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[VIDEOS/PICTURES] Is the end getting close for Azhar Ali's career?

Regardless of all the cherry picked stats posted in this thread, Azhar remains our most dependable batsman. Even if the beyond 32 performance decline hypothesis has any merit, Azhar cannot be dropped unless we find a better solution. For a team that is rarely, if ever, able to field 6 decent international class test batsmen, the suggestion of dropping its most consistent performer is beyond ludicrous. Azhar is a solid performer and will make up for his recent lean patch. Perhaps its also time to review the decision to open with Azhar. The management's desire to play an extra bowler (Faheem/Rahat in this case) results in Azhar having to open the innings. Despite his good numbers at the top and his selfless willingness to take on that role, he is much better suited for number 3.
 
Has regressed spectacularly... might be nearing the end. We can't keep carrying passengers like him and Shafiq in the side.
 
Should see his performance in the England tests.His career depends on it though I doubt he will be dropped even then.
 
Didn't he have a Knee Injury which apparently hasn't healed fully. I believe he played in the Sri Lanka series against medical advice and one of the excuses for his poor performance against NZ was the knee problem. I am wondering whether it is a career ending injury.
 
Azhar Ali needs to go. Mickey Arthur has said that you need to excel in at least two disciplines in order to get into the team. Azhar does not excel at any disciplines. As has already been mentioned, even when he does score runs they tend to choke the team into a cycle of negativity.
 
Lol you people don’t deserve good cricketers if you’re calling for azher’s exit. He is probably top 3 test openers in the world right now, going through a dip in form. He might not have the flash or technique of better players, but he has more grit in his pinky than any of you. He deserves a long long rope due to his service, and has earned the right to leave on his own terms. Best bat of the post spot fixing generation for pakistan, give it a rest.
 
Before anybody calls for azher’d head they should be calling for sarfraz’s. If he hadn’t gained so much weight, I wouldn’t criticize him so harshly, but its clear he doesn’t have the commitment to the game that fitter players do. Its only gonna go downhill from here as he gets older, and its clear he hasn’t thought about losing his 2nd trimester nugget.
 
As an opening batsman Azhar averages more than Gavasker Hayden Sehwag Smith Cook Anwar but after a few failures he should be dropped unlikely he will be dropped for some time as in UAE his gritty style will help him return to some form.
 
I dont think its near the end for him. It might just be a dip in form. Too early to make an evaluation.
 
Nope azhar and Shafiq needs to be around this young team until another 2 players have established them selves
 
Junaids said:
I am well aware that Azhar Ali scored lots of runs in Australia on grassless wickets.

But, as I have been writing fo the last three years, he is the same age as Alastair Cook and Salman Butt, whose careers are considered to be on their last legs.

Azhar was a catastrophic failure on the last tour of South Africa.

If he fails in England and South Africa, will there be any excuse for continuing to persist with a veteran in decline?

I believe that no Test team should ever carry more than two players over the age of 30. This not only ensures that teams don’t age and fade together, but allows constant renewal and rejuvenation.

Currently I’m seeing no reason why Sarfraz Ahmed and Asad Shafiq should not be the two players selected beyond the age of 30.
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This post is very ageist. You are starting from a position that somebody over the 30 is automatically (because of his age) less a player than he was prior to 30 because of youthful reflexes. This is simply ageist and incorrect. History is replete with examples of batsmen that have improved with age up to a certain point. Saeed anwar is the most glaring example post 1996 in all kinds of conditions. Truth is many issues affect Azhars batting age is the least of it.
 
Yes, but more because of his style of play. Azhar's game requires incredible concentration and the fitness to bat long hours. While he might not have the ripping muscles that some others do, what he needs is the agility to constantly duck beneath short balls, sway out of the way of bouncers, and swiftness to bring the bat down to grubbers. And don't even get me started on how taxing it is to continuously be a good judge of the ball outside off stump.

I'd put forward another test opener, Murali Vijay, who was also one of the best going around with a defensive mindset, that has started declining pretty fast. Same issues as Azhar as well.
 
