Here's a full recap of the Shaheen T20 leg of the tour
1. The captain has no clue what he's doing. He had Maaz at his disposal but didn't bowl him in the first two matches. Another clueless captain being created by PCB. Akif didn't bowl with the new ball in the last match - came into bowl the 5th over which made zero sense. Overall the captaincy, field placement, & bowling changes were poor or below average.
2. The fast bowlers are all erratic. They also have zero mental strength so the moment anyone attacks them, they lose the plot. They have zero backup plan to go to so it's all basically showing that their game is not honed.
3. The batters have no clue how to build an innings. They've sent Nawaz to learn the art of building innings but he seems to have even lost his ability to hit big. He looks like a confused shell of what he used to be once upon a time.
4. Maaz may not be it. Shamyl is definitely not it (not captaincy material). Anytime they hit, it's either a bad ball or they take a massive risk. None of them are fluent natural stroke makers.
5. There's no bowler more inconsistent in line and length than Saad Masood. Sufyan is the second to that throne. He's so inconsistent with his lines and lengths that it's almost laughable to think that he's been a Pak international.
6. Arafat Minhas is a decent bowler but a nothing batter.
7. There are no pace bowling all-rounders. They are bowlers who can slog a bit but that's about it. Shahid Aziz and Ahmed Danyal are touted as fast bowling all rounders, they are just sloggers who bowl.
8. The wicket keeping crisis is as evergreen as before. Saad Baig & Rohail are both garbage in comparison to other players that most international teams have on their disposal.
9. Just like their senior counterparts, the lack of power is an issue that every batter of the team faces except maybe Saad and Shahid.
The Shaheens are almost a photocopy of the main team (their match today was almost a mirror clone of the match between the senior teams which is funny because even the pattern of fall of wickets matched - captain played well, wickets fell when match was over). The fielding is patchy, brilliant one second, mindless the other. You'd see one brilliant runout one over and the next over the same fielder will misfield the ball like no tomorrow. Maybe it is the UAE pitches that have caught them off guard but they look underprepared & frankly were a mismatch throughout the series. A single spinner from England (J. Coles) was enough to dominate them for three straight matches and they had zero clue or answers against him.
The other thing that shines through is that the batters have zero ability to play any modern day shots. No one reverse sweeps, no one paddles, switch hits, or scoops.
Here's my fix for this
1. Get an international level skills coach and make him work with them. This needs to be a coach who works on basic stuff e.g. what to do when a batter hits you for a six on the first ball of the over?
2. Get rid of the captain and get someone to captain the side who bats in the middle order. I feel that he speaks English and that's why he's in the position that he is in. If an international player like Hassan Nawaz is there, having a rookie captain above him just adds a layer of insecurity.
3. Work on fielding with proper coaches.
4. Get all of these players life coaches. They are all young and now making decent money as compared to youth their age who is still in Pakistan. Get them dentists, beauticians, therapists, or whatever that is needed. Teach them something about their financial position so they don't spend it mindlessly and then end up struggling.
There are some players in this lot who have a bit of potential. Muhammad Salman looked like a lanky pacer who can be developed & Akif despite being disappointing in this series has some potential. Maaz still is the best of the lot but that's not saying a lot.
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