Was it a good idea to play three left-arm pacers in the first Test vs Australia?

[Suleiman]

It has been a pretty decent start so far for us. Warner back in the shed, probably our biggest threat on these pitches, same with Khawaja.

But did we miss a trick playing all 3 left armers? Just watching Rahat give Smith 2 short freebies and now another one, is really helping Smith here get into the groove here.

Missing Sohail Khan and/or, dare I say it, Mohammad Asif?

 

[LegbreakGoogly]

Never a good idea for sure. Even a half fit Imran jnr would've have done much better.

 

[hur rizvi]

It never is a good idea to play 3 lefties.

 

[Robinson Shrestha]

Rahat Ali is just too mediocre a bowler for my liking..just runs.in and bowls..no thinking..no planning..no expression.whatsoever for a fast bowler..has played too many matches than he deserves..needs to be dropped immediately...bring in Tabish Khan and Mohammad Abbas
.

 

[Speedster777]

Our bowlers wasted the new ball as usual especially Rahat he's just useless. whats beats me how does he get selected again and again? he has been given so many chances yet no signs of improvement.

 

[Speedster777]

The right arm options that we have are just not good enough to be selected. Sohail can't last more than an innings and Imran is nothing more than a trundler.

 

[Faiz]

Which 4 bowlers would you have picked in the starting Xl for the tests vs Aus ?

It should have been Junaid Khan, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Amir & Yasir Shah.

 

[Syed1]

Amir, Asif, Junaid and Yasir.

Unfortunately the PP experts will cry hoarse on the names of Asif and Junaid conveniently forgetting that right now we have even worse bowlers than them in the squad. Rahat, Wahab, Imran and Sohail aren't even good enough to be in the second eleven of a Shield or County side.

 

[TalentSpotterPk]

Asif
Amir
Ali Imran
Yasir

 

[khan_a]

I have no idea why on this forum so much support is given to rahat ali, he is consistently short and gives atleast one boundary ball every over. granted he can swing the ball but that is totally pointless at this level with no control or gameplan as a bowler.

i feel sohail khan's fitness rule him out of contention, how we try and select him in a 4 man attack is baffling. Imran khan is heavily underated out of this squad in a day nighter were seam movement is a bigger asset than swing he should have been picked ahead of rahat.

Aamir is the pick of the pace bowlers at the moment, despite failing to live up to the hype generated by him on this forum. Wahab riaz is your strike bowling option and should be used as such, but with a 4 man attack in which rahat goes for over 4 an over, he can't play to his strenghts.

Ideally the squad of pacers should have been aamir, asif, junaid, imran and wahab.

from the current squad i would have selected aamir, imran, wahab and yasir.

but ideally i would have amir,asif and junaid as my pacers, which gives you two world class new ball bowlers and in junaid a seam bowler who would be a handful underlights especially and atleast give you more control than rahat etc Yasir would come into play later in the test

 

[Speedster777]

Amir
Asif
Junaid
Hassan Ali/ Irfan

 

[Jan Sher]

Imran Khan, Hasan Ali, Hammad Azam and Yasir Shah.

 

[b.lesner]

Sadaf Hussain
yasir Shah
Mohammad aamir
tsbish khan

 

[aloo paratha]

It's not about lefties or righties, one of the lefties who was picked cannot bowl at all, expect this when you select a trash bowler like Rahat.

 

[Flat_Track_Bully]

Sohail and IK should have played.

Rahat and Wahab are trash. We all know that.

 

[MMHS]

What are the other option? Sohail will be inferior than Robin Singh from his 3rd/4th spell; while Imran can be decent stock bowler, but not on this track.

And, I'll bang on to the point once more - poor team selection has left Tour management very little option. PAK actually has taken 17 players to AUS now - drop Nawaz & pick Hamza; drop two of the pacers & pick 2 of Yamin, Adam, Fahim or MoHa - PAK could have played 5123 formation. Sometimes, on field injury worsen at night - if Amir can't bowl or becomes toothless; Smith has a realistic chance of breaking Bradman's 334, if not Hayden's 380!!!!!! Only pacer who could keep things tight, may be out & the other 2 will go at T20 rate after lunch on day 2, if Smith is still there.

 

[Amirforpresident]

Imran should be the 3rd bowler in line after Yasir and Amir. I cant believe people writing him off. He Just took 6 frigging wickets in NZ and he would be a handfull in these conditions where you have to be able to Move it around a little bit.
He has played 8 matches so far with 26 wickets at an average of 26.50 . That's really good compared to our other bowlers whom have average above 33 and 36.

 

[AlphaFighter]

I have to agree. Rahat is the weakest link in the line up. When Pakistan dropped him for Wahab in the England Series, it made the difference and Wahab was able to attack and was the main reason why we won the last test.

 

[ahmadharis1]

I would have used Amir, Junaid Khan, Shah, Sohail Khan

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Obviously you'd like a right-armer but when your options are huff n puff who requires a wheelchair after 15 overs and Imran who can't swing the ball, you're forced into selecting Rahat. If Imran could swing the ball, Mickey would select him.

 

[Justcrazy]

The problem is with selection committe .

How can you play the same squad in UAE , then NZ and again same in Australia ?

It makes no sense.

 

[boomboom6]

Comical decision really especially considering 2 of the lefties are Wahab & Rahat, the 2 most expensive bowlers in the bowling squad

 

[boomboom6]

Obviously you'd like a right-armer but when your options are huff n puff who requires a wheelchair after 15 overs and Imran who can't swing the ball, you're forced into selecting Rahat. If Imran could swing the ball, Mickey would select him.

Yet both Sohail & Imran Jr. (in the only match he played in 1.5 years) out performed Wahab & Rahat.

Plus Sohail offers valuable runs with the bat something which both Riaz & Rahat are absolutely useless at!

 

[boomboom6]

Some people tend to bag on Imran Jr. when the guy has not put a wrong foot so far in his career. He is not going to blow teams away but he keeps it tight and picks up wickets which is oh so crucial for a bowling attack lacking the ability to consistently make scoring difficult for opposition.

Amir, Sohail, and Imran Jr. should be the 3 pacers playing ... ideally you'd have Asif flying over for 2nd test and he could replace Sohail or Imran.

It is time to move on from mediocrity of Rahat & Wahab.