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[VIDEOS] Imam-ul-Haq - Essential or a liability in ODIs?

If we want to remain a mid tier team then he’s fine. But if we want to adopt the modern approach to white ball cricket and challenge the top teams he ain’t the answer unless he miraculously improves his SR throughout all phases of the innings.

Pakistan philosophy is different to other teams we should not expect pakistan to get 350+ scores
 
Imaam does need to improve his strike rate but hes the best we got and we can relie on him to steady the ship.Also pakistan philosophy is different to india or england and should not copy thier style of play.
 
Fakhar has outclassed Imam once again. Yes I know this wasn't SA's best bowling line up, so I know what the former accomplished was nothing special.

As for Imam, a strike rate of under 80 again and his lack of boundaries in his 73 ball innings - yet again exposes the strokeless wonder that he is.

Another slap in the face to Imam's loyalists.

[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] [MENTION=137804]msb314[/MENTION] You need to accept Imam isn't good enough and make peace with it.

Imaam role is tottaly different and should not be compared to fakhar who has a total different style.yes his strike rate is on the low sides but he scores runs consistently.he is fulfilling the role given to him by the management
 
Rizwan will do much better as opener than in middle order.

Rizwan(wkt)
Fakhar
Babar
Viv
ABD
Haider
Imad
Faheem
Hasan
Shaheen
Pacer

With this team, Pak will be favourites for 2023 World Cup.
 
This mediocre hack should be dropped as soon as possible.He is way too awful just like that mediocre Ahmed Shehzad.
 
Gone first ball.

Still don’t get how people want him in the ODI xi.

This mediocre hack should be dropped as soon as possible.He is way too awful just like that mediocre Ahmed Shehzad.

Who do you want in the team instead? He got out for 0, it happens to everyone. I’m not saying he’s Saeed Anwar but he is the best we have. There isn’t anyone better.
 
Who do you want in the team instead? He got out for 0, it happens to everyone. I’m not saying he’s Saeed Anwar but he is the best we have. There isn’t anyone better.

Yes there is, his name is Sharjeel Khan.

Imam is not made for white ball cricket, he’s better suited for test cricket.

His average in ODI’s should not be taken seriously, he’s been stat-padding against mediocre teams, and now he’ll be exposed against the top teams.
 
Who do you want in the team instead? He got out for 0, it happens to everyone. I’m not saying he’s Saeed Anwar but he is the best we have. There isn’t anyone better.

He is a mediocre hack.Check his stats against top teams you will find your answer.He has 3 centuries against Zimbabwe out of 7.
 
Jeez poor guy can’t get a break.

As far as I can remember he has done a pretty good job considering how low our standards are. Last tour of England he played very well and scored a 150, has scored 1 100 and 4 50s against South Africa and was our second top scorer in the World Cup

Yes he isn’t close to being a world class opener, however considering our lack of quality players he is the best we have and should continue to play as an opener
 
I have defended this guy and still think he's good enough to get into the team. But if there is no way that Rizwan can open with this guy in the team, I'd take Imam out of the team (or perhaps he can play at 3 if Babar moves). Rizwan is our biggest asset right now apart from Babar, and he is wasted down the order.
 
Yes there is, his name is Sharjeel Khan.

Imam is not made for white ball cricket, he’s better suited for test cricket.

His average in ODI’s should not be taken seriously, he’s been stat-padding against mediocre teams, and now he’ll be exposed against the top teams.

Sharjeel is unfit and a fixer. That only should be enough for a permanent ban from the team..
 
I have defended this guy and still think he's good enough to get into the team. But if there is no way that Rizwan can open with this guy in the team, I'd take Imam out of the team (or perhaps he can play at 3 if Babar moves). Rizwan is our biggest asset right now apart from Babar, and he is wasted down the order.

Rizwan is average at best in ODI’s. Averages 28..
 
Wasim Akram speaking about Imam-ul-Haq:

“Imam-ul-Haq played across the line on the very first ball. It was obvious that the bowlers will get some assistance early on and he would have been better off if he had played the ball with a straight bat"

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Sharjeel is unfit and a fixer. That only should be enough for a permanent ban from the team..

And yet he still got picked for the T20 squad.😊

The PCB has moved on from the fixing saga which involved Sharjeel Khan and you should too cuz he ain’t getting banned now.

