make a come back.

 

[moghul]

I am not a regular follower of Pakistan cricket. There was a young and clutch opener named Sami Aslam. Why is he no longer talked about? Don't think he got enough chances.

Same story about Sami, like so many others, he showed some promise in the beginning then flopped, inconsistent , dropped and never piled up enough runs in QeA trophy to earn a come back. Was nothing special.

 

[Bullet Drive]

I won’t be averse to experiment with Shafiq as a stop gap opener.

I miss him. The Test team doesn’t feel the same without him. Very reliable catcher in the slips as well.

He can’t do worse than the current openers. If he can average around 35-40 and produce one big innings per series against the top sides, it is more than sufficient.

We are not producing world beating openers any time soon.

How can you miss Asad Shafiq LOL the most boring, no personality, lifeless cricketer ever.

 

[Firebat]

Out of the 11 players that played for Pakistan in this series, these were the run scoring rankings:

1. Faheem Ashraf - 171 (3 innings)
2. Fawad Alam - 170 (4 innings)
3. Mohammad Rizwan - 166 (3 innings)

.....

8. Imran Butt - 36 (4 innings)
9. Hassan Ali - 34 (3 innings)
10. Abid Ali - 33 (4 innings)

Coincidentally, Abid Ali and Imran Butt’s places on that list is exactly where I’d place them in the batting order.

 

[Fahdi]

Might as well try out a few of our domestic number 3 batsmen as openers. If you don't have good specialist openers might as well find the best available batting options and hope they can adjust to the role.

 

[mon858]

I absolutely agree, but this is where Usman Salahuddin is coming from. He's batted at 3 this season but has been told that to open for Pakistan he will have to open in the QeA Trophy.

Is there any input we have from Mohammad Wasim on this? That means waiting another year and possibly allowing our current poor openersto feast on Zim and Ban series (though the way things are they may fail there too).

Why not just try now rather than wait one more year.

 

[Junaids]

The elephant in the room is - Salman Butt is probably a better Test opener than all of the recent openers that have been tried.

He’s too old now.

But if he had been recalled when he scored his twin centuries in the 2016 QEA Final, the last five years might have been so different.

And he would have been a great technical role model for Sami Aslam, who never had his offside fluency.

 

[shamaan]

Might as well try out a few of our domestic number 3 batsmen as openers. If you don't have good specialist openers might as well find the best available batting options and hope they can adjust to the role.

Could try Salahuddin hes technique is quite sound and has been batting oppening in qaid e azam

 

[Saj]

Is there any input we have from Mohammad Wasim on this? That means waiting another year and possibly allowing our current poor openersto feast on Zim and Ban series (though the way things are they may fail there too).

Why not just try now rather than wait one more year.

From Usman Salahuddin's interview:

PakPassion.net: Have you had a chance to speak with Mohammad Wasim since he has become Chief Selector?

Usman Salahuddin: Yes, I spoke with him after the squad for the South Africa series was announced. He spoke with a few of us about our progress and what he wanted to see from us. He also mentioned that whatever roles players had been performing in domestic cricket would be the roles that they would be challenging for in international cricket. He asked me to not get disheartened and said that he had noticed improvements in my batting and that I am part of their plans, and to be ready to go out there and perform, whenever my chance came.


PakPassion.net: What did you say in response to Mohammad Wasim?

Usman Salahuddin: I said to him that I have made the improvements that were asked of me, especially regarding my strike rate. I have 24 first-class hundreds and 50 first-class fifties at an average of nearly 48 across 128 first-class matches. I’m an experienced cricketer who is ready to play international cricket. Any weaknesses I had, I have removed from my batting, so I am ready to play for my country whenever I am needed.

 

[hitthestump]

I'd like to see Salahuddin get the nod. He's already got a good technique and is a naturally patient (slow) player. He has been simply too slow to really break into the middle order over more stroke happy players, but he could be perfectly good enough as opener where we'd be happy having someone to blunt the new ball at this stage.

 

[sa88]

Imran Butt to continue as specialist slip fielder ? Any runs are a bonus.

