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[VIDEOS/PICTURES] Salman Ali Agha - Will he succeed at the international level?

MenInG

MenInG

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Making his debut for Pakistan vs Sri Lanka in the 1st Test tomorrow.
 
Surprised he's playing ahead of Kamran Ghulam and Saud Shakeel, but with his offspin maybe puts him ahead of the rest.
 
Can't say I'm a fan. Nor do I think he has what it takes to make it on this level. Maybe he will prove me wrong. I don't know.

Still beggars belief though how he managed to leapfrog Saud Shakeel and Kamran Ghulam. Or what Kamran Ghulam did to get dropped from the squad entirely.

If you're not playing Fawad, either one of those two guys should have gotten the nod over Agha Salman, who has seemingly appeared out of the nowhere eventhough he hasn't done anything out of the ordinary in domestic to merit that kind of faith.
 
Salman Ali Agha - Will he succeed at the international level?

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Awarded his Test cap by Mohammad Yousuf in the first Test vs Sri Lanka.
 
Galle, 16 July 2022: For the past twenty years, Salman Ali Agha had a dream. Like every child in Pakistan who holds a bat or a ball, he desired to don the golden star on his chest. That materialised today when he was handed the green cap by Mohammad Yousuf ahead of the first Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Salman had remained on the periphery of the national side in the last two years. He had toured with the team, but never made the cut. However, when that moment arrived, Salman, no matter how much he had anticipated it, was at the loss of words.

This is a special feeling and I cannot put it in words,” he told PCB Digital following the announcement of the Pakistan XI for the first Test.

“I mean, you are being picked to play Test cricket – which is the pinnacle of the game and which is a format every big player in the world wants to play – from the population of 25 crore. This is a feeling that cannot be described, but if I have to, I would say I am very excited and happy.

“The only goal I had when I started playing cricket was to play for Pakistan. Now that eight-year-old kid will be playing for Pakistan. Since, I have gotten to know about my debut, I have been recalling the last 10-15 of my life. I am remembering how I first went to my cricket club – Apollo Cricket Club – and started playing cricket. I am remembering my coach Malik Sarwar. I am going through my whole journey in my head.”

Salman has been in Pakistan’s first-class set-up since February 2013. He has played 68 matches and in the last three seasons, he has turned heads with his outstanding performances in the revamped Quaid-e-Azam Trophy first-class tournament.

Salman was slated in Southern Punjab and since the 2019-20 season, he has been a regular feature in the side. He has played 18 matches for them and scored 1,629 runs at a strong average of 56.19. The 28-year-old has smashed five centuries and eight half-centuries. His off-spin snared 25 wickets.

While Pakistan won their last Test series here 2-1 in 2015, Sri Lanka promise to pose a tough challenge to the visitors following their series levelling comeback win at the very same venue where the two teams meet against Australia earlier in the week.

Salman is up for that challenge. He has been to Sri Lanka before – with Pakistan Shaheens in November last year – and he feels that that experience will prove to be beneficial for him.

“I do have experience of playing in Sri Lanka as I came here in November with Pakistan Shaheens and scored a century,” he said. “We have been training here for the last 10 days and have also played a warm-up match. But, having said that, the conditions in Sri Lanka challenge you and Sri Lanka, at their home, are a tough side. It would be challenging, but Test cricket is all about challenge. I am ready to overcome it and give the best for Pakistan.”

This series is part of the ICC World Test Championship cycle. The second and last Test will be played at Colombo’s R. Premadasa Stadium from 24-28 July. Sri Lanka are ranked third in the ICC World Test Championship, while Pakistan are on fourth.
 
shamaan said:
Finally has got his chance he must take his chance.
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Took a sharp chance that came towards him, the Dickwella catch. Will need to be solid in the field to become a mainstay in the XI

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So ridiculous!!

Saud Shakeel and Kamran Ghulam are far superior to him.

But this is the continous story of Pak cricket, the inferior player will always get a chance somehow.
 
Barragan said:
So ridiculous!!

Saud Shakeel and Kamran Ghulam are far superior to him.