Hopefully Not.He's been a quality batsmen but his form hasn't been great lately

Not a Great time for the Test specialists like of Azhar,Pujara and VIjay.They all are struggling with form and age is not on their side
 
Savage said:
Hopefully Not.He's been a quality batsmen but his form hasn't been great lately

Not a Great time for the Test specialists like of Azhar,Pujara and VIjay.They all are struggling with form and age is not on their side
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It's not age, it's the format. Nobody cares if you do well in test, but they become mad if you do bad. Test cricket is dying. Even ECB chairmen admitted English kids don't give a hoot about tests. They don't even know who Cook is lol


Not a single one of the 12693 deliveries that Cook has faced in his record 82 consecutive home Test appearances has been shown on terrestrial television

"Do you think they knew who you were?" asked one of the journalists afterwards.

"They'd been told well!" Cook replied, not even for a split-second protesting the bitter implications of that question.
Click to expand...
 
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He's still our best test player and is pivotal to our chances in England. If he doesnt fire, no way we are getting close to winning any matches. He is a fighter and will surely get out of this rough patch. People are forgetting the runs he has piled on against different oppositions throughout the years. Besides, we have just lost Misbah and YK, we can't afford to lose the next most senior batsman as well.
 
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Joseph Gomes said:
It's not age, it's the format. Nobody cares if you do well in test, but they become mad if you do bad. Test cricket is dying. Even ECB chairmen admitted English kids don't give a hoot about tests. They don't even know who Cook is lol


Not a single one of the 12693 deliveries that Cook has faced in his record 82 consecutive home Test appearances has been shown on terrestrial television
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It's no surprise that Kids are more infatuated with Limited overs cricket as compared to Tests as they don't have the patience to watch 5 day cricket(and this goes for lots of adults also).T20 popularity will only going to increase.

In Future,I don't think we are going to see lots of Test specialst players like Pujara,Vijay,Renshaw or Azhar(although he was part of CT Team that won).While we are going to see lots of players who are only interested in T20s like Pollard,Gayle,Bravo etc.
 
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Savage said:
It's no surprise that Kids are more infatuated with Limited overs cricket as compared to Tests as they don't have the patience to watch 5 day cricket(and this goes for lots of adults also).T20 popularity will only going to increase.

In Future,I don't think we are going to see lots of Test specialst players like Pujara,Vijay,Renshaw or Azhar(although he was part of CT Team that won).While we are going to see lots of players who are only interested in T20s like Pollard,Gayle,Bravo etc.
Click to expand...

Test cricket's death is approaching rapidly. It has been rejected almost universally now. Only the elderly in England and Australia follow test cricket. New Zealand already has stopped playing tests. In the past test cricket was just boring. But now it's become truly irrelevant, leeching off other formats to sustain itself (well it still can't sustain, just about everyone knows it's dying).
 
Azhar is struggling but that asad technique shafiq has to go first. He serves no purpose.
 
what a ridiculous thread.

the guy has been our highest avging batsmen for the last couple of matches?
 
Well he batted with a lot of patience and composure until he played around his front pad there. Shame as he looked well set.
 
people calling for azhars head are straight delusional. They should be forced to follow Umar Akmal and/or shezhad around and facilitate their selfies
 
Lol this is a funny thread. Guy had one bad test against 🇮🇪. Other than that, he's been our best batsman. Looked good out there today, the practice game did him well. People need to remember, he hasn't played a lot of cricket recently so he'd bound to start slowly.
 
Savage said:
Well Azhar wasted lots of deliveries,which is arguably more important than Runs Scored in Test cricket.

He scored 50 of 136 balls.So his actual contribution = (50-136) = -86 runs
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No no no. He did his job. Played out new ball which allowed Shafiq and Babar to come in and play freely.
 
It was a classic Azhar innings, spent ages at the crease but failed to impose himself on the opposition and did not put Pakistan in a commanding position.

The knocks of Shafiq, Babar and Shadab/Fahim were much more crucial than his dead innings.

The game does not move forward when he is at the crease - he needs to bat at a strike rate of 50 or move out.

He suffocates the team with his 35 strike rate, and I am losing patience with him now. You can’t tell by watching him bat that he is into his 9th year in international cricket.
 
Mamoon said:
It was a classic Azhar innings, spent ages at the crease but failed to impose himself on the opposition and did not put Pakistan in a commanding position.

The knocks of Shafiq, Babar and Shadab/Fahim were much more crucial than his dead innings.

The game does not move forward when he is at the crease - he needs to bat at a strike rate of 50 or move out.

He suffocates the team with his 35 strike rate, and I am losing patience with him now. You can’t tell by watching him bat that he is into his 9th year in international cricket.
Click to expand...

Absolute crap :facepalm:

You are just exposing yourself.

