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good start to his career, slot in hurraira at three, move bobby and saud down one and you've got a middle order that can play spin.
Lool why should Hurraira move to 3? To protect our Graeme Smith?
Imam needs to go and make way for Hurraira.
Saud Shakeel is notorious for soft dismissals and for throwing away his wicket when set in domestic cricket. No surprise he is doing the same in international cricket.
Saud Shakeel is notorious for soft dismissals and for throwing away his wicket when set in domestic cricket. No surprise he is doing the same in international cricket.
You are in a need of some positivity in your cricket.
It's impossible to be that negative about everything. Saud Shakeel has had a very good start to his career.
Yeah, he'll definitely be an excellent Test batsman.
Probably not suited for the white ball format, unless he shows something later on today or next game.
At least we unearthed two good players form the series, Saud and Abrar and got rid of one , Azhar , lots of positives .
At least we unearthed two good players form the series, Saud and Abrar and got rid of one , Azhar , lots of positives .
As I said before, I see a tidy player but not with hunger. In many ways a left handed Asad Shafiq
Proving me right here is Saud!
Once he gets that first century, he'll only get more confident and will really start to pile on the runs.
This is also another example of why you need to give the best performing domestic players a chance.
Ghulam, Salahuddin and Huairara need to be given a chance as well.
Positives but a series whitewash is unacceptable. We are minnows in Tests now.
Pretty good chance for Saud to register a first Test century tomorrow.
Looks tidy but lacks hunger. Has had opps to score 3 100s but has never seriously looked like even one. You can quickly see the type that convert and have to be got out, he isnt one.
What makes you think or say that he's not hungry ?
7 years in First class cricket.
Cannot believe that it's taken the selectors until now to pick him in Test cricket.
Typifies the clueless nature of Pakistan selectors and management.
7 years in First class cricket.
Cannot believe that it's taken the selectors until now to pick him in Test cricket.
Typifies the clueless nature of Pakistan selectors and management.
That's because the likes of AA are given decade long careers when they should play a maximum of 30 tests( if that many). If AA was Ind, he would barely a 1st FC player, he definitely wouldn't have played for Australia or SA. He might have played a few tests for England and NZ but for us he has played for 12 years.
The mode of dismissals. He isn't got out, he gets out.
Well our selectors don't like to drop some players struggling, but in other scenarios they drop players after only 1 Test.
He has a great conversion rate at FC level i dont think you can doubt a batsman hunger if he averages over 52 in a 7 season career
He has a great conversion rate at FC level i dont think you can doubt a batsman hunger if he averages over 52 in a 7 season career
Will be out before lunch tomorrow
If he sees them through then shows he’s got balls of steel and shows he has test match potential. If he gets out early then shows he’s a mental midget like the rest
7 seasons!! How is he just debuting
Kamran Ghulam still rotting in the domestics whilst Salman Agha needs one decent season and Shan Masood just needs to speak good English to be in the squad
Tomorrow is acid test for him, not only does he need to get a 100 but needs to try and control inns being only genuine batsmen left.
Worry is i can see him getting out in 1st session tomorrow.
Agha's had several good seasons. These are his QEA averages:
2019/20 - 74
2020/21 - 58
2021/22 - 46
2022/23 - 55
Ideally, these top QEA performers need to be taken on A tours to really gauge their ability. However Ramiz has totally neglected this in favour of pet projects like PJL and drop-ins.
He had only played 3 matches in 2019/20. Kamran and Saud outperformed in the next season(when they all played full season). Even in this season , many batsmen have outperformed him. We also need to look at how someone like Usman Salauddin has scored with grace ball whereas Agha had extremely garbage numbers with grace/Duke balls.
He is a parchi selection. Please make proper comparison.
Ya Allah, Saud kou himnat day century banany ki, Ameen.
He is a defensive player who some how gets out at wrong time every now and then, better to invest in more aggressive batter
Good watertight defense and is good while attacking spin. Should atleast play tests on Asia. Challenge for him is whether he can adjust to the higher bouncing SENA wickets.
Yes thats a test awaits him... Overall good and reliable player to bat at no.4 and 5 in Asia..
Would like to see him get some more muscles built and also improve his range of shots against pacers..
Reminds me of Asim Kamal who was unfairly treated, hopefully that won't happen with Saud now.
Asim Kamal was the Asad Shafiq of his generation. Average & limited player who was never great in domestic either. His ceiling was an average of 35-40.