 

[shamaan]

I'd like to see Salahuddin get the nod. He's already got a good technique and is a naturally patient (slow) player. He has been simply too slow to really break into the middle order over more stroke happy players, but he could be perfectly good enough as opener where we'd be happy having someone to blunt the new ball at this stage.

defonitely i would play him at oppening the other option is play azhar and get saud in the middle.i think imran may get another series

 

[hitthestump]

Imran Butt to continue as specialist slip fielder ? Any runs are a bonus.

I take it you're joking but while we're here let's just confirm that there's literally no reason why we can't get every player to Imran Butt's level. Anyone can learn slip fielding so drill the boys until they get it. No excuse.

Why rush home after the series win, schedule 12 hours of slip fielding practice first. It can be guided by Imran Butt so everyone can learn from him before he gets dropped.

 

[Usman]

Imran Butt to continue as specialist slip fielder ? Any runs are a bonus.

I take it you're joking but while we're here let's just confirm that there's literally no reason why we can't get every player to Imran Butt's level. Anyone can learn slip fielding so drill the boys until they get it. No excuse.

Why rush home after the series win, schedule 12 hours of slip fielding practice first. It can be guided by Imran Butt so everyone can learn from him before he gets dropped.

I must say that if the choice is between (1) Imran Butt or (2) Abid Ali/Shan Masood/any other opener playing in domestic cricket, then I'm picking Butt every day of the week. His catching in this game won us the match. It's all well and good to say that everyone should be able to catch at his level but the reality is that our slip fielders drop catches all the time.

In the last series in New Zealand, not only did we have to put up with Shan Masood's duck farm, but he also dropped catch after catch after catch in the slips. That cost us more than even his useless batting.

So, to sacrifice Butt's slip catching, the batsman has to be very significantly better. This means Azhar opening with Saud/Kamran Ghulam/Usman Sallihudin. If the management is not prepared to take that bold step, then Imran must stay.

 

[offstump]

At this point you can’t drop Butt after one series simply because no argument on giving someone a chance would make sense. He’s in the team now and has a test cap, he must be persisted with so let’s see where this goes.. his fielding is a bonus. Let’s hope he can put up some big scores I’d like to see him succeed. I can’t find however Misbah’s reasoning or that of Wasim as to why he was selected? What’s the basis for his selection.

 

[Nasty Naz]

Obvious move is having Azhar open where he played his best and allows for a good and more deserving batsmen to bat at 3/middle order.

I really hope Abdullah really develops over the next couple of years because Pakistan opening options as always, remain absolutely horrible.

 

[Hitman]

We will work on their mistakes. I will be present at the National High Performance Centre and we will work on them (openers) for a month-and-a-half. We will work on Abid Ali, Shan Masood, Imran Butt, and Abdullah Shafique because only they are the ones who are performing at the moment [among openers in the domestic circuit] - Misbah Ul Haq

 

[Abdullah Rabbani]

We will work on their mistakes. I will be present at the National High Performance Centre and we will work on them (openers) for a month-and-a-half. We will work on Abid Ali, Shan Masood, Imran Butt, and Abdullah Shafique because only they are the ones who are performing at the moment [among openers in the domestic circuit] - Misbah Ul Haq

Misbah the ultimate begairat

 

[last_knight]

Over an extended period of time, Openers are usually a reflection of #3.

 

[mon858]

We will work on their mistakes. I will be present at the National High Performance Centre and we will work on them (openers) for a month-and-a-half. We will work on Abid Ali, Shan Masood, Imran Butt, and Abdullah Shafique because only they are the ones who are performing at the moment [among openers in the domestic circuit] - Misbah Ul Haq

I am fine with this however, I would have also included Omair Bin Yusuf, Haider Ali, and Imam Ul Haq. Work on weaknesses of all of the above. Out of them at minimum we can improve at least 1 to be decent opener , ideally from amongst the younger ones, and use Azhar as other opener, to be able to slot in Saud/Kamran in middle order.
Heck I would even send Usman there especially given he won't be playing psl.

 

[Saj]

We will work on their mistakes. I will be present at the National High Performance Centre and we will work on them (openers) for a month-and-a-half. We will work on Abid Ali, Shan Masood, Imran Butt, and Abdullah Shafique because only they are the ones who are performing at the moment [among openers in the domestic circuit] - Misbah Ul Haq

A month and a half and suddenly they will be new players with all of their problems rectified.

