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[VIDEOS] Imran Butt - Test Performance Watch

Imran Butt looking worse in each outing....

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Looks like a guy just plucked off the back streets of pakistan and asked to make up the numbers in the team. Shockingly bad.
 
Imran Butt looking worse in each outing....

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Uneven bounce so get forward.

Instead he's walked across the wicket, neither forward or back as he was worried about the short ball.
 
It should be hard to get a test call and a lot should be looked at before giving that to someone but, once you select someone I think its only reasonable to give that player a decent run to prove himself.

If a selector is confident that someone is good enough than that player should given enough opportunities but, if a selector rolls back on a selection after just one series than selector also be accounted for.

Will have to see how it goes in the case of Imran Butt. Looked iffy throughout but, the culture of selecting players for 1 or 2 matches before dropping them forever needs to stop.
 
It should be hard to get a test call and a lot should be looked at before giving that to someone but, once you select someone I think its only reasonable to give that player a decent run to prove himself.

If a selector is confident that someone is good enough than that player should given enough opportunities but, if a selector rolls back on a selection after just one series than selector also be accounted for.

Will have to see how it goes in the case of Imran Butt. Looked iffy throughout but, the culture of selecting players for 1 or 2 matches before dropping them forever needs to stop.

Don't think I Butt will do any better against England in England who has superior bowling. No point to play him against Zimbabwe where he might do well and give us false hope and fail miserably against better teams.
@How about Abid Ali?
 
Don't think I Butt will do any better against England in England who has superior bowling. No point to play him against Zimbabwe where he might do well and give us false hope and fail miserably against better teams.
@How about Abid Ali?

I agree that Butt hasnt shown much ability till now but, then selection committees should be looking at the shortcomings before selecting players and the fact that openers will also have to play in overseas conditions.

Abid has played enough tests and didnt prove much especially against good attacks so I dont think he will be in the next test squad.
 
He was there due to decent domestic performances and I was all in favour of giving him a run of games to prove himself. However he's literally showed no ability to show he's worth persisting with. Time to send him back to the domestic game to work on his flaws.
 
Imran Butt looking worse in each outing....

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That stayed low to be fair to Imran. I dont know why but my heart doesnt want him to be dropped without giving him two more test matches.
 
It should be hard to get a test call and a lot should be looked at before giving that to someone but, once you select someone I think its only reasonable to give that player a decent run to prove himself.

If a selector is confident that someone is good enough than that player should given enough opportunities but, if a selector rolls back on a selection after just one series than selector also be accounted for.

Will have to see how it goes in the case of Imran Butt. Looked iffy throughout but, the culture of selecting players for 1 or 2 matches before dropping them forever needs to stop.

I agree with the premise but it'd be worse if we weren't at all flexible with that approach too.

If Imran was coming in with a 45+ FC average over several years, was demonstrably unlucky over this series or showed some confident shots in certain areas then i agree he would deserve a proper run.

When there's none of that then being dropped after 4 innings seems enough because all the evidence points to him being as mediocre as his stats suggest.
 
He should be given 1 more test series but his dismals this series are LBW,Caught behind off the fast bowler and caught behind off the spinner
 
I've been watching cricket for a very long time and if there is one thing I've learnt, it's that players with poor domestic records have even poorer international records in the long run.

This selection will end in tears for Pakistan.

If Pakistan wants to compete against the best in the world then they cannot have complete passengers as their openers. You might be able to get away with it against a low ranked South African team that is deeply flawed. You won't get away with it against a top class team who will just turn the screws and never let you recover from a poor start.

Anyone expecting a 36 FC average opener to overage 45 in international cricket over any significant period of time is, I'm afraid, a total buffoon.

In that case I'm a buffoon :)

Look I don't disagree with you, domestic stats do count for a lot. However, there are always exceptions to the rule... for example. Michael Vaughn averaged 37 in first class cricket but went to on to play around 80 tests, averaged 41 but was a very good captain finally recapturing the Ashes..
So the selectors must have seen something in him.

Conversely you have Ramps and Hick, both first class greats, that's by and large failed at international level.

So coming to Imran Butt, I think a selector should be given leeway to pick at least one or two players on what they have seen and go with their gut instincts.. in this case Imran Butt seems to be Wasim's pick and I think we should go with it for at least this series and see how it works out.

I predicted this performance from Imran Butt and now the evidence is there for all to see.
 
