The highly depressing Strike Rates of Pakistani Batsmen (Test)

[Rana]

This is an issue that needs to be addressed and I’m not sure why this isn't highlighted enough. The strike rates of our Batsmen coming through since Misbah took over as captain in 2010 are far too low. There is a clear case of being highly timid and not batting for the team and more for yourself. Some examples of poor strike rates Minimum 20 Tests or 1000 runs:


Misbah ul Haq: 44.6
Azhar Ali: 41.6!!
Asad Shafique: 48.6 (not the worst)
Shan Masood: 45.3
Taufeeq Umar: 44.7
Adnan Akmal: 44.1
Fawad Alam: 46.6
Shoaib Malik: 45.7

Other mentions who have not played 20 Tests of have scored 1000 runs but could or will if not injured:

Harris Sohail: 43.8!!
Imam ul Haq: 44.7
Abdullah Shafique: 39.8!!!
Abid Ali: 48.3 (not the worst)

Decent/Respectable/Par mentions:

Babar Azam: 53.5
Mohammad Hafeez: 56.0 (very good)
Mohammad Rizwan: 51.2
Sarfaraz Ahmed: 71.0 (excellent)

 

[Rana]

Add to OP

As you can see, the strike rates above 50 post the Misbah take over have been alarmingly poor and not being addressed at all by our coaching staff. Far too many players are playing for themselves and are still producing poor numbers. Only a handful of these players average above 45 with such poor strike rates.

What is Pakistan/PCB doing about this? Why are they allowing their product to become so poor? Who wants to watch players constantly play for themselves and not play for the team? Surely with such poor strike rates, Pakistan could have done enough to draw the 2nd Test against SL and the 3rd Test against Australia!

Which team allows 4-5 players in their top 6 who strike below 50???

 

[Marooned]

We should look at Haider Ali as an opener for tests. Done very well at fc level so far. His talent is obvious, and I think tests might be his best format.
Haider, Babar, Rizwan can play at 50+ sr, the new inductees (hopefully) Kamran and Saud can afford to be slower while scoring lot of runs. Then we have a good balance.

 

[Maliq_Mudasir]

We should look at Haider Ali as an opener for tests. Done very well at fc level so far. His talent is obvious, and I think tests might be his best format.
Haider, Babar, Rizwan can play at 50+ sr, the new inductees (hopefully) Kamran and Saud can afford to be slower while scoring lot of runs. Then we have a good balance.

Has he cemented his place in 20 over yet ?

 

[ElRaja]

also saeed, aamer, inzi, yk, yousuf all struck between 52 and 56.

playing in the uae destroyed the pak team, u could play that slow attritional cricket and win there, in pak you need to bat fast otherwise there is no score board pressure and every game ends up in a draw.

pak still playing uae style cricket.

 

[GreenKhan]

SR has been affected due to conditions. In UAE Pakistan’s plan was to bat once and bat big and it worked with a good degree of success .

Misbah retired in 2017 anyhow, I think we need give the guy a break.

 

[jeeteshssaxena]

That is a problem.
Imam, Shafique and Azhar are all low str rate batsman.

They don't have all the shots, especially Imam and Azhar.

Babar is the only one in that lineup who actually plays at a good pace.

Good bowling lineups can easily put Pakistan under pressure, the problem is that Pak doesn't really have a lot of upcoming test players who bat at high str rate, they"ll have to arrange their teams with whatever they have.

Haider Ali could be an option, even if he scores just in home conditions.

 

[jeeteshssaxena]

Also, Misbah has got nothing to do with it.
There's a lack of batting talent, there's no Yousuf, Anwar or Inzi.

The best bet is to find another YK i. e a test specialist.

 

[javid]

Bcz Pakistan batters always show lack of intent to score runs for the team may be they don't know you can only win by putting runs on the board and as many as you can . ....
Defensive mindset is killing pak batting...

 

[Rana]

SR has been affected due to conditions. In UAE Pakistan’s plan was to bat once and bat big and it worked with a good degree of success .

Misbah retired in 2017 anyhow, I think we need give the guy a break.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...s-south-africa-1st-test-461571/full-scorecard

Look at the string rates of the South Africa batsmen compared to the Pakistani ones

 

[The_KING]

Great, another opportunity for Misbah haters to bash him.

 

[Titan24]

SR of 50 is generally considered as something which is decent in test cricket. I would like our batsmen to achieve that considering the modern standards and intent to score playing an important role in playing other team under pressure.

However at the same time its a fact as well that out of top 5 run scorer in test cricket history, 3 of them had SR in mid 40s;

Kallis
Dravid
Cook

That being said they averaged in 50s then (Cook in mid 40s). Having SR of mid 40s or early 40s when you are not even averaging mid 40s is something that needs to improve.

 

[GreenKhan]

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...s-south-africa-1st-test-461571/full-scorecard

Look at the string rates of the South Africa batsmen compared to the Pakistani ones

This was one of the great tests for Pak. They batted 117 overs down to Misbah and Younis to save test!

 

[Sarwar89]

Can anyone tell strike rates in tests ( in batting) of

1) Zaheer Abbass
2) Javed Miandad
3) Imran Khan

?

 

[Rana]

SR of 50 is generally considered as something which is decent in test cricket. I would like our batsmen to achieve that considering the modern standards and intent to score playing an important role in playing other team under pressure.