Wishful thinking.

 

[Square Drive]

A month and a half and suddenly they will be new players with all of their problems rectified.

Wishful thinking.

Do you think M. Wasim is on the same page here, or can he perhaps nullify this statement of Misbah's and still drop Abid and/or Imran?

 

[Saj]

Runs versus the mighty Zimbabwe and all will be forgotten - Abid Ali and Imran Butt

 

[Last Monetarist]

The selection of the openers is the biggest failing of Mohammad Wasim's short stint thus far. It's such an inane selection that I don't have much confidence in his ability to select at all.

It was always going to be a difficult aspect of the job, but Wasim isn't even trying here.

 

[Zaz]

So theyve been picked again even though they were awful at home against south africa

Ridiculous decisions

 

[Amjid Javed]

What a utter shambles it is when it come to our openers and the number 3 situation as well longterm as Azhar wont be around for long.

Azhar needs to be made to open. Groom one opener along side him and get a new batsmen in at 3.

That way when Azhar does retire we should have 1 settled opener and a settled number 3. Then pakistan can look to find a decent second opener. But stupidity with selection just continues.

 

[Zaz]

Why is the thick tank so reluctant to get azhar to open?

The fc middle order players are lining up for a chance and here we have a situation where azhar is hogging a spot unnecessarily when he could easily open and get the likes of saud or kamran in

relieve one of the 2 inept openers who keep playing without any performance

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

Why is Imam Ul Haq not considered for Test Cricket ? Give him a long rope. He will come good.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Why is Imam Ul Haq not considered for Test Cricket ? Give him a long rope. He will come good.

) a guy who was already given a run off 11 tests and cant play the short ball and struggled against NZ pacers in UAE

No thanks.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Why is the thick tank so reluctant to get azhar to open?

The fc middle order players are lining up for a chance and here we have a situation where azhar is hogging a spot unnecessarily when he could easily open and get the likes of saud or kamran in

relieve one of the 2 inept openers who keep playing without any performance

Because senior players only think about themselves and not the team.

 

[shamaan]

Why is Imam Ul Haq not considered for Test Cricket ? Give him a long rope. He will come good.

He has a weekeness against the short ball,the ball swinging away and into him the last time he played a test he got hit on the head i belive

 

[Zaz]

Because senior players only think about themselves and not the team.

It looks like the coach and selector think the same too Not about the team

M Wasim could easily have picked ghulam and dropped abid

The coach and captain wouldnt have a choice to get azhar to open but no keep selecting the same old rubbish openers and have big performers sit out

 

[Saj]

The concern is that Imran and Abid do well in Zimbabwe and are then picked for the next series without having been tested and the same issues appear once again.

The Zimbabwe series would have been an ideal opportunity to establish a new opening partnership.

 

[Firebat]

Today, on Day 1 of the 1st Test against Zimbabwe, openers Abid and Imran have scored a 50-run opening partnership.

This is the first for Pakistan in Tests since December 2019 vs Sri Lanka in Karachi. On that occasion, it was a 278-run opening partnership between Shan and Abid.

Between these 2 matches, Pakistan went 9 Tests (14 innings) in a row without a 50-run opening partnership.

Those 14 opening partnerships: 2, 36, 6, 6, 6, 49, 28, 0, 4, 3, 5, 22, 21, 0 - An average of 13.4

 

[MenInG]

So another Imran and Abid Ali special expected in the next match?

 

[Shoaibbtt]

So another Imran and Abid Ali special expected in the next match?

They did ok on day 1 to be fair but day 2 was just terrible, wasting balls and not rotating the strike.

 

[MesonK]

ODI Fakhar and Imam are set openers. They both have averages, innings and partnerships to prove that

Problem is tests ... Abid ali and Imran Butt are both technically faulty players who cant survive in SENA. Pakistan should try Osman Salahuddin, Saud Shakeel and may be some other established opener in domestic circuit.

T20I are ok too with Rizwan and Fakhar

 

[Shoaibbtt]

ODI Fakhar and Imam are set openers. They both have averages, innings and partnerships to prove that

Problem is tests ... Abid ali and Imran Butt are both technically faulty players who cant survive in SENA. Pakistan should try Osman Salahuddin, Saud Shakeel and may be some other established opener in domestic circuit.