But this is the continous story of Pak cricket, the inferior player will always get a chance somehow.
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Protected seniors like Azhar, parchis like imam are reason why fringe players like saud/ghulam arent being picked.
 
Babar as Captain is too scared. He must understand that his place is permanent, giving chance to Shan or Kamran wont hurt him. Infact it will make him stronger captain ......a winner
 
Doesnt look Test quality, should have played saud shakeel or picked Kamran Ghulam in squad.
 
Not a good place to debut . Spin web of srilanka is dangerous
 
Being used as a front line spinner.

Disaster this.
 
He will get dropped so fawad can come back and fail as well.

Kamran Ghulam or saud shakeel who both did well on SL "A" tour here should have been picked.
 
He was playing in the Birmingham parks league 4 weeks ago and I hoping I am wrong but perhaps this is where he should have stayed.
 
He looked pretty ordinary. Watched few overs but doesn't seem to have anything going for him to play at this level as a spinner. I feel Sehwag, Root, Mark Waugh, were all much better and probably could have played as full time spinners if this is the standard. I am sure Pakistan has better spinners. They need to stop playing bits and pieces players in test matches. Allrounders should walk into team on one skill alone. Jadeja, Ashwin walk in as bowlers in SC and their batting is a bonus. Pak should look for such players and if they are not around, just play a good bowler and hope your top order gets enough on the board. Playing players like this makes both your batting and bowling week
 
His spin bowling ability is not better than Kane Williamson or Joe Root.

His batting FC is lower than many batsmen in the domestic circuit. How did he get picked?
 
Tough ask to pick an occasional spinner in Sri Lanka.

The Lankans see this type of bowler day in day out.

If he doesn't do well with the bat in the 2nd innings, a lot of questions are going to be asked.
 
What has kamran ghulam who avges 48 in domestic fc cricket got to do to get a game in such a poor lineup?

And whats with the bits and pieces players? If they wanted another spinner they shouldve dropped a pacer and picked a proper one

This is test cricket not t20 cricket
 
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Saj said:
Tough ask to pick an occasional spinner in Sri Lanka.

The Lankans see this type of bowler day in day out.

If he doesn't do well with the bat in the 2nd innings, a lot of questions are going to be asked.
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I have a feeling that he was supposed to be a gap-filler but because MN, YS and NS have not been able to take wickets at a rate that we need, Babar using him more than he should!
 
He was a poor T20 player for Lahore Qalandars too. Overrated in the domestic circuit and he comes across as quite smirky/arrogant from what I have seen of him.

I think he is mates with Babar or someone in the hierarchy so he will get more favours.
 
Who appears decent enough. Need to give him a few series to prove himself.
 
Salman has a chance to be a hero tonight contributing in a record chase. Needs to play sensibly to take his chance and guide us home
 
Absolute garbage player, just shows how corrupt pakistan selection is when this fraud was selected over saud Shakeel and Kamran Ghulam.
 
Only saw a few balls of him batting.

Sometimes its the nerves. You cant just drop a player after one test match.
 
gazza619 said:
Only saw a few balls of him batting.

Sometimes its the nerves. You cant just drop a player after one test match.
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Yes and doing so shows the maturity levels of our selectors too!
 
Whatever the outcome of this match, the selectors need sacking for making some very stupid decisions - the latest of many.

Playing this guy Agha ahead of Shan is mind boggling.
Continuing to persist with Azhar - sigh.
 
Don't know why he was picked ahead of Saud, Fawad or even Faheem. Faheem is much better batsman than this so called batting all-rounder.
 
The Googly said:
Whatever the outcome of this match, the selectors need sacking for making some very stupid decisions - the latest of many.

Playing this guy Agha ahead of Shan is mind boggling.
Continuing to persist with Azhar - sigh.
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playing 11 is selected by the captain
 
so we have has Saad Ali, Saud Shakeel and kamran ghulam in various test squads; none of them get a game and then Agha out of nowhere gets picked as the next in line. just shows how clueless and zero planning their is from selectors and team think tank.
 
mazkhan said:
Why was fawad alam dropped for this guy
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Was Fawad Alam sick or injured?
Makes no sense to play Salma Agha in his place. Fawad was doing so well before the Australian series. One bad series and the poor Fawad is dropped. While failures like Asad Shafiq end up playing 77 tests. Azhar Ali also is at the end of his career but gets ample chances.
 
