What are the odds that Babar, Rizwan and Shaheen Afridi are in Pakistan's ATG Test XI?

[subshakerz]

Assuming they have full careers, will they make it into the ATG XI by the end?

 

[daytrader]

All three have a long career to go so anything is possible. Though given the rich history of our fast bowlers, chances are Shaheen misses out. Easier for batters, Babar and Rizwan are already LOI Pakistani ATGs.

 

[subshakerz]

All three have a long career to go so anything is possible. Though given the rich history of our fast bowlers, chances are Shaheen misses out. Easier for batters, Babar and Rizwan are already LOI Pakistani ATGs.

Assuming all three do make it through, I can see a lineup like this with four pacers and Rizwan at no.6:

Hanif
Anwar
Babar
Miandad
Younis
Rizwan
Imran
Wasim
Waqar
Shaheen
Qadir

 

[Ab Fan]

Babar and Rizwan - Yes
Shaheen - not sure

Anwar and Hanif openers
Javed, Babar and Inzy in middle
Rizwan at 6
Imran at 7
Wasim 8
Saqlain 9
Waqar 10
Shoaib/Shaheen 11

Perfect team, resilient batting, destructive bowling attack.

 

[umerz]

Babar and Shaheen can make it but there is a long way to go.

 

[proud_pakistani]

No chance as we barely play test cricket any more.

 

[Farabi]

LONGGGG way to go before this can even be discussed.

 

[TheSultan]

Personally, the only one out of the 3 with a world class mindset is Shaheen.

Babar - great talent, but he just does not have the edge that the ATGs have. E.g Miandad, Inzi.

Rizwan, I really don’t know what to make of him. He’s good, but there’s something missing, maybe the killer instinct.

Moreover, I always see Babar and Rizwan as staying in their lane - I haven’t either of them transcend.

Shaheen though has always struck me as someone who is looking to improve himself. He adds dimensions to his game. He lifts the team, he’s got excellent leadership qualities too. But he’s got stiff competition with our history.

 

[kingusama92]

It's possible but tough for Shaheen

Imran, Wasim, Waqar, and Qadir are locks. This means he's the 5th bowler and you cut from the batting order.

That's fine but you would end up leaving a big batsman out (i.e. YK, Inzi) for Shaheen, which means he needs a legendary record to make that look reasonable.

Babar has the best shot but Pakistan doesn't play a lot of Test cricket so his record might not look as good.

 

[Suleiman]

Shaheen has the best chance to be an ATG, globally.

Babar may or may not end up as global ATG, but will probably be at least a Pakistani ATG

Rizwan is shaping up to be the best keeper batsman we’ve ever had, no matter how much his haters cry.

 

[subshakerz]

It's possible but tough for Shaheen

Imran, Wasim, Waqar, and Qadir are locks. This means he's the 5th bowler and you cut from the batting order.

That's fine but you would end up leaving a big batsman out (i.e. YK, Inzi) for Shaheen, which means he needs a legendary record to make that look reasonable.

Babar has the best shot but Pakistan doesn't play a lot of Test cricket so his record might not look as good.

I think it can be justified if Rizwan has a good enough record to be No.6, then you have space for four pacers and Qadir.

 

[subshakerz]

Personally, the only one out of the 3 with a world class mindset is Shaheen.

Babar - great talent, but he just does not have the edge that the ATGs have. E.g Miandad, Inzi.

Rizwan, I really don’t know what to make of him. He’s good, but there’s something missing, maybe the killer instinct.

Moreover, I always see Babar and Rizwan as staying in their lane - I haven’t either of them transcend.

Shaheen though has always struck me as someone who is looking to improve himself. He adds dimensions to his game. He lifts the team, he’s got excellent leadership qualities too. But he’s got stiff competition with our history.

Actually, I think Rizwan has the best chance. He is a decent enough keeper and if he ends up averaging 40 plus or close with the bat he is a shoe-in.

Shaheen always has the perils of fitness as a pacer to keep us with. Babar needs an extended run of form.

 

[MenInG]

Shaheen's fitness is the key here, otherwise why not?!

 

[subshakerz]

Shaheen's fitness is the key here, otherwise why not?!

The thing with Shaheen is that he already has 100 wickets at 22 years old. Even with injuries he should easily cross 200 to 250, which is more than any other pacer in Pakistan history outside of the big three. So his challenge is just to maintain good enough form and he should lock in the fourth best pacer spot for Pakistan.