Also, there’s no fitness standards in Pakistan, if there was then Azam Khan would be at the gym in Pakistan right now and not on the tour of England. So saying Sharjeel Khan is unfit is pretty much meaningless because for PCB’s standards he’s fit enough, and if he wasn’t then he wouldn’t have been picked.👍🏼
 
Imam ul Haq’s average vs Top 5 - 38
Imam ul Haq’s strike rate vs Top 5 - 76

“The Stabiliser”, ladies and gentlemen.
 
Imam ul Haq’s average vs Top 5 - 38
Imam ul Haq’s strike rate vs Top 5 - 76

“The Stabiliser”, ladies and gentlemen.

And these sorts of "shots"

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And these sorts of "shots"

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Mediocre batsmen - yet some PPers act like hes some sort of team saviour.
 
And these sorts of "shots"

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What is he doing lol? He hangs his bat out, plays a nothing shot, and the ball is heading towards first slip. A ball that should’ve been left, but instead it’s a ball that picks up a wicket.
 
Should have been out had Stokes taken a review!

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Imam-ul-Haq has reached 2000 runs in ODIs in the 3rd ODI against England.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Quickest in history to 2000 ODI runs:<br><br>Hashim Amla 40 innings<br>Zaheer Abbas 45 innings<br>Kevin Pietersen 45 innings<br>Babar Azam 45 innings<br>Imam-ul-Haq 46 innings<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ENGvPAK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ENGvPAK</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1414937494844489742?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 13, 2021</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Quickest in history to 2000 ODI runs:<br><br>Hashim Amla 40 innings<br>Zaheer Abbas 45 innings<br>Kevin Pietersen 45 innings<br>Babar Azam 45 innings<br>Imam-ul-Haq 46 innings<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ENGvPAK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ENGvPAK</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1414937494844489742?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 13, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Those first 3 players are all time greats.
 
Those first 3 players are all time greats.

Jusr shows if you play enough matches against b and c levels teams even a player as inept as imam will score 2000 runns in less then 50 matches...

Especially in todays pitches. Record should be taken with a grain if salt.
 
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WICKET! Imam-ul-Haq b Parkinson 56 - Pakistan 113-2
What a delivery from Matt Parkinson! He finds a little bit of rough outside Imam's off-stump, and the left-hander is completely deceived by a glorious delivery that gets plenty of purchase and takes out his middle stump. Terrific flight from the Lancashire spinner, and it's a much-needed wicket for England!
 
Mostly a liability but his occassional centuries / half centuries means that we’ll stick with him for the next 2-3 years.
 
Liability. King of inconsequential knocks. Always playing a second fiddle even if he is batting with a tail ender.
 
The next 1000 runs are going to be make or break of his career.
 
Jusr shows if you play enough matches against b and c levels teams even a player as inept as imam will score 2000 runns in less then 50 matches...

Especially in todays pitches. Record should be taken with a grain if salt.

So true. Looks like Pakistan is happy with winning against bad teams and losing against good teams. Otherwise this guy will be out of team by now.
 
Absolutely liability. His technique and urgency at the crease is not suited to modern cricket.
Atrocious fielder who drops dollies
 
man of match today, his masterclass in not taking singles and surviving powerplay taking no risks won england the game. well played imam.
 
No county side will pick him in their limited overs team and here we have him opening for Pakistan.
 
Pathetic innings on this pitch and then was having a monkey like effort to drop Gregory. Could have been the game right there. If you can't bat well at least don't drop important catches.
 
It tells you a lot about pitch when this guy scores an average 50.
 
Sangakara said his batting stance is terrible and he’s not fixed the reason why he continually gets out the same way, a tortoise would make runs faster then he does, a total liability in the modern ODI era!
 
Pathetic innings on this pitch and then was having a monkey like effort to drop Gregory. Could have been the game right there. If you can't bat well at least don't drop important catches.

Pakistan would have won the match if the foolish monkey didn't drop that dolly of Gregory early on his innings.

It was the last recognized pair at the crease and half of the runs were still needed. No way was England chasing it if not for the Chashmish Bandar Imam.
 
After the first 17 overs Pakistan were 59/1.

Imam was on 34 off 50 balls
Babar was on 15 off 38 balls

The above numbers leave a lot of catching up to be done later in the innings and it's definitely something Pakistan need to look at.
 