T20I are ok too with Rizwan and Fakhar

The only other opener is Omair Bin Yousaf but he’s not experienced as of yet. Imran and Abdullah though might be the future (well Abdullah at least).

 

[Prince of Pakistan]

Usman Salahuddin needs to open the innings from this season on in the Quaid-e-Azam trophy and from there on we will see how he does.

This is the only way Usman is getting anything out of a Pakistan career and also for Pakistan it might be the only way of getting a very disciplined Test opener.

Hopefully M Wasim also has an eye on Usman as a test opening option.

 

[hitthestump]

Usman Salahuddin needs to open the innings from this season on in the Quaid-e-Azam trophy and from there on we will see how he does.

This is the only way Usman is getting anything out of a Pakistan career and also for Pakistan it might be the only way of getting a very disciplined Test opener.

Hopefully M Wasim also has an eye on Usman as a test opening option.

He'll walk into the side if he reinvents himself as an opener. He already has all the attributes to be a solid if unspectacular player, but one that is light years ahead of Imran Butt.

 

[Ahmad-GERMANFC]

This thread is literally screaming for an Ahmed Shehzad return

 

[offstump]

I think Shehzad has pretty much given up on cricket as a career. He’s got a long ways to go if he wants to make it back to the national team.

 

[Ahmad-GERMANFC]

I think Shehzad has pretty much given up on cricket as a career. He’s got a long ways to go if he wants to make it back to the national team.

I think he’s depressed for being dropped for no reason for so long

He walks into our test team and was unjustly dropped

 

[offstump]

He should have played tests only. He wasn’t suited for the shorter formats even though he had some good limited over knocks. I don’t think he’s there mentally any longer, maybe he was never there to begin with.

 

[Manzy2599]

I think he’s depressed for being dropped for no reason for so long

He walks into our test team and was unjustly dropped

Walks in with his attitude, mindset and arrogance? No thanks. No matter how bad the others are Shehzad does not deserve to come back unless he starts working hard and thinking straight. All he does is complain and make excuses about how things went wrong for him and Babar etc had mickeys backing so he became the batsman he is today. He really needs to let the bat do the talking. No wonder he was released by Quetta gladiators. If he can’t make the franchise squad for t20 leagues how will he walk into the test team. Delusion shehzad fans who once compared him to Kohli

 

[Ahmad-GERMANFC]

Walks in with his attitude, mindset and arrogance? No thanks. No matter how bad the others are Shehzad does not deserve to come back unless he starts working hard and thinking straight. All he does is complain and make excuses about how things went wrong for him and Babar etc had mickeys backing so he became the batsman he is today. He really needs to let the bat do the talking. No wonder he was released by Quetta gladiators. If he can’t make the franchise squad for t20 leagues how will he walk into the test team. Delusion shehzad fans who once compared him to Kohli

Stupid post. Yes Kohli has left Ahmad behind and Ahmad himself will accept that now. But it is also a fact that till 2014-15 they were going neck and neck and it was coin toss as to who is better. Kohli was slightly better in ODIs and Ahmad Shahzad was better in tests.

It’s Ahmad’s bad luck he had PCB and small minded, dehati coaches like Waqar Younis whereas Kohli had the backing of BCCI.

I believe if backed properly and given chances and confidence; Ahmad can still be a top batsman for us.

It’s Pakistans loss that Ahmad couldn’t fulfill the potential he had to be among the best batsmen in the world. Guys like Gayle, Viv Richards and Kevin Pietersen aren’t big fans of Ahmad for no reason. They know the skill level and the talent on offer.

 

[shamaan]

The only other opener is Omair Bin Yousaf but he’s not experienced as of yet. Imran and Abdullah though might be the future (well Abdullah at least).

Omair is a good player but his average wasn't that all great but I like him he needs another 2 seasons in domestic

 

[shamaan]

Once usman opens in domestic he will be in contention for the opening slot for Pakistan.hes much better than abid Ali,imran and shan masood.