Arguably the most important knock of the innings.
 
babajee said:
Absolute crap :facepalm:

You are just exposing yourself.

Arguably the most important knock of the innings.
Click to expand...

I’m done with him, as long as he doesn’t produce the same output at a better strike rate.

I have had enough of his negative tactics.
 
Mamoon said:
It was a classic Azhar innings, spent ages at the crease but failed to impose himself on the opposition and did not put Pakistan in a commanding position.

The knocks of Shafiq, Babar and Shadab/Fahim were much more crucial than his dead innings.

The game does not move forward when he is at the crease - he needs to bat at a strike rate of 50 or move out.

He suffocates the team with his 35 strike rate, and I am losing patience with him now. You can’t tell by watching him bat that he is into his 9th year in international cricket.
Click to expand...

Nah he faced the most challenging conditions from all our batsmen along with Haris.

It was vital he got through that last hour yesterday and the first hour this morning, especially after Imam's early dismissal.

Azhar does have a problem in accelerating but here his method of batting is exactly what the situation called for.
 
Rayyman said:
No no no. He did his job. Played out new ball which allowed Shafiq and Babar to come in and play freely.
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I wasn't being Serious.

Good to see him score some runs.

Form is temporary,Class is Permanent(I know,Old cliche)
 
Mamoon said:
It was a classic Azhar innings, spent ages at the crease but failed to impose himself on the opposition and did not put Pakistan in a commanding position.

The knocks of Shafiq, Babar and Shadab/Fahim were much more crucial than his dead innings.

The game does not move forward when he is at the crease - he needs to bat at a strike rate of 50 or move out.

He suffocates the team with his 35 strike rate, and I am losing patience with him now. You can’t tell by watching him bat that he is into his 9th year in international cricket.
Click to expand...

Azhar Ali is an absolute requirement in our batting order and there is no justification for any criticism especially in test arena. Not long ago Azhar scored a triple ton in Dubai and a double ton in Australia, how many Pakistani greats have done that?

Let him bat the way he does, others should bat around him with him like it happened today. I don't see any reason for any criticism here especially today.
 
Savage said:
Well Azhar wasted lots of deliveries,which is arguably more important than Runs Scored in Test cricket.

He scored 50 of 136 balls.So his actual contribution = (50-136) = -86 runs
Click to expand...

I see you've been taking statistics lessons from Cricket Analyst and WL63whateverhisnamewas :91:

Don't worry, I know you're joking

Abdullah719 said:
View attachment 81738
Click to expand...

You're doing it wrong. You're meant to arrange it by strike rate so he's at the bottom and then highlight a few names in various colours.

Adjust the filter to sneak Umar Akmal in there somehow for bonus points.
 
He is still the best opener in PAK, by some margin. But, they put him at 3, which is not his best spot (worst to me), hence PAK managed to do the miracle - lose 0-2 at UAE to that SRL under Farbrace's coaching ..... that too without Anjelo!!!!!!!
 
One of the best Test openers in the last few years and has earnt his place in the Pakistan team through series upon series of runs scored both at home and away. Form is temporary but class is permanent.
 
The guy had literally ONE bad Test - Ireland. In the match before that versus Sri Lanka, he scored a 50. Its embarrassing how some people want to drop such a key batsman. His innings today even was undoubtedly the most important of all considering he played out the new ball and the threat of a firing Jimmy-Broad duo.
 
Mamoon said:
It was a classic Azhar innings, spent ages at the crease but failed to impose himself on the opposition and did not put Pakistan in a commanding position.

The knocks of Shafiq, Babar and Shadab/Fahim were much more crucial than his dead innings.

The game does not move forward when he is at the crease - he needs to bat at a strike rate of 50 or move out.

He suffocates the team with his 35 strike rate, and I am losing patience with him now. You can’t tell by watching him bat that he is into his 9th year in international cricket.
Click to expand...

Might as well stick to watching IPL with that logic. This is test cricket, not a slogfest. Your criticsm would be valid if he was batting at No 3, but he is opening the innings and therefore blunting the new ball in the process.
 
Solid job from him today. Should never bat at 3 again!!!!!!!

Brilliant test opener. Has issues with acceleration but he does a good job of seeing off the new ball.
 
Ahson8 said:
Might as well stick to watching IPL with that logic. This is test cricket, not a slogfest. Your criticsm would be valid if he was batting at No 3, but he is opening the innings and therefore blunting the new ball in the process.
Click to expand...