Was plumb out on 8 Stokes felt sorry for him didnt review it.

Puts the team under pressure when he usually gets out in the 1st over.
When he does stick around for around 10/15 overs he puts even more pressure on the team with his pathetic 40 s/r can’t take singles struggles hitting boundary’s most of his runs come from edges to 3rd man.
 
His 56 which probably had his backers dancing in the streets was put into perspective by England's openers whose positive approach meant that even late order batsmen were never out of the game once wickets started falling.

With Imam, if it's a seaming track, he will fail early, if it's a flat batter's paradise, he will waste 15 overs playing himself in, then leave it to others to step up the R/R.
 
After the first 17 overs Pakistan were 59/1.

Imam was on 34 off 50 balls
Babar was on 15 off 38 balls

The above numbers leave a lot of catching up to be done later in the innings and it's definitely something Pakistan need to look at.

Babar can catch up and will bat the whole innings.

Imam never catches up, as demonstrated by his career SR. His List A SR is actually less than his international one.

He is only 25 and should be given the opportunity to play 2 years of list A cricket before being considered again. If he can average greater than 40 with a SR greater than 90 for a 2 year period then he can be considered again. Those stats aren't unachievable in Pakistani domestic cricket.
 
Once again he played a slow and selfish innings. He was playing Gregory's 77mph "thunderbolts" as if he was up against Dale Steyn. It was an embarrassing innings. Babar also batted poorly in the beginning and was way too slow with a but at least he has the ability and shot range to catch up quite a bit.
 
Imam ul Haq does not impact winning.

He also plays no Domestic Cricket so any room for growth or improvement is non-existent.
 
Him and Fakhar are a proper opening pair with ~50 like averages and 2K+ runs in their names. Yousaf needs to help them esp Imam with his gap between pad and bat.
 
He is the reason England won the match.
Very good move by ben stokes by not reviewing when he was plumb on 8 runs.
 
He is both an essential and a liability.

He is essential because of his consistency in producing inconsequential half-centuries to provide a platform, but his runs rarely impact the game.

He is a liability because he is incapable of accelerating and that is just poor for modern standards. If you're batting on a SR of 70 against Zimbabwe, you are quite poor for modern standards. He plays too many dots and needs to be dropped for Rizwan, who can rotate strike and find boundaries.
 
Imam is too slow for modern era ODI. Babar, Rizwan and Fakhar are fine players for LOI.
 
I have a friend who actually speaks brilliantly on the game and players, always found his analysis to be very accurate. He is quite convinced that Imam is a long term opening option for Pakistan and will do better than anyone else at present.
 
List A strike rate of 78
ODI strike rate of 80

Is that acceptable for a modern day ODI opening batsman?
 
List A strike rate of 78
ODI strike rate of 80

Is that acceptable for a modern day ODI opening batsman?

Good Strike Rate for the 90's and early 2000's but not good enough today
 
He is both an essential and a liability.

He is essential because of his consistency in producing inconsequential half-centuries to provide a platform, but his runs rarely impact the game.

He is a liability because he is incapable of accelerating and that is just poor for modern standards. If you're batting on a SR of 70 against Zimbabwe, you are quite poor for modern standards. He plays too many dots and needs to be dropped for Rizwan, who can rotate strike and find boundaries.

Sorry, I think I am missing something re. the first paragraph. A player is “essential” because of “inconsequential” runs? Regardless of the regularity at which they come, inconsequential runs (by definition) do not matter… right?

If we proceed ahead on the premise that “his runs rarely impact the game”, I think we find that this equates to the player’s contribution, and hence presence in the squad, being deemed inconsequential. Does this not sound like a player who can be dropped without detriment?

Whether he is a liability (has a net negative impact on the game) cannot necessarily be surmised from the statement though.

Let me know if I am missing something. I haven’t taken his / anyone else’s stats. I am merely trying to disentangle your reasoning. For that matter, we could be talking about any player, any sport / field.
 
I think we need to try Abdullah Shafique in the opening spot or even try Rizwan at the top.maybe then imaam will then start performing at a higher Run Rate.
 