 

[riddu]

babar , rizwan shouldnt be in T20...

 

[Varun]

How come none of your all time XIs contain Inzamam?

 

[subshakerz]

How come none of your all time XIs contain Inzamam?

Because Rizwan is at 6 to accomodate 5-man bowling attack, and Miandad and Younis are ahead of Inzi, and assuming Babar comes in, Inzi would have to make place.

 

[GudduBadmash]

Rizwan makes it as a wicket keeper alone. He's hands down the most agile, athletic and fittest wicket keeper the country has ever produced. People can't even romanticise the keepers of the past because they know Rizwan is far superior.

He just needs to improve his ODI performances otherwise an average of 50+ in T20 and 40+ in Test cricket is damn good.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

Rizwan will probably make it. He is our first keeper who can keep and bat at a decent level.

Babar may get in - but he needs to score daddy hundreds for a few years.

Shaheen - It will be difficult. We will need to evaluate if and when he gets 250 test wickets.

 

[subshakerz]

Rizwan makes it as a wicket keeper alone. He's hands down the most agile, athletic and fittest wicket keeper the country has ever produced. People can't even romanticise the keepers of the past because they know Rizwan is far superior.

He just needs to improve his ODI performances otherwise an average of 50+ in T20 and 40+ in Test cricket is damn good.

Rashid Lateef was more agile than Rizwan and Bari from reports was safer. But Rizwan's batting blows them away.

 

[GudduBadmash]

Rashid Lateef was more agile than Rizwan and Bari from reports was safer. But Rizwan's batting blows them away.

Have never seen Latif take some of the catches that rizwan has pulled off

 

[Rellu_Katta]

Babar will have to compete with Younis for the spot...

Hanif
Anwar
Babar
Miandad
Inzi
Rizwan
Imran Khan (c)
Wasim
Waqar
Qadir
Shaheen

So to get in tht all time XI, has to prove himself better than Younis.. and he is steaming ahead. need to do it for 12-15 years

Shaheen in this lineup give tht perfect 2-2 combo.. 2 lethal left arms and 2 sharp right armers .... ohew.. Wasim + Waqar + Imran + Shaheen .... waow tht is deadly ... closest to this will be Holding + MArshal + Roberts + Garner....

 

[subshakerz]

Have never seen Latif take some of the catches that rizwan has pulled off

With Rashid you didn't need first slip.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q9YqPb4Bu0I

 

[subshakerz]

Babar will have to compete with Younis for the spot...

Hanif
Anwar
Babar
Miandad
Inzi
Rizwan
Imran Khan (c)
Wasim
Waqar
Qadir
Shaheen

So to get in tht all time XI, has to prove himself better than Younis.. and he is steaming ahead. need to do it for 12-15 years

Shaheen in this lineup give tht perfect 2-2 combo.. 2 lethal left arms and 2 sharp right armers .... ohew.. Wasim + Waqar + Imran + Shaheen .... waow tht is deadly ... closest to this will be Holding + MArshal + Roberts + Garner....

I agree with the lineup except I think Younis is clearly better than Inzi at this point

 

[Champ_Pal]

Babar can easily walk into Pakistan's ATG XI.

Rizwan just hit a purple patch. He is not at the level of Anwar, Inzi, Younis or Yousaf to get into ATG XI.

Shaheen is a superstar. But he is still inferior to the likes of W's or Akhtar. It is very hard for any new bowler to be at the level of the 90's Pak pace bowling unit.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Will be hard for Babar to get ahead of Younis, Yousaf, Inzi and Miandad as test batters.

Rizwan can easily make it in the team as we have never had a good wicketkeeper batter. His keeping is already great. If he keeps his batting average over 40, he will certainly make it.

Regarding Shaheen, the 2 certainties as fast bowlers are Wasim and Waqar with Imran as the true allrounder(can bat can bowl). Considering the third specialist pacer, the options we have are Fazal Mahmood, Sarfraz Nawaz, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif.

Asif may have had a short career but anyone who saw him bowl knows he was one of the best we have had. Shoaib is pretty underrated as a test bowler but has the same disadvantage of having played not many tests 46( I believe). Same thing with Fazal Mahmood and Pak didn't play much international cricket during that formative period. Shaheen can surpass Sarfraz Nawaz in a few years easily. But if he can surpass Shoaib Akhtar remains to be seen. A lot of people would pick Fazal Mahmood due to the place in Pakistan Cricket history he has. Shaheen has a good chance though but having seen Shoaib Akhtar and Asif in their peaks, Shaheen has a lot of ground to cover to be as good on the eyes.

