[VIDEO] Fakhar Zaman's role in Pakistan's T20I team

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Fakhar Zaman last 25 T20I innings:<br><br>Runs 336<br>Average 14<br>Fifties 1<br>Scores of ten or less 12<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ENGvPAK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ENGvPAK</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1416796537376722954?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 18, 2021</a></blockquote>
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This sadly is the current state of Fakhar Zaman's batting in T20Is.

Will he be able to improve himself when T20 World Cup happens in UAE where spinners will be calling the shots or should Pakistan look elsewhere for those quick 40-50 runs they think they can get from Fakahar?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Get in, Mo! <br><br>Scorecard/clips: <a href="https://t.co/QjGshV4LMM">https://t.co/QjGshV4LMM</a><br><br> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ENGvPAK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ENGvPAK</a> <a href="https://t.co/3MWvei6qtM">pic.twitter.com/3MWvei6qtM</a></p>— England Cricket (@englandcricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/englandcricket/status/1416795776659836930?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 18, 2021</a></blockquote>
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[GreenKhan]

He is completely wasted at 5. The lowest he should be batting is 3.
It’s one of the many issues with our batting order. Maqsood who averages 13 is batting at 3. Hafeez has gone missing again and he is at 4.

Whilst our opening partnership is great it’s ruined the dynamics of the rest of the batting line up .

 

[TeamPak95]

He is completely wasted at 5. The lowest he should be batting is 3.
It’s one of the many issues with our batting order. Maqsood who averages 13 is batting at 3. Hafeez has gone missing again and he is at 4.

Whilst our opening partnership is great it’s ruined the dynamics of the rest of the batting line up .

Unpopular opinion, but I think Babar needs to bite the bullet and come in at 3 with Fakhar going back to opening. Or for the sake of trying something different and think outside the box, have Maqsood open.

 

[sweep_shot]

Fakhar shouldn't bat at #5. He is better for opening position.

 

[gazza619]

I would keep Fakhar at 5 as he is our late order power hitting option. The pitch was turning square in the 2nd innings and even Indian batsmen would have struggled.

 

[Saj]

Square pegs in round holes it seems.

Looks like they are trying to slot players into the XI but not in their best position.

Regardless of position - Fakhar is struggling once again with his footwork.

 

[SangasCoverDrive]

Square pegs in round holes it seems.

Looks like they are trying to slot players into the XI but not in their best position.

Regardless of position - Fakhar is struggling once again with his footwork.

He is gonna struggle big time in WT20.

 

[MenInG]

Inzamam-ul-Haq speaking on his YT Channel:

“Talking about the batting, I think Pakistan made a major mistake at number three. When Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were playing well, they sent Sohaib Maqsood instead of Fakhar Zaman when a wicket fell. Fakhar was an opener and if you push him to number five or six, where he has to face spinners, then he will be completely wasted. If they had sent him instead of Sohaib then it would have formed a right-hand and left-hand combination. Fakhar had made an eight-ball 25 in the last match as well. His confidence was high. He would have performed better up the order. We could have put a lot of pressure on England in this way,"

“Pakistan couldn’t perform like they did in the first T20I. They played well; I am not saying that they did not. It was visible that they were fighting. I think that when Shadab Khan was playing, we knew that the score cannot be chased down but they showed fight because they were still trying to score. This is a good sign. The second thing which is good that the standard of fielding is progressing well. I was happy to see that"

“In T20s wickets are very important. One 18 or 20 run over could have changed the game. One over can change a match. Pakistan’s bowling, if we look at it, is not doing that well. They have given away more than 200 runs so we can’t say that they have been doing well. But talking about batting, we have been losing in T20s because our performances need to be better"

 

[gazza619]

Number 4. Number 6. Number 5. Number 2.

It is a complete waste of time saying that if a batsman had come at a certain position would have changed the game.

A T20 batsman should be good enough to bat at any number otherwise he doesnt deserve a spot in the team.

 

[zacattakk]

How about bat Fakhar at 3, Maqsood at 4 and Hafeez at 5.

 

[UzmanBeast]

Babar should bat at 3 in my opinion, because he's our best batsman.

Fakhar can hack the ball around in the powerplay.

 

[fight_club]

Babar should bat at 3 in my opinion, because he's our best batsman.

Fakhar can hack the ball around in the powerplay.

Actually its Rizzy who must bat at no.3. Babar can utilize PP without taking any risk and settle down for a long inning

 

[Rana]

This is all because that Rizwan has to be accommodated somehow!

 

[AZulfi]

It is 29, 30c here at the moment

Expect another dry pitch (full of runs) tomorrow in Manchester

Batting order is all wrong imo

Fakhar (more comfortable against pacers. He likes pace on the ball. Can play the slow bowlers but is more effective against the seamers) needs to open with Sharjeel (should be given a chance now). Sending Fakhar at 2-down makes no sense to me.

1-down Rizwan

2-down Babar. If he goes early, then it is a huge wicket to the opposition. Hence he should not open but bat a bit down the order where he can also anchor the innings

3-down Maqsood

Then Hafeez and others

 

[Shahzad1985]

We couldn’t buy a partnership in the ODI series now we had finally two decent partnerships to start a innings now people want to accommodate the flops and break up the only good thing that has worked in this England tour finally ( Babar and Riz opening).

So yes let’s go back to Fakhar opening, his record in the past opening has been sublime as saj showed the stats. Let’s go back to being 30/2 after 6 overs.

 

[Shahzad1985]

Babar should bat at 3 in my opinion, because he's our best batsman.

Fakhar can hack the ball around in the powerplay.

His either gonna get out for nothing or he will play a run a ball or worse innings when he keeps getting tucked up with body bowling. We will be 5 runs a over after 6 overs.

 

[GreenKhan]

Fakhar plays spin well as evident in the recent South Africa series , however I feel he can’t go at spinners from ball one, especially with a mounting run rate. Therefore he needs to really bat in the top 3.

His record in T20s recently is poor , but he is one of the few who can win you a match once he gets going, he therefore needs to face as many balls as possible .

Management has a real issue now .

3-6 are all struggling for one reason or another . Give Fakhar a run at 3 like they did in the South Africa series in the t20 series , where he averaged 48 and let him get used to the role . This constant shuffling is just ludicrous.

Maqsood needs to drop down to 5 and stay there or get dropped .

 

[sshakir411]

What do the fans expect from Misbah and Waqar? This is the same duo that decided to make Umar Akmal the first choice wicket keeper during a one day international world cup. 2 individuals with 0 IQ and a lot of personal bias.

 

[shamaan]

Fakhar should bat at 3 if he isn't opening

 

[Swashbuckler]

He's being wasted in the middle order, should open if Pak is serious about T20 WC chances.