Good Strike Rate for the 90's and early 2000's but not good enough today

The problem is he rarely increases that strike rate dramatically later in his innings. At least with Babar you know he is going to improve the strike rate most of the time as his innings progresses.
 
The problem is he rarely increases that strike rate dramatically later in his innings. At least with Babar you know he is going to improve the strike rate most of the time as his innings progresses.

Imam knows when he has to increase his strike rate, have you not seen him shimmer down the wicket to belt the bowl for a single?
 
List A strike rate of 78
ODI strike rate of 80

Is that acceptable for a modern day ODI opening batsman?

Since Sharjeel will average 20 at a SR of 90 - Imam is more than good enough for Pakistan..
 
List A strike rate of 78
ODI strike rate of 80

Is that acceptable for a modern day ODI opening batsman?

Strange how much ODI cricket has changed over the years. In our time, a fantabulous ODI batsman like Ricky Ponting had a strike rate of 80. Brian Lara had a strike rate just a shade below 80. Most good ODI players had a strike in the mid 70's. Sourav Ganuly who was considered a fantastic ODI batsman had a strike rate of 73, while Inzamam had a strike rate of 75. Sachin Tendulkar back then had an unbelievable strike rate of 86-87.
 
Sorry, I think I am missing something re. the first paragraph. A player is “essential” because of “inconsequential” runs? Regardless of the regularity at which they come, inconsequential runs (by definition) do not matter… right?

If we proceed ahead on the premise that “his runs rarely impact the game”, I think we find that this equates to the player’s contribution, and hence presence in the squad, being deemed inconsequential. Does this not sound like a player who can be dropped without detriment?

Whether he is a liability (has a net negative impact on the game) cannot necessarily be surmised from the statement though.

Let me know if I am missing something. I haven’t taken his / anyone else’s stats. I am merely trying to disentangle your reasoning. For that matter, we could be talking about any player, any sport / field.

Though his runs do not impact the result of the game, they do give an assurance that wickets are held during the powerplay, preventing collapses.

He averages 50 odd which isn't common, but he is not good in pressure games and has a poor technique.

So if you want runs against minnows, he's the guy to go to.
 
The only way Imam becomes non-essential is Pakistan produces a couple of world class middle-order batsman which allows Rizwan to open.

As long as the middle-order is a joke, Rizwan has to be there because he is our second best batsman ability wise and by far the best batsman in terms of mentality, grit and intelligence.

Would back him over the a soft player like Babar under pressure 9/10 times.

Haris Sohail is a very good middle-order, perfect for 4-5, but his career is on the ropes because he is extremely lazy and lacks determination.

The other players are just not good enough. The much hyped Saud Shakeel and Shafique both look like mental midgets with no power game.

Pakistan does not have a single player for the 4-5 positions who can strike close to a 100 at a healthy average, which illustrates the lack of talent in the country.

And no, Sharjeel opening instead of Imam is not the solution. He is an abysmal player who is always a liability in the field and will be back in the hut after 3 overs 9 out of 10 times with one six and one four and 10 dot balls.

Fakhar is also a lottery, though far better than Sharjeel. Pakistani fans are deluding themselves into thinking that Fakhar-Sharjeel combo would work like Bairstow-Roy.

Those two are beasts and incredibly talented.

9/10 times they give England a blazing start no matter who the opposition is.

Fakhar and Sharjeel opening together means Pakistan will be 20/2 more often than not, and that would even more pressure on our awful middle-order.

Imam is a steady player with a cool head. The current top 4 (with Rizwan) is working fine and the best that we can hope for under the circumstances considering how bankrupt we are in terms of talent.

The real problem is find players for the middle-order, because archaic players like Saud, lazy hacks like Maqsood, glorified tail-enders like Shadab and faheem and club level batsmen like Asif and Khushdil are not the solution.

I like the look of Hussain Talat. I always feel like there is a good player locked inside him but I don’t know what is wrong with him.

He seems depressed and lonely to me and is never sure what he is supposed to do out there.

He finds his way back into the team every now and then but no one ever talks about him be it the fans, players, coaches, media etc.

He has no backers, no supporters. He is always on his own with no one to hype him up.
 
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Though his runs do not impact the result of the game, they do give an assurance that wickets are held during the powerplay, preventing collapses.

He averages 50 odd which isn't common, but he is not good in pressure games and has a poor technique.