 

[Mamoon]

Imran, Wasim and Waqar were great bowlers but also benefited from illegal practices that are harder to get away with in today’s era. Shaheen has a handicap compared to them.

 

[GudduBadmash]

Babar will have to compete with Younis for the spot...

Hanif
Anwar
Babar
Miandad
Inzi
Rizwan
Imran Khan (c)
Wasim
Waqar
Qadir
Shaheen

So to get in tht all time XI, has to prove himself better than Younis.. and he is steaming ahead. need to do it for 12-15 years

Shaheen in this lineup give tht perfect 2-2 combo.. 2 lethal left arms and 2 sharp right armers .... ohew.. Wasim + Waqar + Imran + Shaheen .... waow tht is deadly ... closest to this will be Holding + MArshal + Roberts + Garner....

Younis the Test batsman is heads and shoulders above Babar the Test batsman. There is absolutely no way the guy with a century against every Test playing nation in every Test playing nation and 10K runs doesn't make the Test lineup

 

[subshakerz]

Will be hard for Babar to get ahead of Younis, Yousaf, Inzi and Miandad as test batters.

Rizwan can easily make it in the team as we have never had a good wicketkeeper batter. His keeping is already great. If he keeps his batting average over 40, he will certainly make it.

Regarding Shaheen, the 2 certainties as fast bowlers are Wasim and Waqar with Imran as the true allrounder(can bat can bowl). Considering the third specialist pacer, the options we have are Fazal Mahmood, Sarfraz Nawaz, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif.

Asif may have had a short career but anyone who saw him bowl knows he was one of the best we have had. Shoaib is pretty underrated as a test bowler but has the same disadvantage of having played not many tests 46( I believe). Same thing with Fazal Mahmood and Pak didn't play much international cricket during that formative period. Shaheen can surpass Sarfraz Nawaz in a few years easily. But if he can surpass Shoaib Akhtar remains to be seen. A lot of people would pick Fazal Mahmood due to the place in Pakistan Cricket history he has. Shaheen has a good chance though but having seen Shoaib Akhtar and Asif in their peaks, Shaheen has a lot of ground to cover to be as good on the eyes.

Babar will comfortably surpass Yousuf I think if he plays long enough. Inzi is a bit trickier.

If Shaheen gets over 250 wickets, would be hard to rate Shoaib or Asif ahead of him.

 

[subshakerz]

Babar can easily walk into Pakistan's ATG XI.

Rizwan just hit a purple patch. He is not at the level of Anwar, Inzi, Younis or Yousaf to get into ATG XI.

Shaheen is a superstar. But he is still inferior to the likes of W's or Akhtar. It is very hard for any new bowler to be at the level of the 90's Pak pace bowling unit.

Rizwan is being compared with keepers not batsmen.

 

[shady]

Rizwan has the easiest path to it because the competition is relatively weaker. Babar has to compete with the likes of Miandad, Younis, Inzy, Yousuf, and Zaheer Abbas for middle order spots while Shaheen has to compete with Wasim, Waqar, and Imran. Of the three though, I think Shaheen will have the best test career. He’s the finest cricketer we’ve unearthed in a really long time.

 

[Waleed93]

As of now, Pakistan's all-time Test XI looks like this :

1. Hanif
2. Anwar
3. Miandad
4. Younis
5. Inzamam
6. Imran (C)
7. Latif / Sarfraz / Moin (WK)
8. Wasim
9. Waqar
10. Qadir
11. Shoaib

Babar has a fair chance to get in there.

However, he does have some competition, as the middle order is filled with 3 legendary batsmen.

Technically speaking, he easily trumps Younis, but the latter's sheer amount of runs and the fact that he is the first and only Pakistani batsman till date to reach 10.000 runs gives him a huge edge.

On the other hand, he has Miandad and Inzamam, two great players both in terms of quality and quantity.

Babar has a huge ceiling, and if Pakistan play enough Tests, which I doubt they will, he will most probably score more runs than all three of them.

However, as things stand, Pakistan's FTP shows that Babar will definitely play less games than Younis, Miandad and Inzamam, so the chance of him scoring more career runs than them is low.

