[VIDEO] "It's 2022 but we are still batting in T20Is as if it's the 1990s": Junaid Khan

[MenInG]

Junaid Khan speaks about Pakistan batters approach in T20Is, Babar Azam's captaincy, Shaheen Shah Afridi's injury, the Babar and Rizwan opening combination and the excellent performance of Pakistan's bowlers at the ICC T20 World Cup 2022.

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[SpiritOf1903]

This guy was magic for a time ... Point of difference invaluable

 

[Saj]

Spot on regarding the treatment of Mohammad Nawaz in the T20 World Cup - they seemed to not have a plan or role for him and it was almost like he was there to make up the numbers ahead of the likes of Haider Ali, Khushdil Shah and Asif Ali.

 

[Mamoon]

Junaid was average but he had a knack for taking wickets. He produced some serviceable performances during the 2011-2013 period. The opening combo with Irfan looked decent for a brief period.

The Indian series was obviously the zenith of his career.

His career tanked in summer of 2014 when he suffered a knee injury similar to Shaheen. He never really regained his mojo and his place in the same.

In 2011-2013, he used to bowl at 88-89 mph which made him a handful with the reversing ball and at the death. After his knee injury, he became an 83-84 mph bowler and lost his place in the side because he wasn’t threatening anymore.

 

[Mamoon]

Pakistan’s 1990s top-order would do a better job in T20Is than what the current lot is doing today.

Who can argue that a Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi and Ijaz Ahmed top 3 is not miles better than Babar, Rizwan and Masood?

 

[Rana]

Pakistan’s 1990s top-order would do a better job in T20Is than what the current lot is doing today.

Who can argue that a Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi and Ijaz Ahmed top 3 is not miles better than Babar, Rizwan and Masood?

Ijaz Ahmed the butcher!

All three are 145+ Sr players if they played cricket in this era

 

[jnaveen1980]

Pakistan’s 1990s top-order would do a better job in T20Is than what the current lot is doing today.

Who can argue that a Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi and Ijaz Ahmed top 3 is not miles better than Babar, Rizwan and Masood?

What about Naseer Jamshed. I remember him scoring a few hundreds against us

 

[Rana]

What about Naseer Jamshed. I remember him scoring a few hundreds against us

Misbah turned him into a accumulator

 

[Suleiman]

What about Naseer Jamshed. I remember him scoring a few hundreds against us

He had a Nawaz like episode in South Africa after which he never recovered. Also fixed iirc and is banned for 10 years.

He was talented in limited overs. Classy left hander. But after the SA tour went into his shell and never came out.

 

[Kianig89]

Except Saqi and Moyo everybody has lambasted this outdated approach in fact this team of 90s will threw RizBar methods out of the window

Pakistan t20 team of 90s

Anwar
Afridi
Ijaz
Inzi
Saleem
Wasim
Razzaq
Azhar
Moin
Saqlain
Akhtar

This team would give the current Eng side a run for their money beast of a side

 

[MenInG]

Junaid like many others is also worried about the way we promote and discard talents.

 

[cricketAXEpert]

Spot on regarding the treatment of Mohammad Nawaz in the T20 World Cup - they seemed to not have a plan or role for him and it was almost like he was there to make up the numbers ahead of the likes of Haider Ali, Khushdil Shah and Asif Ali.

That is exactly the case as I mentioned in a detailed post in the other thread. It was poor selection. Mohd Nawaz was a filler and had no real or defined role in the side. Such is the nature of T20 that all 11 players will not come into play in some matches but for some they will. Mohd Nawaz and that middle order hole was exposed by England. Also some below par captaincy by Babar.

This world cup was lost by the Selection committee.

 

[Savak]

That is exactly the case as I mentioned in a detailed post in the other thread. It was poor selection. Mohd Nawaz was a filler and had no real or defined role in the side. Such is the nature of T20 that all 11 players will not come into play in some matches but for some they will. Mohd Nawaz and that middle order hole was exposed by England. Also some below par captaincy by Babar.

This world cup was lost by the Selection committee.

Not by the Selection Committee, by Babar Azam. Ramiz has given Babar the full authority to select the Squad of 15 and the playing 11, the Selection Committee is toothless at the moment.

The squad that was reflected shows how poor Babar's understanding of the game is.