So if you want runs against minnows, he's the guy to go to.

But surely there’s no point loitering about if there is no real impact? And surely we want runs against all oppositions, right?
 
But surely there’s no point loitering about if there is no real impact? And surely we want runs against all oppositions, right?

Yes, I think that it's about time we let go of Imam-ul-Haq, he needs to go into domestic and completely change his game.

That being said, there are still spots in our test team which he can fit into if he does the hard work.
 
This was an amazing innings from Imam, definitely the best opener we have since Saeed Anwar.


Now the haters will bash him because his century was vs a C string Australian side but same haters will probably rate Babar's innings as good as Kohli's vs SL in Hobart if not better.
 
This was an amazing innings from Imam, definitely the best opener we have since Saeed Anwar.


Now the haters will bash him because his century was vs a C string Australian side but same haters will probably rate Babar's innings as good as Kohli's vs SL in Hobart if not better.

If he can continues like this yes he will go down as a pakistani great

He just needs to be positive n play for the team more I dont want to see 70 balls 50 anymore chasing 300 plus Play like today

Hes better than that and he must realise thats its not acceptable to plod along

Really Well played today Hope to see more of this now
 
If he can continues like this yes he will go down as a pakistani great

He just needs to be positive n play for the team more I dont want to see 70 balls 50 anymore chasing 300 plus Play like today

Hes better than that and he must realise thats its not acceptable to plod along

Really Well played today Hope to see more of this now

His conversation rate is world class.
 
He just needs to be positive n play for the team more I dont want to see 70 balls 50 anymore chasing 300 plus Play like today

Would love to hear what you think about Babar's batting. Normally he also bats very slowly today was an anomaly.
 
Multan, 6 June 2022: Imam-ul-Haq announced his arrival at the international scene with a thumping century in the October of 2017. Punching the air in jubilation upon entering the triple figures, the southpaw recorded himself as only the second Pakistani to record a century in his maiden One-Day International.

Imam has since recorded eight more ODI centuries in 48 internationals. He, however, has never donned Pakistan colours at the city of his birth – Multan.

So, naturally, the return of international cricket to Multan has an emotional touch to it for Imam. The fact that he will play his 50th ODI here at the Multan Cricket Stadium makes the homecoming sweeter.

“I have seen my uncle play here and I am very excited for my first international match in this city,” Imam told PCB Digital on the sidelines of the national side’s first training session at Multan Cricket Stadium.

“I was born here, but we moved to Lahore in my childhood. When we were coming to the stadium, I was reminiscing my childhood memories of the city and sharing them with Babar [Azam].”

Since that debut in Abu Dhabi, Imam has smashed 2321 ODI runs – the second most for his country behind top-ranked Babar Azam – at an average of 54. He currently sits at the third place in the ICC Men's ODI Player Rankings for batters.

Imam enters the series in scintillating form. He smashed back-to-back centuries in Pakistan’s historic 2-1 ODI series win against Australia in Lahore earlier in the year and stroked an unbeaten 89 in the final match. Pakistan would be looking up to him to stretch that purple patch into this series.

“I am grateful to my family and my team for their incredible support. Cricket makes you learn a lot. There were highs and lows, and I have tried to learn from them. It has been an enjoyable journey so far. I am blessed to have these teammates, who have made this journey special for me.”

Pakistan and the West Indies play ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League ODIs on 8, 10 and 12 June at the Multan Cricket Stadium with the three matches starting at 1600 (local time).

https://www.pcb.com.pk/blog-detail/imam-gears-up-for-emotional-homecoming.html
 
I am glad he has shut people up. He always been a fine player, it was obvious from his debut.

Pakistan is the least talented cricket nation ever, especially when it comes to batting resources. 99% of the batsmen that we produce are deeply mediocre, and Imam is the best opener Pakistan has produced since Saeed Anwar and that explains the lack of talent in the batting department.

His mental strength is also admirable - he has blocked out the constant criticism and snide remarks from those who cannot digest the fact that a former’s players relative can be a deserving player as well, and has continued to perform in spite of being hounded on social media 24/7.

Imam is less than 50 ODIs old.

He has a 150 in England, two hundreds vs Australia and a hundred in South Africa.

He has been brilliant - Pakistani fans who criticize him or want him out of the team are absolute idiots.
 
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