 

[Shoaibbtt]

Omair is a good player but his average wasn't that all great but I like him he needs another 2 seasons in domestic

Yea, good prospect but really disappointed with the lack of openers we have in tests. Really wish Sami never left for America.

 

[Saj]

Once usman opens in domestic he will be in contention for the opening slot for Pakistan.hes much better than abid Ali,imran and shan masood.

He said he would, let's hope the coaching staff give him that opportunity to.

 

[shamaan]

He said he would, let's hope the coaching staff give him that opportunity to.

Hopefully one can only hope.

 

[MenInG]

Once again we have a long gap before next Test series

This is the time to send the openers into a batting boot camp either in this country or another - and fix the problem!

 

[gazza619]

Just a very random thought.

Should we open with Rizwan in tests and give the gloves to Rohail Nazir?

 

[UzmanBeast]

Just a very random thought.

Should we open with Rizwan in tests and give the gloves to Rohail Nazir?

No, Rizwan has performed well in the middle order, remove him and we will start choking even more.

No point in changing his position if he's performing well where he is.

It's the same issue Pakistan faced when they moved Asad Shafiq from 6, where he was playing extremely well.

Imran Butt is running out of chances, probably the West Indies series will be his last if he can't put up some good performances. That would be the time to perhaps just get Imam into the act, or if we think he's capable, Abdullah Shafique is there as well.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Once again we have a long gap before next Test series

This is the time to send the openers into a batting boot camp either in this country or another - and fix the problem!

even better just send butt, Abid, shan, imam to bermuda triangle or antartica. 1st class one way tickets and pakistan can start looking at new players rather than recycling rubbish.

 

[gazza619]

No, Rizwan has performed well in the middle order, remove him and we will start choking even more.

No point in changing his position if he's performing well where he is.

It's the same issue Pakistan faced when they moved Asad Shafiq from 6, where he was playing extremely well.

Imran Butt is running out of chances, probably the West Indies series will be his last if he can't put up some good performances. That would be the time to perhaps just get Imam into the act, or if we think he's capable, Abdullah Shafique is there as well.

Yes but unlike Asad Shafiq, Rizwan has already proven that he has the game to face the new ball. As a matter of fact Rizwan started scoring big hundreds as an opener in white ball which he couldnt do as a lower middle order batsman.

Think about the possibilities. You open with Rizwan, you clear a spot in the middle order for the highly talented Rohail. In addition you can bring back Haris Sohail or give a chance to someone like Sohaib Maqsood or Abdullah Shafique.

There is also spot for Imam as an opener as I dont see this love affair of Abid and Imran Butt lasting too long.

Imam and Rizwan should be our test openers.

 

[Farabi]

even better just send butt, Abid, shan, imam to bermuda triangle or antartica. 1st class one way tickets and pakistan can start looking at new players rather than recycling rubbish.

Yes, and a new test opener will grow out from a tree and land into Pakistan team and score a century on his debut vs Aus in Brisbane.
Obviously, test players aren't developed and all of the world's best test players were world beaters from day 1.

 

[Shazzam]

Yes, and a new test opener will grow out from a tree and land into Pakistan team and score a century on his debut vs Aus in Brisbane.
Obviously, test players aren't developed and all of the world's best test players were world beaters from day 1.

International cricketers are not developed in international cricket so I agree with your grow on tree approach.

 

[PakLFC]

Shan Masood is half decent and has good English speaking skills too!

 

[Jazx]

Salman Butt is also another that came from age group domestic cricket. Was not a great but still very effective in Asia. I believe we put too much focus on hypotheticals like whether any given opener will succeed in SENA. If some domestic guy is a home bully then he should be good enough as I don’t see SENA openers doing very well in SC as well.

Thats a very valid point you have given. We should not be thinking too much about SENA. Even the greatest batsmen from Asia have struggled there if it's swinging and seaming. Moreover in LOIs pitches are flat all over the world. If a batman can't make many runs even in the subcontinent then he will flop in SENA also and the one who scores heavily here we can atleast hope from him to perform better in SENA. That 80s era have gone past long before, all other teams play with positive and fluent batsmans as openers everywhere even in test matches. Pakistan should get rid of this SENA fear as soon as possible.