 

[hafizexpress]

Man I missed this guy. After those problematic few years until 2011, Junaid came through for the Pakistan bowling attack after the 2011 world cup when he was very raw. He was skillful as he could move the new ball and reverse the old ball at a decent pace. Pakistan's success in that period until 2014 in places like Sri Lanka, South Africa, the West Indies, the UAE etc. across tests and ODIs had a lot to do with the spearhead Junaid.

Unfortunately, his injury in 2014 ruined his career.

 

[Saj]

Junaid has been told that he isn't needed in red ball domestic cricket and that's why he's not playing in the QeA Trophy.

 

[topspin]

Pakistan’s 1990s top-order would do a better job in T20Is than what the current lot is doing today.

Who can argue that a Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi and Ijaz Ahmed top 3 is not miles better than Babar, Rizwan and Masood?

Agree 100% with what you've said here but that's not the point. Junaid Khan is saying that our batsmen play a 90s brand of cricket with how they pace their innings so slowly.

That's why you hear the phrase of "Pakistan playing 90s cricket" repeatedly by the fans because our approach to batting is so outdated.

 

[Suleiman]

Agree 100% with what you've said here but that's not the point. Junaid Khan is saying that our batsmen play a 90s brand of cricket with how they pace their innings so slowly.

That's why you hear the phrase of "Pakistan playing 90s cricket" repeatedly by the fans because our approach to batting is so outdated.

What you’re saying is right, but it’s interesting that between ‘96 to about 2007 we actually used to be pretty aggressive in our batting in ODIs. Had many a batting shootouts with India in mid 2000s where average score was 300 or more a lot of the times. We went to toe to toe with what would be India’s GOAT batting line up in ODIs with Afridi, Razzaq, Malik, Inzi, MoYo and even Younis. Good times.

 

[topspin]

What you’re saying is right, but it’s interesting that between ‘96 to about 2007 we actually used to be pretty aggressive in our batting in ODIs. Had many a batting shootouts with India in mid 2000s where average score was 300 or more a lot of the times. We went to toe to toe with what would be India’s GOAT batting line up in ODIs with Afridi, Razzaq, Malik, Inzi, MoYo and even Younis. Good times.

Good times indeed and a very good point made.

Even though the 90s brand of cricket was far more sedate compared to the present era, there's no doubt our batsmen were ahead of the curve.

They were simply ahead of their time when you consider how the batting was loaded with aggressive hitters at the top of the order but also with destructive lower order all-rounders like Azhar Mahmood and Abdul Razzaq to increase the depth of the batting line up as a whole.

 

[Kroll]

Pakistan’s 1990s top-order would do a better job in T20Is than what the current lot is doing today.

Who can argue that a Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi and Ijaz Ahmed top 3 is not miles better than Babar, Rizwan and Masood?

Ijaz Ahmed the butcher!

All three are 145+ Sr players if they played cricket in this era

Even Salim Malik from the eighties was fast, would be much faster than this current lot.

 

[daytrader]

Loving the style of these interview, so authentic and candid. Players don't seem to be afraid to speak their minds.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

It was quite telling the difference a new batsman with a fresh approach made when Muhammad Haris replaced Fakhir due to injury. He was aggressive and inventive with his stroke play, and played a big part in getting Pakistan to the final. These are the type of players the opposition fear in a short format game, the sort of player who can take the game away from you in the space of four overs.

 

[ex-q-zit]

Pretty accurate with his assessments while not being overtly negative. Kohli was his bunny around 2013. But a lot of water has flown under the bridge with bowlers like Naseem, Shaheen, Haris etc making a mark. Dont see him making a comeback.

 

[Mirpuri Don]

Junaid was average but he had a knack for taking wickets. He produced some serviceable performances during the 2011-2013 period. The opening combo with Irfan looked decent for a brief period.

The Indian series was obviously the zenith of his career.

His career tanked in summer of 2014 when he suffered a knee injury similar to Shaheen. He never really regained his mojo and his place in the same.

In 2011-2013, he used to bowl at 88-89 mph which made him a handful with the reversing ball and at the death. After his knee injury, he became an 83-84 mph bowler and lost his place in the side because he wasn’t threatening anymore.

If we go by the idea that he was a replacement (for Amir/Asif) I think he defo was a good compensation in the early 2010s.

