The Sharjeel Khan and Azhar Ali opening partnership: Beginning of a long term stand?

[Suleiman]

For so long we have shuffled through opening pairs like a deck of cards.

From Hafeez / Jamshed

to Shehzad / Jamshed

to Hafeez / Shehzad

to Sharjeel / Shehzad

and now the latest and most fruitful one being Azhar / Sharjeel. Both seem to have good understanding of the other and feed off each other's strengths. Azhar keeps Sharjeel calm and Sharjeel motivates Azhar to attack.

Esp today they were very pragmatic yet showed controlled aggression. Wouldn't be surprised if we see a 100+ partnership from the two in the near future.

 

[todfod 11]

they are a gud pair indeed lets see how they fair in a longer run.. sharjeel should play his natural game whatever is the situation but Azhar has to change his game according to the situation , pitch condition etc.

 

[Square Drive]

Azhar just barely managed to keep his spot.

Needs to score consistently for this opening partnership to go on further.

 

[Zohaib Shah]

One good innings and threads like these are out.

 

[proud_pakistani]

Not convinced with Azhar Ali yet. His game in ODIs though is fast improving so may be he needs to be given a go. Also, him at the top of the order in Australia would represent a form of stability which is much needed. Sharjeel is the gu we need to ensure the momentum is there at the start of the innings. At the very minimum he should get a 20 ball 30 which will be a decent start. I am relishing to see him bat in Australia where ball has pace and bounce and watch him play those pulls and hooks off his hips.

 

[Suleiman]

Make a film about them already. The men you know. The journey you don't.

What a pull shot off ace U19 pacer Alzari Joseph today. 145 kph bouncer and Azhar swivel pulled it to the fence.

Don't think many can do that.

 

[Chief Destroyer]

I thought you wanted Umar to open.

 

[New Yorker]

What a pull shot off ace U19 pacer Alzari Joseph today. 145 kph bouncer and Azhar swivel pulled it to the fence.

Don't think many can do that.

Yeah that was nice I remember it too So where has that game been all his career?

 

[srh]

For so long we have shuffled through opening pairs like a deck of cards.

From Hafeez / Jamshed

to Shehzad / Jamshed

to Hafeez / Shehzad

to Sharjeel / Shehzad

and now the latest and most fruitful one being Azhar / Sharjeel. Both seem to have good understanding of the other and feed off each other's strengths. Azhar keeps Sharjeel calm and Sharjeel motivates Azhar to attack.

Esp today they were very pragmatic yet showed controlled aggression. Wouldn't be surprised if we see a 100+ partnership from the two in the near future.

I dont like this partnership as Sharjeel was not playing his natural aggressive game with Azhar

 

[shaz619]

I dont like this partnership as Sharjeel was not playing his natural aggressive game with Azhar

I think he was trying to spend more time at the crease then anything and had allowed the ball to come to him instead of using excesive force. Inevitably he couldn't help himself to that hoik towards long on, he has shown signs of putting in effort to improve which is great to see moving forward

 

[Syed1]

Suleiman's avatar )

Azhar is just keeping the seat warm for someone else. He is not a long term solution. Too slow and archaic in his methods. He has to resort to slogging to play at SR of 80-90 whereas most good batsmen can achieve that by just piercing the gaps for ones or twos and the odd boundaries.


Kohli is on another planet in terms of quality, but once he scored a 40 ball 50 with just 2 fours. Can you imagine even of our bats doing that, only Babar has the capability to do something like that.

 

[The_Odd_One]

Both need more consistency before anything can be said.

 

[srh]

I think he was trying to spend more time at the crease then anything and had allowed the ball to come to him instead of using excesive force. Inevitably he couldn't help himself to that hoik towards long on, he has shown signs of putting in effort to improve which is great to see moving forward

I just hope Azhar was not instructing him to play cautious; last thing we need is to Sharjeel play cautious; there are already too many batsmen in ODI team who play cautious

 

[shaz619]

I just hope Azhar was not instructing him to play cautious; last thing we need is to Sharjeel play cautious; there are already too many batsmen in ODI team who play cautious

It was a gameplan from Sharjeel, let the ball come to him and not use excessive force (when he did, unfortunately got out) also had been extensively practising his off side game in the nets earlier in the day

 

[ChoudherySix]

Now to
Azhar/Shehzad
To
Azhar/Fakhar
To
Imam/Fakhar
Back to
Azhar/Fakhar
What’s next?

 

[babajee]

I want to see Fakhar and Babar. If Babar’s job is to anchor the innings then he should open the batting.

 

[Rayyman]

I want to see Fakhar and Babar. If Babar’s job is to anchor the innings then he should open the batting.

But Babar is not good enough in the powerplay. Doesn't have the power game to regularly hit boundaries in the first 10. Which is why a lot of time is strike rate is low because of the fielders in the circle. He is at his best after a good opening partnership then usually comes in and plays run-a-ball.

 

[babajee]

But Babar is not good enough in the powerplay. Doesn't have the power game to regularly hit boundaries in the first 10. Which is why a lot of time is strike rate is low because of the fielders in the circle. He is at his best after a good opening partnership then usually comes in and plays run-a-ball.

No matter what he is better than Azhar. Also it’s easier to hit boundaries in the powerplay as most of the fielders are in.

 

[Syed1]

No matter what he is better than Azhar. Also it’s easier to hit boundaries in the powerplay as most of the fielders are in.

For starters he needs to learn how to play the ball coming in. It has become very apparent to all teams now that he has a problem with the ball that is coming into his pads (whether spinning in or seaming).... he got out in the warmups in that manner, and also in the first ODI (even though it was the wrong decision). In Australia/NZ last year he was also frequently getting out in that fashion.

 

[Pete Rose]

For starters he needs to learn how to play the ball coming in. It has become very apparent to all teams now that he has a problem with the ball that is coming into his pads (whether spinning in or seaming).... he got out in the warmups in that manner, and also in the first ODI (even though it was the wrong decision). In Australia/NZ last year he was also frequently getting out in that fashion.

Babar has to play some innings of consequence now.

 

[TeymurBlake]

Azhar is not a good opener in ODI. Today you have openers who are aggressive and attack the opposition in first 10 overs. We have Fakhar but we need to have someone who can match him or just behind in terms of strike rate. Azhar goes at his own pace which is slow and steady and Imam seems like that as well. Sharjeel has been banned out of the game for a long time. Mukhtar is just coming back to form, Nauman seems to have dissappear, Umar Amin seems to have been forgotten which is sad as he could have been given an opportunity to open with Fakhar. All in all we've had one good opener after 5 bad ones. Now we have a good one in Fakhar but we need to get him a partner that works well with him.

 

[ChoudherySix]

What about Kamran Akmal?

 

[j_kazmi]

What about Kamran Akmal?

You want him to average 25 for another 200 ODIs?

 

[Suleiman]

long term stand lol what are you smoking OP

 

[Rayyman]

No matter what he is better than Azhar. Also it’s easier to hit boundaries in the powerplay as most of the fielders are in.

Yes he is better than Azhar. I agree.

But Babar scores most of his runs by rotating the strike. That's his strength and it's best used in middle overs.

 

[Deewana Mastana]

Even at the age of 36 and after ample chances, Kamran is still the majority's favourite. Says a lot about the fans in general of Pakistan.

 

[giri26]

I think Pakistan have been looking for stable openers since Amir Sohail and Saeed Anwar retired. So many different combination and personal tried, none of them were consistent or long term. In the last 10 years Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad have played 80 games each and Hafeez's 2685 runs is the highest number of runs scored by a Pakistani opener during that time.