Amjid Javed said:
so we have has Saad Ali, Saud Shakeel and kamran ghulam in various test squads; none of them get a game and then Agha out of nowhere gets picked as the next in line. just shows how clueless and zero planning their is from selectors and team think tank.
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That's what it looks like. He played in the Parks league 4 weeks ago and then gets picked for the PK test team. Something not right
 
cricketAXEpert said:
Was Fawad Alam sick or injured?
Makes no sense to play Salma Agha in his place. Fawad was doing so well before the Australian series. One bad series and the poor Fawad is dropped. While failures like Asad Shafiq end up playing 77 tests. Azhar Ali also is at the end of his career but gets ample chances.
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Fawad is done, its not 1 bad series. he was exposed against high quality fast bowling. only mistake was replacing him with a village cricketer.
 
cricketAXEpert said:
Was Fawad Alam sick or injured?
Makes no sense to play Salma Agha in his place. Fawad was doing so well before the Australian series. One bad series and the poor Fawad is dropped. While failures like Asad Shafiq end up playing 77 tests. Azhar Ali also is at the end of his career but gets ample chances.
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Agreed. Although Fawad isn't entirely comfortable vs quality pace, we know he can tame the spinners and has a good record vs SL.

It seems the thinking behind Agha's selection was having a varied spin attack with an offie, leggie and SLA. However I don't agree with having variety for variety's sake, and Agha seems part time at best.
 
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Yes Babar shouldn't have picked him in the team but Wasim also shouldn't have aswell.
 
According to some reports, he will retain his position in the XI - fair call?
 
MenInG said:
According to some reports, he will retain his position in the XI - fair call?
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Not at all.

Him getting into the team over Saud and Kamran was not a fair call to begin with.
Just because he got in somehow doesn't make him more deserving.

Saud should get his chance instead.
 
MenInG said:
According to some reports, he will retain his position in the XI - fair call?
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Not a fair call because he didnt deserve to be there in the first place. Poor decision by Wasim to select him in the squad and an even worse decision by Babar to select him in the playing XI. On merit, Saud or Kamran deserve a spot in the test top 6.
 
Salman is a very poor player with no defence .... so at international level he has been found out
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
They are playing him again :facepalm
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Makes no sense. If you have Yasir, Nauman, and Nawaz, you're not going to use him really as a fourth spinner. Why would you play him as a batsman over Saud or Shan or Fawad? Especially given that Saud is a pretty handy bowler.
 
He should never have been picked but after he was,he needs to play the 2nd. If he was good enough( which he wasn't) a week ago,he is good enough this week. A poor selection by Babar or Saqi or both. Shows a lack of basic cricketing knowledge. Maybe they have seen something we haven't. Either way we will find out.
 
Anis Shivani said:
Makes no sense. If you have Yasir, Nauman, and Nawaz, you're not going to use him really as a fourth spinner. Why would you play him as a batsman over Saud or Shan or Fawad? Especially given that Saud is a pretty handy bowler.
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He's not even a proper all-rounder. He's a frickin' part-timer with the ball. How in the world do they see him as an all-rounder?
 
Anis Shivani said:
Makes no sense. If you have Yasir, Nauman, and Nawaz, you're not going to use him really as a fourth spinner. Why would you play him as a batsman over Saud or Shan or Fawad? Especially given that Saud is a pretty handy bowler.
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He's not even a proper all-rounder. He's a frickin' part-timer with the ball. How in the world do they see him as an all-rounder?
 
pakistanigoneaussie said:
On principal you have to give him another game
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On principal, he should never have been picked ahead of Fawad, Saud, Kamran Ghulam, Saad Ali etc.

He is good for 10-15 runs at the most (I might be giving him a little benefit of doubt)...Sri Lanka will have to win against 10 guys well before the game has even started!
 
On other threads we see posters crying out for all the "young spinners" we have in Pakistan to be given chances.