The problem is when you are a front foot player, then the short ball is a concern and always in the back of your mind.

Unfortunately with Imran you can see that he is concerned about the short ball which means that his footwork is hesitant as he constantly worried about the bouncer.

I'm surprised this problem has not been addressed in domestic cricket as you simply cannot ignore such an issue.
 
The problem is when you are a front foot player, then the short ball is a concern and always in the back of your mind.

Unfortunately with Imran you can see that he is concerned about the short ball which means that his footwork is hesitant as he constantly worried about the bouncer.

I'm surprised this problem has not been addressed in domestic cricket as you simply cannot ignore such an issue.

To many domestic players arent addressing this issue butt, masood, imam... list is endless. These guys have poor domestic averages and technically and mentally dont look ready when they make step up. They get exposed and dropped, no game adjustments and just get recalled.

Butt is one of worst openers ive ever seen for pakistan.
 
He should be given 1 more test series but his dismals this series are LBW,Caught behind off the fast bowler and caught behind off the spinner

Test series vs zimbos want change anything he might get easy runs and then get exposed when we play someone decent again.
 
Bring in an average bloke. Then forcefully play him for a couple of series in hope that he comes good once. If yes, continue blindly for years. If no, discard and get someone else based on what the selectors' heart desires.
 
M. Wasim wasted a lot of time making PowerPoint presentations and colorful charts to impress people, but did he explain why he picked an opener who very clearly has a ceiling of an average of 30 odd in Test cricket and has a mediocre FC average as well?

He is unlikely unlike Abid Ali because he didn’t get to kickstart his career against teams like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Abid Ali fooled everyone before getting exposed against quality attacks. He would have done the same.

Both look mentally shot. They are just blocking everything and waiting to get out. No confidence and self-belief at all.
 
Look at his career record.

You can’t pick an inadequate opener just because he is a good slip fielder. On that basis you’d let Asad Shafiq open.
 
Look at his career record.

You can’t pick an inadequate opener just because he is a good slip fielder. On that basis you’d let Asad Shafiq open.

Why not just pick Haider Ali and Abdullah Shafique now and open with them? Saud Shakeel at 3. Babar at 4. We finally have a world class looking team.

In a few years, we'll have the likes of Omair Bin Yousuf, Ali Zaryab and Huraira ready.
 
Why not just pick Haider Ali and Abdullah Shafique now and open with them? Saud Shakeel at 3. Babar at 4. We finally have a world class looking team.

In a few years, we'll have the likes of Omair Bin Yousuf, Ali Zaryab and Huraira ready.

What are you basing your assessment for Haider Ali and Abdullah Shafiq in test match format? Please enlighten us all......
 
What are you basing your assessment for Haider Ali and Abdullah Shafiq in test match format? Please enlighten us all......

Lol exactly.

The people clamouring for 2 inexperienced teenagers will be the first to call for their heads when they fail.

Kids should be phased into the team so that they can eventually take over the mantle from the seniors. Not chucked into the middle expecting them to be our saviours.

If you're searching for a solution to your openers you need to consider Azhar Ali, Imam, and probably even Khurram Manzoor at this point.
 
The demise is predictable.

Even when these guys are scoring runs in domestic or against weaker international teams, you can see their weaknesses and flaws.

This points to some very poor coaching at junior and domestic level.
 
Awful player. Not even a domestic beast!!!!!!

What a stupid pick. Misbah selection as usual!!!!!!
 
Imam and sharjeel need to be bought back


I don't buy this white ball red ball separate teams

Due to pakistan playing so little test cricket and large gaps between test series , test specialists will.never get enough games or be in form, whilst those who play whiteball will have have a good 20 odis t20s under their belt and have the crucial competitive game time.

What's the point imran butt playing 6 tests a year

When imam will have 20 + odis and t20s and psl games in calender year .

So its only obvious you let imam play test cricket since he has more games .

The only players in south african team which are red ball specialists are dean Elgar and bavuma the rest of the squad play across all formats of white ball and red ball.

India have tried out pant at tests eventhough one would typecast him as a white ball cricketer in particular a t20 big hitter , yet he has took that t20 big hitting into test cricket with devastating effect.
 
His batting gives no confidence just like a tail ender. He is one of the worst opener to ever represent Pakistan, I don't need to see 10 more matches to judge that. He makes Imran Farhat and Yasir Hameed look like worldclass in comparison.
 