As you said that Indian tour in particular was amazing, bowling at +140 and getting movement off the seam (lots of swing bowlers, very few seam bowlers).

Pakistan’s 1990s top-order would do a better job in T20Is than what the current lot is doing today.

Who can argue that a Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi and Ijaz Ahmed top 3 is not miles better than Babar, Rizwan and Masood?

Imo Ijaz Ahmed might be the single most underrated Pak batsman, and somehow his brother-in-law Saleem Malik as well.

 

[Saj]

Regarding Junaid's selection in Test cricket. They seemed to pick him especially for flat Asian decks where he would break his back to take wickets and then not pick him in places like South Africa, New Zealand and England.

Ridiculous selection policy.

 

[Savak]

Junaid suffered a knee problem in 2014. According to reporters, the knee injury got worse under the then team management who didn't handle the injury properly. When he came back in 2015, he struggled for form and his pace was down and since then he was never considered permanently in the team. Amir's return also hurt his position in the team which was frankly riddiculous because Junaid had shouldered Pakistan's bowling attack from 2011 to 2014.

 

[TheSultan]

Pakistan’s 1990s top-order would do a better job in T20Is than what the current lot is doing today.

Who can argue that a Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi and Ijaz Ahmed top 3 is not miles better than Babar, Rizwan and Masood?

This shouldn’t even be a discussion.

Even Pakistan’s batting in the first 2 T20 world cups was way ahead in modern batting than these sorry excuses for modern batsmen.

 

[Saj]

This shouldn’t even be a discussion.

Even Pakistan’s batting in the first 2 T20 world cups was way ahead in modern batting than these sorry excuses for modern batsmen.

And the other problem is that the backups they took were awful too, so the likes of Ifthi knew they would be picked in every match due to the lack of bench strength.

 

[chinaman00]

On the money with the Nawaz comment. If he wasn’t playing as a bowler, what was the reason to include him in the squad instead of a specialist batsman like Asif. I mean, he too can hit couple boundaries.

Pakistan’s WC campaign failed due to Babar’s poor form and captaincy and failure to utilize resources properly.

The think-tank (really, a dumb tank) and coaches, except Shaun Tait, should be fired. It will help to have either Rizwan or Shadab as LOI captain. Whether he likes it or not, Babar should be forced to come one down.

 

[cricketAXEpert]

Junaid has been told that he isn't needed in red ball domestic cricket and that's why he's not playing in the QeA Trophy.

I feel for him, his career unraveled far too soon. He can still make a living from English Club cricket, I wish him best of luck. There was a time he was the leader of the Pakistani pace attack. Sadly he never fully regained his former ability.

 

[cricketAXEpert]

Not by the Selection Committee, by Babar Azam. Ramiz has given Babar the full authority to select the Squad of 15 and the playing 11, the Selection Committee is toothless at the moment.

The squad that was reflected shows how poor Babar's understanding of the game is.

His on field captaincy is also very passive, he just follows a set template. It is like he never has a plan B.

 

[MenInG]

Pakistan need to do something about the way they bat - SKY showing them good examples but is there a willingness to learn?

 

[mrtaim3]

You think the current lot dont know about this. And do you also think they would not have tried?

The issue here is that even if they try to become England, they just don't have the skills to do so. Have you not seen Babar and Rizwan slogging? They miss 9 out 10 deliveries while slogging.

Our glorified slogger Asif Ali can only play big shots when its in the slot, and in fact if the bowlers does some variation on the slot delivery like slower balls, he would miss it 95% of the times.

The six hitting skill level of this team has regressed so much. As some of you guys said above, the 90s team would have butchered the current England side. Most of them were hard hitters with immaculate timing.

Afridi underachieved a lot in my opinion. If he had debuted in this era, he would have been highly impactful. He was not a 'tuller' but could play shots all around the park. He just didn't have the patience.

The board needs to start searching for a proper batsmen like Jos Buttler or Pandya, who can change the gears in no time and can also play as accumulators. We can't have separate accumulators and sloggers. Until that happens, we will never dominate this game.

Cricket has changed

 

[shaz619]

Despite his injuries the India series was a huge highlight for him and that brief patch later in the decade when he added value to Pakistan’s bowling attack in the CT 17 held in England