Okay tell me what great performances Shehzad has had in the past years any level (domestic / PSL / heck even Ramadan cricket) for him to merit being top 5 batsmen in the country lol.
I don’t have to tell you his domestic performances when I can tell you the performances of the players that took his test spot since 2017.
Abid Ali: 10 Matches, 35 Average
Masood: 16 Matches, 32 Average
Fakhar: 3 Matches, 32 Average
Imam: 11 Matches, 25 Average
Abid Ali has a FC average of 37, not sure what it was before he got selected.
Masood didn’t even have to perform in the domestic FC games to get picked in the test team. He only got picked because he done well in the domestic List A tournaments. He won’t have to prove himself in FC games to get picked again, because Pakistan has no other alternative, they will be forced to go back to him.
Fakhar has only played 3 games, but why did he get picked in the test team? Was he a better option than Ahmed Shahzad?
Imam ul Haq was averaging around 35 before he got picked for the national team, I can’t recall him doing anything special in the FC games. Why was he picked?
Tell me how these players even merit a selection for the test team? Ahmad Shahzad was dropped for these guys?
In the test format, Ahmed Shehzad is easily our top 5 batsman. Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq have been exposed since Misbah and Younis left. Both averaging in the 30’s since 2017 if I’m not mistaken.
In conclusion, I’d still pick Shahzad for the test team based on what he’s done at the top level, he’s miles better than his competitors, and clearly there’s no such thing as getting picked on merit in Pakistan, because if there was, Fawad Alam would’ve had more test caps than mediocre players like Azhar and Asad.