However at the same time its a fact as well that out of top 5 run scorer in test cricket history, 3 of them had SR in mid 40s;

Kallis
Dravid
Cook

That being said they averaged in 50s then (Cook in mid 40s). Having SR of mid 40s or early 40s when you are not even averaging mid 40s is something that needs to improve.

There is nothing wrong with having 1 anchor who gaurentees 100 runs per Test match in the line up. Also there is nothing wrong to allow one player who isn’t as talented to play within his zone and add valuable runs at a 40-45 strike rate. The other 4/5 batsman should be playing at a 50+ strike rate. But in Pakistan, it’s the other way round. 1 batsman and 2 tailenders bat at a sr above 50!

You should also share the strike rates of the 5/6 other batsmen who played in the same sides of these players.

The guys who regularly featured in the same line up with Kallis were Smith, Amla, AB, Gibbs, Boucher. They were all 50+ sr batsmen

Dravid had Sachin, Sehwag, Gambhir, Laxman (49.5), Yuvraj, Dhoni, Raina all play and bat regularly in the same side he featured in. All of them played positively at 50

Alistair Cook had Straus (48.9), Pietersen, Bell (49.5), Prior, Root. Tbf he did have Trott and Collingwood play a considerable amount of Tests with him, but their strike rates were forgivable as both averaged above 40 with the bat after playing a considerable amount of Test cricket

 

[PakEngFan]

Imam ul haq
Abdullah Shafique
Saud Shakeel
Babar Azam
Kamran Ghulam
Haider Ali
Rizwan

This should be our batting line up. Enough of the so called all rounders.

 

[topspin]

100% agree with Rana.

The trend is there for everyone to see.

When Misbah took over as captain, he promoted a defensive brand of cricket which is why many of your upcoming youngsters are batting very sedately.

This is why the likes of Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq were both able to play in excess of 75 tests each. Misbah has sold his philopshy and beliefs to his loyalists who all seem to admire this failed duo. One of them was getting all smug with his "Azhar Ali is not good enough" headline. Didn't take long for that to blow back in his face.

If Pakistan cricket is to progress, Misbah cannot be permitted to participate in any form of cricket related activities.

 

[Nasty Naz]

SR in UAE are low by every team that plays there anyways. Maybe Pakistan plays slower in those conditions compared to other teams but its due a lack of dynamic or shot making batsmen other teams have. Like just look at Azhar bat, he looks so poor aesthetically and has no big shot. It's the same issue for guys like Imam/Fawad etc. Babar is a proper stroke making batsmen and that is why he doesn't have an issue with strike rate.

It's actually hilarious how people try to blame Misbah for everything. Dude has been retired since 2017 and yet he's living rent free in everyone's mind. Give it up.

 

[Rana]

This was one of the great tests for Pak. They batted 117 overs down to Misbah and Younis to save test!

You are so wrong. This match was the first match of the Misbah era in the UAE. Most fans did not mind Pakistan’s extremely slow batting approach with Misbah and Younis Khan against a world class South Africa side, especially considering how poor we were with the bat against England in the summer. However, it was a clear sign for what was to come for the next decade onwards. In the same match, same pitch, a confident SA side had batsmen who played excellent cricket at a very good strike rate. Younis showed his class in the second innings at a high class strike rate as well.

Pakistan in general would always bat slower than their opponents on the same pitches throughout the world. This negative mindset was introduced by Misbah ul Haq’s reign as captain. Nobody ever noticed or complained about Pakistan’s poor rr up until he took over.

 

[Cric1234]

Misbah didn’t even select our best test batsman after Younis Umar Akmal who could play at a very good strike rate he also selected Shoaib Malik and Ayub Dogar as middle order batsmen that says it all no wonder Pakistan has become a mediocre team.

 

[Savak]

To be honest the poor nature of the domestic wickets in Pakistan Cricket in the last 10 years is to blame. Vast majority of the wickets in Punjab were seaming, low bounce wickets which made it difficult for batsmen to play their shots and where they had to prioritize defence first. This is why you had 120 km/hr trundlers like Hammad Azam and co topping domestic charts. Another problem is that spinners in domestic cricket were not needed and you had a decline in the number of quality spinners coming through the ranks and a decline in the ability of Pakistani batsmen to play quality spin.

The pitches even right now are far from perfect and do not aid quality stroke play. Playing for ten years in the UAE did not help either.

 

[TheSultan]

Anyone who says this has nothing to do with Misbah is delusional. The pattern is there and plenty of statistical evidence too. Between 2010 and 2021 he has either been captain or coach for all but 2 years. He has indoctrinated a whole generation with his pusillanimous thinking.

You can’t keep blaming “we don’t have shot makers!” These are international players not babies. You have to find a way to score. If you don’t have the shots, you look for other ways by accumulating, rotating the strike, running between the wickets. And even if you have one sheet anchor, you don’t 6 anchors in a team.

Pakistan cricket is in the doldrums simply because we have been instilled a complete fearful, safety first and cowardly mentality.

For batting, the shots have been shunned, the running between the wickets has been terrible, finding the gaps is a crime

Bowling: pace is a swear word, lest you forget, some genius will tell you for the umpteenth time “pace not everything yaaar, line and length, right areas..” zzzz. Yorkers too risky, bouncers too risky. Flighting for spinners too risky. Didn’t try too many variations…etc etc

Every damn thing is safety first - I’m sick of it

 

[sweep_shot]

Yes. Pakistan tend to bat very slowly. They may bat for 2 days and still end up with 450-480.

This is one area that needs improvement.