 

[Jazx]

Saeed Anwar was overrated in ODIs but he was brilliant in Tests.

Sawed anwar was as good as Tendulkar, ganguly, mark wagh and jayasurya in ODIs, but the problem was he was representing the most corrupt team in the history of cricket. It's very difficult to rate those 90s Pakistani players as they were too much focused in making money rather than to play for winning a game. As per the skills and abilities he was so far the best opener Pakistan have got till date.

 

[Mamoon]

Sawed anwar was as good as Tendulkar, ganguly, mark wagh and jayasurya in ODIs, but the problem was he was representing the most corrupt team in the history of cricket. It's very difficult to rate those 90s Pakistani players as they were too much focused in making money rather than to play for winning a game. As per the skills and abilities he was so far the best opener Pakistan have got till date.

Saeed Anwar was one of the few clean players in that team, and he was a walking wicket in ODIs in Australian, South African and New Zealand conditions against their fast bowlers.

In Tests, he performed in those conditions because did not have to cope with scoreboard pressure and did not need to take risks.

Tendulkar, Waugh, Jayasuriya, Ganguly and Lara (when he used to open in ODIs) were all better ODI players than Saeed Anwar.

Saeed Anwar is remembered more for his ODI exploits because of his iconic 194 and because he was a regular tormentor of Indian bowling in the 90’s when Pakistan bullied India in the format outside World Cups.

He did not play many Tests for various reasons but he was always a better Test player.

Overall, he is obviously easily the greatest opener Pakistan has ever had. Among all major nations, Pakistan has by far the worst collection of openers in both Test and ODI cricket.

 

[Jazx]

Saeed Anwar was one of the few clean players in that team, and he was a walking wicket in ODIs in Australian, South African and New Zealand conditions against their fast bowlers.

In Tests, he performed in those conditions because did not have to cope with scoreboard pressure and did not need to take risks.

Tendulkar, Waugh, Jayasuriya, Ganguly and Lara (when he used to open in ODIs) were all better ODI players than Saeed Anwar.

Saeed Anwar is remembered more for his ODI exploits because of his iconic 194 and because he was a regular tormentor of Indian bowling in the 90’s when Pakistan bullied India in the format outside World Cups.

He did not play many Tests for various reasons but he was always a better Test player.

Overall, he is obviously easily the greatest opener Pakistan has ever had. Among all major nations, Pakistan has by far the worst collection of openers in both Test and ODI cricket.

How are you so confirmed that he was a clean player when almost all the other players were corrupt in those days. And if the entire team is corrupt than it also becomes very difficult for one or two players to go the other way. I hope you got what I am trying to say or else he may not have played so many ODIs. He would have retired just like latif and basit ali as they were asked or maybe even forced to throw the matches. He had many more innings in ODIs but obviously that 194 will be remembered as it was an iconic innings in that era. Unfortunately he is the only opener in Pakistan's entire history who gets recognition from other countries as a great opener. After him only Salman butt gives some impression of a good opener but he was nowhere near anwar's calibre and then spoiled his own career. And after Salman it was hafeez who gets bashed by so many pakistani fans but he is one of those few openers from pakistan who have a fluent game which is required in the modern game.

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pakistan's last 19 opening partnerships in Test cricket:<br><br>Only 1 partnership over 50<br><br>11 times the partnership has been between 0 and 6 runs<br><br>Average of 17.84<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1428767754048442378?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 20, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Amjid Javed]

Pakistan need to stop selecting players off basis of 1 good domestic season. The fact the like of Abid, butt, imam have struggled to average over 30 in most domestic seasons tells you how bad these players are. pakistan need to start looking at number 3 or middle order domestic batsmen to open inns in tests.

 

[b.lesner]

Pakistan need to stop selecting players off basis of 1 good domestic season. The fact the like of Abid, butt, imam have struggled to average over 30 in most domestic seasons tells you how bad these players are. pakistan need to start looking at number 3 or middle order domestic batsmen to open inns in tests.

Usman Salahuddin is the best readily available opener in Pakistan right now period

 

[Amjid Javed]

Usman Salahuddin is the best readily available opener in Pakistan right now period

seems selectors keep making excuses not to pick him. stupidity at its best.