Well here you go. This is the quality of our young spinners. Now do you see why Yasir still gets into the side [MENTION=149917]Marooned[/MENTION]?
 
hitthestump said:
On other threads we see posters crying out for all the "young spinners" we have in Pakistan to be given chances.

Well here you go. This is the quality of our young spinners. Now do you see why Yasir still gets into the side [MENTION=149917]Marooned[/MENTION]?
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He is not a proper spinner, he's an average batsman who can bowl a bit of mediocre offspin. Domestic level player at best.
 
hitthestump said:
On other threads we see posters crying out for all the "young spinners" we have in Pakistan to be given chances.

Well here you go. This is the quality of our young spinners. Now do you see why Yasir still gets into the side [MENTION=149917]Marooned[/MENTION]?
Click to expand...

He isn't a spinner. He is a batsman who can bowl a bit. Like Kamran and Saud.

I've lost count of the many times I've actually named the young spinners who should be tried and why. Not sure if you ignore on purpose or what.

But anyway here you go. Nawaz, Shadab, Ashgar, Gohar, Ali Usman, Saifi Abdullah.
Mubasir in a couple of years.
 
Credit where credit is due. He has played a good innings under pressure when everyone else failed.
 
Agha was getting slated a bit yesterday and prior but playing really well.
 
Decent effort.
Have nothing against the guy, he is far from bad but he is keeping off more deserving players and messing up our team building in the process.
This (in all probability) meaningless innings will only further complicate matters.
 
Marooned said:
Decent effort.
Have nothing against the guy, he is far from bad but he is keeping off more deserving players and messing up our team building in the process.
This (in all probability) meaningless innings will only further complicate matters.
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How can this be a meaningless innings?

Geez the guy is your highest scorer in the innings and even that is an issue for some.
 
gazza619 said:
How can this be a meaningless innings?

Geez the guy is your highest scorer in the innings and even that is an issue for some.
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Well it can prove to be important yet but there's very little chance of that.
The gist of my post was something else.
 
Marooned said:
Decent effort.
Have nothing against the guy, he is far from bad but he is keeping off more deserving players and messing up our team building in the process.
This (in all probability) meaningless innings will only further complicate matters.
Click to expand...

I dont think it should complicate the matters. With him in the reckoning alongside Kamran and Saud we can have a solid 5th bowling option between any two of these. So that will open up another combination, not to forget Salman offers that off spin variety (Which needs tons of improvement but, is there).

Not saying this should be the combination but, it can be if we need more batting depth alongside 4 specialist bowlers.

Always good to have players competing for the positions and more combinations available. Yes can cause issues if we make poor combinations out of them as we have done in this series.
 
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Titan24 said:
I dont think it should complicate the matters. With him in the reckoning alongside Kamran and Saud we can have a solid 5th bowling option between any two of these. So that will open up another combination, not to forget Salman offers that off spin variety (Which needs tons of improvement but, is there).

Not saying this should be the combination but, it can be if we need more batting depth alongside 4 specialist bowlers.

Always good to have players competing for the positions and more combinations available. Yes can cause issues if we make poor combinations out of them as we have done in this series. However, with good tactics these options can be luxuries.
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Competition is always good and I don't mind him in the squad post Azhar-Fawad. The issue is we play very few tests. Now we are effectively giving Agha his chance to prove himself 1st. That pushes them further back.
Alternatively, we can drop both Azhar and Fawad for good, that creates an additional space. I don't see that happening though.
 
Credit where it's due, he batted really well and better than the bigger names and more experienced batters in the Pakistan side.

He'll be disappointed with the way he got out and the timing of his dismissal.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Agha Salman "I have always said that Mohammad Yousuf has been my batting idol, I have always looked up to him and always tried to copy him. Amongst other international players, I loved Michael Clarke's batting" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a> <a href="https://t.co/gb0le9pmDZ">pic.twitter.com/gb0le9pmDZ</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/SajSadiqCricket/status/1551634553642647552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 25, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
shamaan said:
Even with his runs this is a poor selection.
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Still played better than all the other batsmen. Why is he a poor selection? Major step up from Azhar imo, at least he can attack!
 
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