I still believe Fakhar can bounce back strongly from this rough patch he has had in the last 1-2 years. I back him as Pakistan’s white ball opener in 2021/22.
PCB need to maximize his ability while they can. No doubt he will not have a long international career, but on his day he can play better innings than any batsman in Pakistan.
There are many ways batsmen can get into rough patch - it's a game of instincts and luck plays a big part in it as well. I have seen batsmen coming back from deeper holes than Fakhar - Mark Taylor once went for 17 Tests (Or innings?) without a Test 50, then came back in that 1998 series in PAK; Azharuddin, Lara, Mark Waugh, Gavaskar, Kohli, Tendulkar ... even Viv had severe dip in form, for their standards, but they did make come backs, multiple times. Apart from Bradman, I guess it's more or less true for even every great batsmen in history. But, here the telling difference is that each of these greats were technically far superior than Fakhar - often their issues were focus (like Lara), fitness, off field issues or simply bad luck. But, once they could sort out their issues & luck evens out over time, they made strong comebacks; for example, someone like Lara regained his world record and played some of the best ever Test knocks after the dip of mid/late 90s.
Fakhar's issue is poor (read pathetic) technique - he was riding by his eye sight, reflex, sheer luck & opportunities like opening 5 times against reserves of Bobbey Mughabe's ZIM. Even in his best days, he hardly scored big without a life or two and now he is needing multiple escapes even to hit a 50. If you look at his batting, the guy never looks set; plays too many low percentage shots and looks clumsy while trying to survive - he hardly middles the ball and now his timing is gone as well.
It's a terminal decline and I don't see him coming back. If he can make a comeback, it'll definitely be a great news for PAK for next WC in India in 35 months time - he is officially just 30 now, but if it does happen, I'll be miraculously surprised. Must say, haven't seen anything like that in my experience that a batsman with such poor technique could make a come back after terminal decline into his 30s.