 

[Savak]

Pakistan need to stop selecting players off basis of 1 good domestic season. The fact the like of Abid, butt, imam have struggled to average over 30 in most domestic seasons tells you how bad these players are. pakistan need to start looking at number 3 or middle order domestic batsmen to open inns in tests.

Abid had 2-3 good seasons, the entire media was slitting their wrists over his exclusion.

 

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

Commentators said no Pakistani opener has scored 4000 runs in the country’s test history. Contrasts badly with almost every test nation.

 

[Cricketrenew]

Sometimes you got it or you don't .... current openers not good enough.
Fakhar Zaman and Imam Ul Haq did better.

I reckon get Afridi back out of retirement and make him open as he should have done all along.
Lets use Afridi alternative approach....

 

[PakEngFan]

Usman Salahuddin is the best readily available opener in Pakistan right now period

He is far better then these 2 jokers. Not sure why he was dropped after just a game.

 

[Kroll]

He is far better then these 2 jokers. Not sure why he was dropped after just a game.

They'll pick him up when he's mid thirties, too young at 30 right now. That's how we roll.

 

[cricketAXEpert]

If we look at red ball or white ball we don't have solid openers.
In tests we have players that are barely capable of surviving good pace attacks on home grounds let alone foreign conditions.
In odi we do not have set openers. Currently Imam seems to have one slot but while being consistent he hasn't yet shown the ability to take advantage of a 10 over powerplay and his main release shot is jumping down the track to hit or slice the ball in the air.
Fakhar has been quite inconsistent in recent times and even in domestic wasn't able to regain form.
In t20 only Babar has one slot confirmed but we need a dashing opener to go along with him which Mohammad Wasim acknowledged but strangely didn't provide any openers in the squad for this purpose. He could have tried Sharjeel or Zeeshan Malik.

Bottomline, we don't have any solid options.

Given that we need to come up with makeshift options. Below is what I think could be tried for short term and potentially long term of things seem to work:

Tests:
1. One slot must be taken by Azhar Ali, he has opened and was successful in the past. With current openers he has essentially be opening anyway coming in within first few over over last several series.
2. See if we can try a domestic number 3 type player that has good technique. Options could be Hussain Talat, Saud Shakeel, Abdullah Shafiq. Meanwhile have the other openers work with Mohammad Yusuf to sort out technical issues. This can include Shan, Imam, Abid, Imran, Omair bin Yusuf,Haider.
One other benefit of this is even if the makeshift opener doesn't do too much better than current opener (i am talking about number 2 one not Azhar Ali) we are freeing up 2 slots in middle order to bring in players that we know are scoring and given them chance. Those slots could be taken by Kamran Ghulam and Saud Shakeel/Hussain Talat.
Thus overall it would strengthen batting.

Odi, I will leave this for now. I think solving our test and t20 opening is bigger issue and once those are solved we may find a good solution for odi opening from one of those formats.

T20.
1. Babar is solid no need to change
2. Haider at 3 is fine no need to change
3. For second opener we can try makeshift player. For example Faheem Ashraf who has improved his batting a lot recently and can hit good blows. Other makeshift options could be Azam Khan or Sohaib Maqsood. Both are good timers and can take advantage of power play. At least much better than Rizwan can. Since they are not in current squad I would consider opening with Faheem or Asif Ali.

Thoughts?

The real reason we are playing Imran Butt is his slip fielding (Pakistan hadn't had a slip fielder like him in a very long time). Apart from that he is a rubbish opener. Time to bring in new openers. A quality slip fielder can reduce the runs the opposition will score but unfortunately we can't afford him as we have a fairly weak tail also.

 

[Cric1234]

They need to groom a few young opening batsmen one of them is Haider it will help develop his technique and temperament for limited overs aswell.

 

[srh]

Sharjeel is the answer for the 1st opener slot. But Pakistan still has to find a good opener for the 2nd opener slot.

 

[NoBallZombie]

Usman Salahuddin and imam should be our new opening pair. They should be given atleast the same number of innings as Abid. There is just no other potential player. Haider is a definite no because the guy lacks temperament.

 

[Saj]

Abdullah Shafique is the new hope.

But at the moment it seems the powers that be want him to clock up air miles and not runs.