The treatment of Usman Salahuddin and Mir Hamza

[Saj]

Both were dropped after only 1 Test appearance.

Mir Hamza took 1 for 67 in his only appearance against Australia in Abu Dhabi a couple of months ago. He took the wicket of Shaun Marsh.

He was then dropped and didn't play against New Zealand and has not made the squad for the tour of South Africa.

Usman Salahuddin has also been dropped after 1 Test match.

He made 33 and 4 against England in Leeds in June of this year, a Test match which was a horror-show from Pakistan. His innings of 33 was the second-highest out of a total of 134 and he ground it out for 102 balls. In that innings Azhar Ali made 11, Haris Sohail 8, Asad Shafiq 5, Sarfaraz Ahmed scored 8.

Usman since that innings of 33 has not been picked again.

What are your thoughts on the treatment of both players?

 

[gazza619]

To be very honest Mir Hamza did not impress specially considering the fact that he cant hold a bat. I feel bowlers like Hamza can make a place if they are a capable no.8.

Usman has been unfairly treated.

 

[Savak]

Mir Hamza is a green wicket specialist. Not sure about Usman Sallahudin, we need more dynamic aggressive batsmen in the squad, apart from Fakhar Zaman and to an extent Sarfaraz who is horribly inconsistent, everyone else are just night watchmen, grinders and allow the opposition to bowl to a field, bowlers to get into a comfortable rhythm.

 

[Hasan123]

Usman just looks like a blocker and doesn't have much shots in his Arsenal. His treatment is harsh but we can't afford to keep on playing these type of batsmen.

Mir Hamza will be useful in English and NZ conditions. Don't see him outperforming the seamers that were selected for the tour.

 

[JaanZeb]

What about Saad Ali? He has'nt got a single game and was dropped.

Thought Mir Hamza is well-suited for bowling conditions in South Africa and England, so he would be picked up for the tour. Yet he was'nt

This will expose our neanderthal batting and make it more vulnerable.

What can one do when PCB and Ehsan Mani have given Inzamam full authority to select his family members and favorites.

 

[Ahson8]

To be very honest Mir Hamza did not impress specially considering the fact that he cant hold a bat. I feel bowlers like Hamza can make a place if they are a capable no.8.

Usman has been unfairly treated.

Usman is way too slow

 

[Prince of Pakistan]

Comes down to the fact that Mickey isn't too impressed with them and they had too play because Babar got injured and Wahab was terrible.

 

[topspin]

The biggest mistake isn't ditching these players after 1 test appearance, neither of them warranted a place in the squad let alone the XI.

Mir Hamza is behind Abbas, Hasan Ali, SSA and Amir, so at best he should be playing for the A side.

Don't think Salahuddin should be anywhere near the squad to be frankly honest, he's far too negative in his batting. We simply don't need any more timid or inept batsmen in the set up, he's a middle order version of Sami Aslam.

The travesty that gets negated is the one of Umar Akmal's. Why did he got dropped after given just 1 test in UAE despite a decent away leg (including Aus, Eng and NZ), in favour of a mental midget in Shafiq? It was from this point when the downward spiral for him had commenced. He hasn't done himself any favours over the last few years but he didn't deserve that kind of treatment at that moment in time.

We ought to switch our attention to less mediocre players who were given the rough end of the stick.

 

[cricketAXEpert]

Both were dropped after only 1 Test appearance.

Mir Hamza took 1 for 67 in his only appearance against Australia in Abu Dhabi a couple of months ago. He took the wicket of Shaun Marsh.

He was then dropped and didn't play against New Zealand and has not made the squad for the tour of South Africa.

Usman Salahuddin has also been dropped after 1 Test match.

He made 33 and 4 against England in Leeds in June of this year, a Test match which was a horror-show from Pakistan. His innings of 33 was the second-highest out of a total of 134 and he ground it out for 102 balls. In that innings Azhar Ali made 11, Haris Sohail 8, Asad Shafiq 5, Sarfaraz Ahmed scored 8.

Usman since that innings of 33 has not been picked again.

What are your thoughts on the treatment of both players?

Mir Hamza, there is just too much competition when it comes to Pace Bowlers. He is not able to Replace any of Shaheen Afridi, M. Abbas & M. Amir. Even after these 3 there is Hassan Ali, Faheem Ashraf & Junaid Khan.
Usman Salahuddin his performances in side matches began to drop. He was not even part of Pakistan A or the Pakistan Emerging side. Today only Saud Shakeel and Mohd Rizwan performed in Pakistan Emerging Side against India.
When a player can't even make the 'B team' how can he be selected for the International side??

 

[coy0607]

neither of those guys really passed the eye test

Saud, Saad seem better prospects than Usman

Abbas, Amir, Shaheen, Hassan, Faheem.. I would take each one over Mir

 

[gazza619]

Usman is way too slow

Yeah but our other test batsmen arent scoring quick runs either. It was Usman’s first game and may be he was trying to cement his place. Even Pujara is very slow but is doing pretty well in the test format.

 

[iPakistani]

I feel like these new players should ALWAYS and I mean always be given a run of atleast 3-4 games before they're dropped and that's the bare minimum.

You can't judge a player just because of the way they look or their technique looks off, I mean look at Steve Smith or Hasan Ali who is a short bowler.

If the player has domestic stats which support them which Usman and Hamza both do, they should definitely be given a fair run of games.

 

[Barragan]

Mir Hamza was perfect for conditions in SA and would have been handful, so really unfair on him.

Salahuddin has also been treated harshly, considering Pak batting failed twice to save a Test against NZ and rolled over for an embarrassing defeat to NZ.

He should have been given a good 4-5 games by now.