It wouldn't have been valid either way. Azhar was batting at the end of day one and the start of day two. They weren't trying to set up a declaration, strike rate was not a concern.
 
Big Mac said:
It wouldn't have been valid either way. Azhar was batting at the end of day one and the start of day two. They weren't trying to set up a declaration, strike rate was not a concern.
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Fair enough, but as an opener its deinitely not an issue at all. Just for the sake of argument, you also have to consider the alternatives Pakistan have, and apart from Fakhar, there's no-one in Pakistan who can bat at a higher S/R as opener. I mean Sami Aslam bats even slower than Azhar does, for instance.
 
The usual suspects are here moaning about his SR.On the second day of a test match in which the home team got out for below 200.Azhar did a very important job yesterday(1st day).He saw off the threat of Broad,Anderson and Wood(who were supposed to destroy us btw,according to these serial moaners).

Azhar scored at a SR of 50 on the second day which is not too bad at all.He scored the most important 50 of the Pak innings.
 
Mamoon said:
I’m done with him, as long as he doesn’t produce the same output at a better strike rate.

I have had enough of his negative tactics.
Click to expand...

He's not Warner, and Warner would never succeed under such testing new ball conditions.

He doesn't need to be a slogfest hack, did the job brilliantly and set up the match for Pak.
 
Big Mac said:
I see you've been taking statistics lessons from Cricket Analyst and WL63whateverhisnamewas :91:

Don't worry, I know you're joking



You're doing it wrong. You're meant to arrange it by strike rate so he's at the bottom and then highlight a few names in various colours.

Adjust the filter to sneak Umar Akmal in there somehow for bonus points.
Click to expand...
oh yes. the good old stats adjustment tricks. :)) Still remember those.

and if you want to add some indian drama effects, call in [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION]
 
Azhar had the hardest job of all. He had to survive last session yesterday and then do it all over again this morning. He gave the start that Pakistan absolutely needed.
 
Both Azhar and Shafiq are on the wrong side of 30 plus Sarfaraz is getting on in the years as well besides his batting form is a huge worry. Harry himself is nearing 30.

There is a possibility of a huge hole in our test batting line up in a couple of years.
 
Ahson8 said:
Might as well stick to watching IPL with that logic. This is test cricket, not a slogfest. Your criticsm would be valid if he was batting at No 3, but he is opening the innings and therefore blunting the new ball in the process.
Click to expand...

Lol, knew this was coming. No need of going to extremes with the generic "IPL" and "slogfest" responses.

Azhar's strike rate is a problem, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the IPL or a slogfest. A strike rate of 35 is counterproductive and inexcusable 9/10 times.

If Azhar produces the same output at a strike rate of 50+, would it be bad for Pakistan and would you complain?

Azhar has done a decent job and plays well within his obvious limitations, but that does not make him immune to criticism.

He is to Test cricket what Misbah was to ODIs. A solid player, but his brand of cricket has had a big hand in some of our defeats in Tests in spite of him scoring runs. For example, his innings in the first Test against Sri Lanka was one of the major reasons for our defeat, even though he was the top-scorer.

Azhar is less of a problem as an opener, but he still is a problem to a good extent. He strangles the team no matter what the situation is.

Those who are defending him based on yesterday's situation, and are attempting to apply context do not get the point. His way of going about things might be useful in certain situations, but the problem is that this is how he bats no matter what the situation is.

He bats like this when he is trying to prevent a collapse (like yesterday), and he bats like this when he comes to the crease against SL when Pakistan are 114/1 on a dead pitch, ends up scoring 85 in 225 deliveries, and Pakistan lose the game by a 21 runs.

Any quality batsman would have scored 20-25 more runs on that pitch after the same number of deliveries, and that was the margin of the defeat in the end.

After 9 years in international cricket and 60 Tests, Azhar should be able to stamp some authority on the opposition. I do agree that opening is the right slot for him, because this is the only position where the team can hide him. He is a disaster everywhere else, especially at number three.
 
Planting his foot down, head tilting towards right and trying to force the ball with cross bat.

He has to fix this issue, got out many times in similar way.
 
he's got major issues in his game, and will never become a great of the game.. nonetheless, he is still crucial to the current Pakistani team, and I don't see him going anywhere anytime soon
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Poor tour of England and Ireland for Azhar Ali:<br>11<br>2<br>4<br>50<br>2<br>4<br>73 runs at an average of 12.17<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/1003237496665321473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Hasn't had a great time since MisYou left. Wasn't great in the Lankan series and has been a disaster here. One of the main reasons Pakistan has struggled.
 