M. Wasim wasted a lot of time making PowerPoint presentations and colorful charts to impress people, but did he explain why he picked an opener who very clearly has a ceiling of an average of 30 odd in Test cricket and has a mediocre FC average as well?

He is unlikely unlike Abid Ali because he didn’t get to kickstart his career against teams like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Abid Ali fooled everyone before getting exposed against quality attacks. He would have done the same.

Both look mentally shot. They are just blocking everything and waiting to get out. No confidence and self-belief at all.

Can't blame him too much.

It's a real weak spot right now for Pakistani cricket. There's essentially no one in domestic cricket that is being unfairly left out and all of them are performing at Imran Butt's level.

Whether it is Imam, Khurram Manzoor, Fakhar Zaman, or whoever else, they're all the same. I think at this point it's best to have Azhar Ali slide up and bring in Saud Shakeel as a good middle order prospect.
 
Test series vs zimbos want change anything he might get easy runs and then get exposed when we play someone decent again.

i understand what your saying but he should stil be given 1 more series even thou he hasnt done anything of note in this series
 
Why not just pick Haider Ali and Abdullah Shafique now and open with them? Saud Shakeel at 3. Babar at 4. We finally have a world class looking team.

In a few years, we'll have the likes of Omair Bin Yousuf, Ali Zaryab and Huraira ready.

both haider and abdullah need to play atleast 1 season of domestic in the upcoming season they are good talents but they should be groomed in and not forced it
 
This guy has to play as the 12th man at least. Terrific slip catcher!
 
Wasim Akram earlier "Imran Butt is the best Pakistani slip-fielder I have seen in the last 5 to 6 years. He's taken 2 difficult catches on a low and slow pitch. He's done a great job"
 
If someone is selected it shouldnt for one or two matches. Despite not showing much quality with the bat he definitely deserves another series as a batsman alone and his quality slip catching just endorses it further.

When someone is selected in the national team its based upon a good season or two of FC cricket atleast which makes up atleast 8 matches or so. No batsman performs in every match even in FC cricket and if someone is dropped after 1 or 2 tests than it definitely is not a reasonable chance for someone to prove himself as here you are judging someone completely on 4 bad innings while when he was selected it was based upon 15-16 innings of FC cricket where he would have failed in quite a few innings also but came good in quite a few innings as well.

I havent been that impressed with his technique currently but, overall I think he definitely deserves more than two tests to prove himself.
 
Give him a proper chance atleast. Most teams give a player atleast 5-6 test matches before dropping them, here in Pakistan we write someone off after 1 innings.
Abid Ali deserves to be dropped, but give Butt a fair crack.
 
Well from what Misbah has said today, it seems they are going to give him a few more chances.

It's a tricky one - have we already seen that he will he never be good enough for Test cricket or does he deserve a few more chances?
 
Well from what Misbah has said today, it seems they are going to give him a few more chances.

It's a tricky one - have we already seen that he will he never be good enough for Test cricket or does he deserve a few more chances?

2 tests/4 innings is not enough to judge someone on, I feel for a newcomer whether it be home or away the likes of South Africa is never a first easy assignment. Based on his pressure catches he took in the second test he's of great value and finding a good slips fielder like him in Pakistan cricket is like finding a unicorn.

He's got some relatively easy assignments coming his way to prove his worth in Zimbabwae, WI and Bangladesh for this year so he should prove his worth.

I would try out the pair of Imran Butt-Abdullah Shafique now for the next few series.
 
Well from what Misbah has said today, it seems they are going to give him a few more chances.

It's a tricky one - have we already seen that he will he never be good enough for Test cricket or does he deserve a few more chances?

As long as Azhar is the other opener and Saud bats at 3, I don't mind.
 
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2 tests/4 innings is not enough to judge someone on, I feel for a newcomer whether it be home or away the likes of South Africa is never a first easy assignment. Based on his pressure catches he took in the second test he's of great value and finding a good slips fielder like him in Pakistan cricket is like finding a unicorn.

He's got some relatively easy assignments coming his way to prove his worth in Zimbabwae, WI and Bangladesh for this year so he should prove his worth.

I would try out the pair of Imran Butt-Abdullah Shafique now for the next few series.

Problem is he didn't have the credentials to be selected in the national team. His domestic record is abysmal and seeing him batting I do not see anything that might predict future success. By keeping him in the team we are exacerbating the problem.
 