 

[Wristy_Shuffler]

Not seen much of Mir but Salahuddin has been around for a while. He was taken to the tour of WI a while back but don't think he played a Test, maybe an ODI or two. He has been treated a little unfairly but I think he's been a little unlucky as well. His best domestic year was probably when the middle order had Azhar, Misbah, Younis and Shafiq. With 2 of them gone Haris and Salahuddin were recalled but it looks like only Haris is the one they'll persist with along with Babar. I think Salahuddin deserves to be in the squad but even now, I'm sure the management will only look for opening batsmen unless Azhar drops one.

There was another player who got one Test, I think his name was Dogar, did ok against SL but was dropped. I think he was a bit old though. It's very much like Pakistan to drop a player altogether after 1 Test inexplicably.

 

[hayat007]

Usman Salahuddin played one test in England. He does not have a good technique. His hands are very low. short of lenght ball was troubling him

 

[ads101]

Just poor management really. If you're selected with the squad, you should keep getting selected till you get your turn usually. Benefit from training with the squad. And of course in dead rubbers, you can get a game or two.

If we drop players without using them and then blood in cricketers new from domestic into the side instead, we're wasting the coaching, the time to gel with the players, and particularly on the bowling front, how to develop bowling strategies side by side (and attacking as a bowling attack).

I feel like our squads these days (or it's often be the past) is just made up of in case scenarios. They pick 5 fast bowlers in case we need them when only 2 will be played in UAE. They pick Shadab as a spinner in test squads when he won't get a game. Same with Faheem, no point picking him in UAE he wasn't going to get a game. Wasted slots.

Batsmen should usually be inducted in slowly. Drop the worst batsman, bring in the guy who's been with the squad.

By dropping them after one game or never playing them, these guys often don't get a consistent run. As they're just considered cover rather than long term prospects.

Usman should have still been in the squad, and should play with Hafeez gone, make Azhar open with Fakhar and get Usman in at 6. Saad shouldn't have been dropped, but honestly we should have tried Usman first out, and then if he failed or another spot opened up, then Saad. Likewise with Mir Hamza, he should have been kept in the squad and reserve if they wanted Amir back.

 

[Hawkeye]

The biggest mistake isn't ditching these players after 1 test appearance, neither of them warranted a place in the squad let alone the XI.

Mir Hamza is behind Abbas, Hasan Ali, SSA and Amir, so at best he should be playing for the A side.

Don't think Salahuddin should be anywhere near the squad to be frankly honest, he's far too negative in his batting. We simply don't need any more timid or inept batsmen in the set up, he's a middle order version of Sami Aslam.

The travesty that gets negated is the one of Umar Akmal's. Why did he got dropped after given just 1 test in UAE despite a decent away leg (including Aus, Eng and NZ), in favour of a mental midget in Shafiq? It was from this point when the downward spiral for him had commenced. He hasn't done himself any favours over the last few years but he didn't deserve that kind of treatment at that moment in time.

We ought to switch our attention to less mediocre players who were given the rough end of the stick.

Yeah, basically this.

Usman is a poor man's Azhar Ali in terms of strike rate. That tells you a lot. No guarantee he can play for long hours at all either.

Mir Hamza isn't good enough, just a slight chance he.might do well on green mambas, but we have better bowlers for such conditions.

 

[srh]

I feel like these new players should ALWAYS and I mean always be given a run of atleast 3-4 games before they're dropped and that's the bare minimum.

You can't judge a player just because of the way they look or their technique looks off, I mean look at Steve Smith or Hasan Ali who is a short bowler.

If the player has domestic stats which support them which Usman and Hamza both do, they should definitely be given a fair run of games.

This. Both Usman Salahuddin and Mir Hamza were selected in the squad on merit as both have excelled in Pakistan domestic. Both of them should have played more than just 1 international match. How can Sarfraz justify these guys harsh treatment to Allah? It is undoubtedly unfair and Sarfraz being a Hafiz-e-Quran should know how important justice is in Islam.

 

[TalentSpotterPk]

Arthur and Inzamam both give importance to SR while selecting Batsman.


Amongst Shan (72), Saad (65), Saud (60), Abid (54) Usmam had worst strike rate of (46) only against visiting UAE team on phattas of UAE.


I am sorry Usman with this approach cannot and should not play for Pakistan in Test Cricket.


Mir Hamza bowled a peach in his Test debut but otherwise he was not consistent in either his line or length and was slow.


Yes SA conditions would have suited him because he gets banana swing in conditions which favour swing bowling but he missed out on merit due to Hasan's impressive lasr t Test series and Pakistan also rightly opted for pace and bounce of Shaheeh Shah.


Mir shouldn't get disaapointed because usually our pacers fo get unfit in SA (Last time 2 got unfit) and than if there is a injury Mir, Ehsan & Waqas would be in contention. Hope Inzamam doesnt send Rahat Ali as replacement.

Waqas is 30 and Ehsan is injury prone and not superfit so Mir will get edge over them.

 

[hadi123]

Tbf, Salahuddin is probably relieved he doesn't have to play in SA. It will be a hard place for inexperienced players to go.

 

[Saj]

Usman Salahuddin played one test in England. He does not have a good technique. His hands are very low. short of lenght ball was troubling him

Yet he scored more than Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Haris Sohail combined in the 2nd innings.

 

[Wristy_Shuffler]

Probably should've played on this tour with Haris being injured but then Shan probably would not have been able to play at least until the 3rd Test where Fakher would've been dropped. Low hands or not, Salahuddin can definitely play and would've shown some resilience.

 

[MenInG]

When can we expect to see these 2 back in Pakistan colours again?

 

[Xoib]

Hamza is ordinary with sudden surge in pace talents he has zero chance for a return.

Salahiddin is unlucky he like few others have suffered due to management obsession with sticking with Asad and Azhat despite their mediocre returns