I don't think PAK ever backed Umar properly - here I am talking about backing a player, that's facilitating a player into a role that fits his strengths & hides his weaknesses; I am not talking about just selecting someone lot more times than probably he deserved. Problem is with the think tank that believes someone should average 50 at 100 SR (Obviously that's the dream, but then AB de Villiars will become average like others). He was never tried as opener for the fear on nonexistent swing/seem movement of new ball. By nature, Umar has a tendency to play in air, which again suggests, he should have been tried when 9 men are within 25 metres, rather than when the ball is soft and 9 men are on edge of inner or outer ring.
When someone is going after the new ball, obviously, he'll have lots of hits & misses - but that's a calculated risk, one out of 6 innings is more than acceptable if that one wins a match. Umar (or any such opener) shouldn't have duel KPI - that's SR and average. For a 7 match series (ODI), it's perfectly OK if one opener has a series like 7 (13), 0 (2), 35 (23), 3 (7), 127 (91), 29 (24) & 12 (12) - that's 213 (170) for an stats like 30.43/125.29. It's perfectly acceptable, because that 127 should win almost any match, that 35 & 29 should give a quick start and the other 4 are not costing much - next men have the time to build. Problem is, though that 127 (91) is good enough once in every 7 innings because that's absolute match winner against any team - expectation is a repeat of that too frequently, which Umar isn't capable of.
I didn't see him today, hopefully I'll see some part tomorrow - if he is fit enough, he should be called back for NZ and be given one last chance for 8 innings as opener. If it clicks, it's the best investment for PAK team, because not it's not only about a free scoring opener, but it means a regular workable WK can be part of starting XI (why it's critical for PAK team, is an open secret)
In T20, any given day he should be an automatic starter, as opener. If required, for a better balance, he can keep (And Sarfraz play as a batting Captain).
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