Problem is he didn't have the credentials to be selected in the national team. His domestic record is abysmal and seeing him batting I do not see anything that might predict future success. By keeping him in the team we are exacerbating the problem.

You've selected him now and can't change that in my view now so you have to back him, we have no potential good openers as of yet and it's constantly been a problem in the Pakistan setup. I mean someone mentioned today that i can't remember the last time i made a tea and we were 80-0 which is so true. My duas are with the boy and hope he does well because it would be a shame to lose someone who can actually hold onto a catch, his catches also played a vital role in us winning the second test can you imagine Yasir Shah taking those catches?

Give Imran 2 series and see how he does otherwise we are never gonna have a settled opening pair.
 
Well from what Misbah has said today, it seems they are going to give him a few more chances.

It's a tricky one - have we already seen that he will he never be good enough for Test cricket or does he deserve a few more chances?

Ah of course. Why give chances to better and more deserving players when you can play mediocre ones?

Yay more of Abid/Butt/Azhar top 3 to continue being the worst top 3 in cricket. Exciting.
 
Whether you agree with his initial selection or not he cant be judged on 4 innings

If theyve picked him in the team he needs backing and a good run of say 6 tests before judgements are made

Time will obviously tell whether hes good enough or not but he needs backing
 
Whether you agree with his initial selection or not he cant be judged on 4 innings

If theyve picked him in the team he needs backing and a good run of say 6 tests before judgements are made

Time will obviously tell whether hes good enough or not but he needs backing

I respectfully disagree with you and [MENTION=142432]Titan24[/MENTION] on this.

Sometimes a mistake is made in selecting someone ahead of more deserving alternatives.

Neither Imran Butt nor Saud Shakeel opened in QEA this season, and the selectors chose the wrong player.

And to persist with that is to compound and exacerbate the original mistake.

Imran Butt will never be good enough, unfortunately.
 
You can give a longer than than 4 innings run if you see any talent in an opener but unfortunately Butt has shown nothing to suggest he is even close to international standard at this pint.

For his own sake, he needs to be dropped and let him work on his many weaknesses . He is young and can make a come back after 1-2 years if he improves by a great deal and keep piling up runs.

He is a great slip fielder though, seven seen a better Pakistani slip fielder.
 
Whether you agree with his initial selection or not he cant be judged on 4 innings

If theyve picked him in the team he needs backing and a good run of say 6 tests before judgements are made

Time will obviously tell whether hes good enough or not but he needs backing

Aus picked Alex Doolan, even though he had an 80 odd in his first or second test, he was dropped after his 4th and never picked again and rightly so.

Aaron Finch, same story, 5 tests dropped even though he scored 2 fifties not to say he is their LOI captain and a gun player. Has better FC stats than Butt too.

Vishaul Singh, WI picked him and dropped him after 3 tests never to be picked again.

Callum Ferguson and Nic Maddinson, players with superior FC records than Butt, dropped after 1 test.

The point is, sometimes you simply know when you have made the blunder. Rather than trying to justify it, you need to rectify it.
He hasn't shown any evidence that he belongs at the test level as a batter.
 
Whether you agree with his initial selection or not he cant be judged on 4 innings

If theyve picked him in the team he needs backing and a good run of say 6 tests before judgements are made

Time will obviously tell whether hes good enough or not but he needs backing

Pakistan’s next 4 Tests are against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. He will score against them, keep his place and then get exposed against quality fast bowling. It is basically what happened with Abid Ali.
 
This player is not good enough for even street cricket. He would keep coming back as 2.0, 3.0 and so on.. But results will be same.
 
He badly needs runs but his slip catching is best best ever seen for Pakistan and those catches were priceless

He needs to work with mohammed Yousuf and improve his batting

Even if he could average 35 in test cricket with his catching ability could be priceless for Pakistan
 
Pakistan’s next 4 Tests are against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. He will score against them, keep his place and then get exposed against quality fast bowling. It is basically what happened with Abid Ali.

Kyle Jarvis and Mustafizur are a class above Imran Butt...
 
Kyle Jarvis and Mustafizur are a class above Imran Butt...

I hope he gets found out quickly so we can move to the more superior Abdullah Shafique.

Why not cut the ** and move to Haider Ali and Abdullah as openers now?

Haider Ali
Abdullah Shafique
Saud Shakeel
Babar Azam

That's a quality top 4 which WILL score runs.
 
No a international class test opener but a good slip catcher which helped in winning SA series imagine the catches he took got dropped makes a huge difference.
 