All these years on PP, i've seen almost every one of Junaids' threads backfire spectacularly but i guess he called this earlier than anyone else. Credit where its due :rahat
 
Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq are the Shoaib Malik and Mohammed Hafeez of the test team.

Only one of them can stay.

When the going gets tough that's when I expect these seniors to shoulder the responsibility and lead the team. None of them have in it to do so. We are better off investing in new players.
 
Sirris said:
Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq are the Shoaib Malik and Mohammed Hafeez of the test team.

Only one of them can stay.

When the going gets tough that's when I expect these seniors to shoulder the responsibility and lead the team. None of them have in it to do so. We are better off investing in new players.
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I actually agree.

Azhar Ali is at that end-of-career Flat Track Bully Stage. He failed in South Africa aged 27 and he’s going to be worse just before his 34th birthday.

In terms of the batting, all I can see outside Asia is:

1 Imam-ul-Haq
2 ?
3 ?
4 Asad Shafiq, drinking in the Last Chance Saloon.
5 Babar Azam
6 Shadab Khan
7 Sarfraz Ahmed
8 Faheem Ashraf
 
Junaids said:
I actually agree.

Azhar Ali is at that end-of-career Flat Track Bully Stage. He failed in South Africa aged 27 and he’s going to be worse just before his 34th birthday.

In terms of the batting, all I can see outside Asia is:

1 Imam-ul-Haq
2 ?
3 ?
4 Asad Shafiq, drinking in the Last Chance Saloon.
5 Babar Azam
6 Shadab Khan
7 Sarfraz Ahmed
8 Faheem Ashraf
Click to expand...

I am surprised you still have Sarfraz in the list.
 
Patwari said:
I am surprised you still have Sarfraz in the list.
Click to expand...

Me too.

Players over 30 need to be consistent or leave.

Azhar Ali is 33.

Asad Shafiq is 32.

Sarfraz is 31.

I consider all three to be a series-by-series proposition, and if they can’t survive a minimum of 40 balls in 75% of their innings they need to be dropped.
 
Lol Rubbish.

He is our best batsman.

What other batsman in this team has a ability to score big daddys? Who has been more consistent than him?

He is out of form yes.

He only plays 1 format of the game, and Pakistan barely plays test cricket.

PCB needs to arrange Pakistan A tours so Azhar, Asad, and other players that only play one format can keep busy all year long.
 
Azhar Ali looking woeful with the bat

Seems the bat habits of the past have returned with Azhar Alis batting in quite a few of the test matches this year. Complete negative mindset regardless of match situation. In UK he was walking down the wicket for some bizare reason to the new ball, then get his mindset if blocking for sake of blocking rather then even trying to remotely rotate the strike. The two inns here in UAE The less said the better, he was the main reason pakistan lost all momentum with batting and scoring in 1st inns after platform was set and his 2nd inns was pretty short and awful. Senior player = yes. Has performed in past = Yes.

Right now looks like a walking disaster and his negative attitude at crease isnt helping, if it continues he should be looked to be dropped for a game or two.
 
Azhar Ali could be batting on 150* and still look like he will get out next ball, he is never truly settled at the crease. Also this slump in form has gone on for quite a bit. If Pak has to do well in SA we need Azhar back to his best, otherwise it is curtains for us. I hope he finds some form in the next test. A middle order of Azhar, Haris and Asad is very good but only if all are performing.
 
His form is a real worry. His best position is an opener . Arthur shouldn't tinker with this. Number 3 requires a more dynamic player, once Azhar is forced to score he doesn't last long. As an opener he can bat his own pace and the other batsmen can just bat around him.

If he bats at 3 in South Africa, expect us to be thrashed and Azhar to continue to struggle.
 
He always looks woeful even when he scored so nothing new. The only time he looked good through out his career was those inning in Australia.
 
He had one good year and success got to his head imo. He's probably done now.
 
Lol, he has punched above his weight in his career. He was never a naturally talented batsman and he is not good enough to carry the batting line up. The selectors and team management will lose patience eventually.

His golden patch from 2014 to now is over.
 
He was never good batsman to start with. His purple patch is over. Its time to inject some new players and let these passengers to perform in foreign leagues.
 
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