Madplayer
Senior Test Player
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2012
- Runs
- 28,686
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This is my assessment of whats wrong with Pakistan's ODI team.
I see a lot of batsmen who are successful in domestic circuit are top order players in their respective domestic teams. Rizwan, haris, azhar ali, maqsood, babar azam, sami aslam, hafeez, asad shafiq, fawad alam etc are all very successful batsmen domestically and Pakistan's batting in the national team revolves around these players mostly. But just notice that all of them (including those that i have not mentioned here but are in contention for selection Eg. Umar amin, umar sidiq etc) are top order players.
When we look at these players and their domestic performances, we say here are the prolific scorers who should be selected in the national team. We select them all and we have 6 top order batsman in the playing XI!! Why? Because they all average 40+ in the domestic circuits and are the best batsmen in the country.
Now how can we expect such top order players to play at number 5 and 6 sometimes 7 and propel us to high scores by scoring quick 50s or 60s down the order? They have just not been brought up knowing how to play like that!!!
You look for specialists at all batting positions. From openers to middle order batsmen to lower order batsmen. You look for the best batsmen at number 5 or 6 or even 7 (if u go for an allrounder) in the domestic teams and select such batsmen for the national side rather than expecting prolific top order scorers to adapt to such batting positions.
For me only 4 of azhar , fawad, haris, hafeez, sarfaraz, rizwan should be in the team and those 4 should strictly play as the top 4. Which will be the 4, you decide. For the number 5 and number 6 , find others who are specialists for those positions in domestic teams. This should do a world of good to our team. My suggestion would be an ali khan or a hammad azam at number 6.
Also in my opinion we shouldn't select pure spinners (who cant bat) in the playing XI unless its a rank turner. Pure Spinners like ajmal are done as far as ODIs are concerned unless they are magicians like the old ajmal. You can Select spin bowling allrounders eg. zafar gohar instead of a pure spinner.
Just my two cents. Comments are welcome.
I see a lot of batsmen who are successful in domestic circuit are top order players in their respective domestic teams. Rizwan, haris, azhar ali, maqsood, babar azam, sami aslam, hafeez, asad shafiq, fawad alam etc are all very successful batsmen domestically and Pakistan's batting in the national team revolves around these players mostly. But just notice that all of them (including those that i have not mentioned here but are in contention for selection Eg. Umar amin, umar sidiq etc) are top order players.
When we look at these players and their domestic performances, we say here are the prolific scorers who should be selected in the national team. We select them all and we have 6 top order batsman in the playing XI!! Why? Because they all average 40+ in the domestic circuits and are the best batsmen in the country.
Now how can we expect such top order players to play at number 5 and 6 sometimes 7 and propel us to high scores by scoring quick 50s or 60s down the order? They have just not been brought up knowing how to play like that!!!
You look for specialists at all batting positions. From openers to middle order batsmen to lower order batsmen. You look for the best batsmen at number 5 or 6 or even 7 (if u go for an allrounder) in the domestic teams and select such batsmen for the national side rather than expecting prolific top order scorers to adapt to such batting positions.
For me only 4 of azhar , fawad, haris, hafeez, sarfaraz, rizwan should be in the team and those 4 should strictly play as the top 4. Which will be the 4, you decide. For the number 5 and number 6 , find others who are specialists for those positions in domestic teams. This should do a world of good to our team. My suggestion would be an ali khan or a hammad azam at number 6.
Also in my opinion we shouldn't select pure spinners (who cant bat) in the playing XI unless its a rank turner. Pure Spinners like ajmal are done as far as ODIs are concerned unless they are magicians like the old ajmal. You can Select spin bowling allrounders eg. zafar gohar instead of a pure spinner.
Just my two cents. Comments are welcome.