I respectfully disagree with you and [MENTION=142432]Titan24[/MENTION] on this.

Sometimes a mistake is made in selecting someone ahead of more deserving alternatives.

Neither Imran Butt nor Saud Shakeel opened in QEA this season, and the selectors chose the wrong player.

And to persist with that is to compound and exacerbate the original mistake.

Imran Butt will never be good enough, unfortunately.

I agree that a mistake can be made in selection but its not just Imran Butt and there are countless such examples. The problem i think is that there is no accountability and no questions are asked people making mistakes if we look through the history and when a player is dropped after one or two matches it sets a wrong precedent. It naturally creates insecurity among the upcoming players that if they got selected will they ever get a match and if they do will it be one match or two matches. I dont think its the right environment to create for development of any player.

Lets discuss just a few examples out of the pool from last few years:

Usman Salahuddin: Got selected for Eng 2018 tour with a really good FC record. Played one match in the absence of Babar, looked better than some of our veterans and got dropped.

Mohammad Asghar: Got selected as backup of Yasir Shah in 2016 at 18 years of age in Aus and after that Asghar never to debut and in 2018 Bilal Asif came out of nowhere to debut.

Mohmmad Rizwan, Sadaf Hussain and Usman Salahudin’s selection in ODIs in 2012: So these three guys got selected for the WI ODI tour in 2012 and while Usman was given couple of matches after which he was dropped the other two never even get to play a match before being sidelined forever in the case of Sadaf and quite a few years in case of Rizwan.

Zafar Gohar: In 2016 he was almost set to debut before he missed his flight and then somehow he wasnt good enough to be even looked at for 4 years. Again selected for NZ tests in 2020, plays one test and is now dropped.

Players struggling due to transition of selection committee:

Imam ul Haq and Sohail Khan: Were travelling with the team for almost last two years and now without playing a test since a long time, they have been dropped.

These are just few examples from quite a big list.

I might not be huge fan of many of these selections to start with but, my point is how so many mistakes can be made and it carries on without any accountability? Are the selectors not watching the matches live and they are just going by stats?

I think it can possibly sometimes be more to do with the backlash after some poor performances that they make scapegoat out of some players or they just couldnt handle the pressure of backing someone who they think can turn out to be good than it has to do with it being acceptance of the mistake. I cant imagine the possibility of watching someone closely for whole season (I am assuming they do) and then dropping them after never giving them a match or one or two matches. If Pak would have lost the series than Imran Butt would have been an obvious name to go which would have proved my point but, history is there to be seen which will manifest similar examples.

I think its not the right environment to have for young players who might be watching so much of lack of judgment and lack of clarity from the outside.

I am not fan of Imran Butt the current batsman but, he is just going to be another addition to the list of selection mistakes by being dropped after two tests hampering the overall morale of the players in circuit and the environment.

Misbah selected him and Moh Wasim retained him for this series citing his catching as one of the reasons. It is pretty poor if they both are judging someone incorrectly. There is no harm in correcting a mistake but, how many mistakes will be made before being rolled back?

It does happen in other countries as well sometimes but, the scale is much lower based upon what I have observed. This rolling back and correction of mistakes comes at a cost of the overall morale of the team and domestic players so I think that should be kept in mind before making such mistakes.

P.S: So for me its not about Imran Butt rather the culture as a whole which needs to improve.
 
Ah of course. Why give chances to better and more deserving players when you can play mediocre ones?

Yay more of Abid/Butt/Azhar top 3 to continue being the worst top 3 in cricket. Exciting.

Deserving players who ?
 
I hope he gets found out quickly so we can move to the more superior Abdullah Shafique.

Why not cut the ** and move to Haider Ali and Abdullah as openers now?

Haider Ali
Abdullah Shafique
Saud Shakeel
Babar Azam

That's a quality top 4 which WILL score runs.

both haider and abdullah need 1 more season atleast
 
Out for 2 after a slow start - Is this really an international standard batsman?
 
This HAS to be the worst opening combo Pakistan has produced. And I've seen the worst of times when Imran Farhat and Khurram Mazoor used to open
 
“Imam is not ready for Test cricket but Butt is”

– Mohammad Wasim the genius.
 
Out for 2 after a slow start - Is this really an international standard batsman?

Shot selection is diabolical

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Imran Butt in action at Pakistan Intra-squad practice match at NSK ahead of the West Indies tour
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