That was never going to be enough in an era where Pakistan had a middle order of three 50+ averaging batsman in Younis, Yousuf & Inzamam & all-rounders like Afridi, Malik & Razzaq who were also averaging in the 30s with the bat.
In addition, Misbah was knocking on the door who was a superior batsman than Kamal. He was not treated unfairly; he was treated exactly how he deserved to be treated.
If Shafiq was dropped after 12 Tests instead of 77, people same fans who wanted him gone would have stated that he was unfairly treated.
These days, Pakistan’s batting standards are at an all time low. It is almost a borderline minnow team so a batsman like Shakeel who can average 42-44 in the long run at a 50+ SR will definitely get a long rope.
Normally I wouldn’t do you the courtesy of a reply but you are so wrong I can’t stop chuckling. You were probably not born when Asim Kamal made his debut in 2003 and scored 99 against South Africa and continued with a few other high scores before being inexplicably dropped in favour of players like Faisal Iqbal and Shohaib Malik. It’s just the approach pak wanted at the time , misbah was nowhere near his recall..that happened in 2007. Pak were simply experimenting with a bunch of world class middle order all rounders , Malik, hafeez, afridi, razzaq etc. some turned out to be not as good as hoped but if you continually chop and change on a whim you also won’t get the best out of your players.
Asim was nothing like shafique. Technically asad had a broader range of shots and went at a faster clip but as was later proven was good at soft runs but Asim had the ability to play on tough pitches and drop anchor if needed by cutting out all loose strokes. Of course he didn’t help his own cause in his later innings but nobody can deny those 90’s in tough conditions deserved a longer run than Faisal Iqbal got.
Saud Shakeel we will have to wait and see. He definitely is better in this match than his debut in pindi but that was a very flat pitch he ought to have cashed in. I’m worried he’ll be a stroke less wonder cashing in on soft runs ala shafiq
Asim Kamal was average. It is typical Pakistani delusional thinking that he was robbed of a great career.
I saw his entire career starting from his debut. He was no better than someone like Asad Shafiq.
There is a reason why Asim Kamal averaged 33 in First Class cricket after over 120 matches. When you are an average player in First Class cricket (domestic), you are almost always going to be an average Test player.
A player who cannot even average 40+ in domestic cricket was never going to average 40+ in Test cricket.
Asim Kamal was put out to pasture at the right time & it is one of the rare instances where Pakistan did not drag a mediocre player for years before realizing that he is mediocre.
If only they had done the same with Azhar & Shafiq earlier. Thankfully, they didn’t let Asim Kamal, their third brother, drag his career for a decade averaging 37-38.
Asim Kamal had a very good start to his Test career. He did really well against South Africa in 2003 & also played some good knocks in Australia & India.
However, he failed in West Indies in 2005 & at home against England & he was rightfully dropped.
Misbah was scoring heavily in domestic cricket at the time but he couldn’t get into the side because Pakistan had Younis, Yousuf & Inzamam at 3,4,5 & the number 6 position was reserved for an all-rounder.
When Inzamam retired in 2007, Misbah was given preference & Asim Kamal was not given a chance to come back & for good reason because he was struggling in domestic cricket.
In 2006, Faisal Iqbal was given preference & rightly so. He was 6 years younger & outperforming him in domestic cricket.
Asim Kamal did not score quicker than Shafiq. Their strike rates are almost identical. They both have almost identical averages in Test cricket & First Class cricket.
They also had similar demeanors as players - timid, nervous & never looked dominant. The fact that Asim Kamal got out in the 90s a couple of times & never got over the line is an illustration of his lack of confidence.
The only difference between the two was that Shafiq was allowed to play 77 Tests while Kamal was dropped after 15. They were virtually the same players with the same performance & same potential.
If Shafiq would have been dropped in 2011-12 after 15 Tests, you would feel sorry for him today.
I would feel bad for Asim Kamal if he didn’t have such an average domestic career. You have no hope of getting back into the side when you can’t even perform in domestic cricket.
As far as comparisons to Shafique,well Shafique has also had an excellent start to his career but his playing style so far to me is unconvincing. Will have to see how he does in other conditions. He seems too tentative to me and his strike rate is too low. I remember Chappell saying that the mark of a good batsman (way back 20 years ago) was a strike rate of above 50 at least. Striking at 39-41 is not very good and not dominating.
Shafique is very young and very new so hopefully he will pick that up.