Keeping this in mind, he will need to score atleast 8000-8500 runs, to go with atleast 25 hundreds at an average of 50+ to get in the XI.

He most probably make it, at the expense of Inzamam or Younis.

Rizwan's case is relatively easier as he doesn't have to fight the competition as hardly as Babar or Shaheen.

He already is a better keeper than the 3 options I mentionned, possibly the best ever keeper to come out of Pakistan, and he just has to maintain a decent 40-42 average throughout his career to make it.

As far as Shaheen is concerned, he is surely not replacing the 3 big guns. However, I do believe he will easily surpass Shoaib's Test legacy, and come in as the 4th pacer to partner Imran, Wasim and Waqar.

He has age on his side, and with already almost 100 wickets to his name, he has an easy shot at 250 wickets and a decent chance to end up with a wicket tally similar to Imran and Waqar if he manages his injury issues well.

All in all, Babar, Rizwan and Shaheen all have a great to decent chance to get into Pakistan's greatest Test XI. Rizwan and Shaheen will make it more easily than Babar, who should make it as well based on his sheer natural ability.

 

[Ashmal]

Pakistan hardly play tests....so it won't be easy for them, esp Babar and Shaheen.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Babar will comfortably surpass Yousuf I think if he plays long enough. Inzi is a bit trickier.

If Shaheen gets over 250 wickets, would be hard to rate Shoaib or Asif ahead of him.

Yousaf is pretty underrated here. At his peak, he was arguably better than Younis. Not easy for Babar to overtake a guy who averaged 52+ in 90 tests. Before he decided to put his test career on hold by signing for ICL for 1.5, he was I guess averaging 56.

Inzi isn't easy to surpass either. The amount of innings he played with the tail were pretty astonishing.

Babar hasn't taken his batting average over 50 yet. We don't play much tests either.

 

[sweep_shot]

Odds are very good. They should make it to the ATG list (in sha Allah).

Babar is already looking set to be the best batter Pakistan have ever produced.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

The two easiest roles to break into Pakistan's all time test XI are

1. Wicketkeeper.
2. Spinner

Then comes the second opener.

Apart from Hanif Mohammad who is a guaranteed opener, the other two visible options are Saeed Anwar and Saeed Ahmad. After some good gap, are Majid Khan, Sadiq Mohammad and Mohsin Khan. Shoaib Mohammad overachieved as a batter as well but he was way too limited as a batter.

 

[SalimBhai]

Saeed Anwar is an automatic

 

[atreus]

Rizwan will make it , brilliant keeper and also a 40+ averaging test Batsmen right now.

Babar probably can , too hard to say , if he ends with 10k test near 50 then he def will , he already makes one day 11.

Shaheen....not until he becomes an ATG , Pakistan has 4 ATG pacers , he needs to atleast be an ATG to make it

 

[shamaan]

Shaheen will make it alongside Rizwan.
Babar not to sure he's competing with Miadad,Inzamam,Younis

 

[Justcrazy]

NO.

Babaar has to compete with Miandad , Malik , Younis Khan , Inzamam, Yousuf . He has a slim chance.

Shaheen Shah has to compete with Wasim , Waqar , Shoaib , Asif etc

Rizwan with Wasim Bari , Rasheed Latif etc.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Malik was a terrific player against Shane warne. I am not sure babar would survive against Shanew arne.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Shaheen? Averaging 36/51/42 in OZ/England/NZ. also around the same against same teams on any venue. With that stat if he can walk into Pakistan ATG side i will be surprised. So basically others have done worse than that? In current era bowlers have excellent stats.

 

[MenInG]

Babar losing his way now, I feel - hope he makes up for it in Tests and ODIs

 

[shamaan]

Tests

Hanif
Anwar
Javed Miadad
Younis Khan
Inzamam
Rizwan
Imran
Waqar
Wasim
Shaheen
Qadir

 

[Nado_]

How come not many have Zaheer Abbas in their list. But here’s a question (a bit painful) but if Mohammed Asif played a full career would he have been in the ATG eleven , I think yes (sorry to open old wounds but was just thinking about it)

 

[shamaan]

How come not many have Zaheer Abbas in their list. But here’s a question (a bit painful) but if Mohammed Asif played a full career would he have been in the ATG eleven , I think yes (sorry to open old wounds but was just thinking about it)

100% what Asif could do with the ball was unbelievable even Imran Khan said what he could do with the new ball was incredible.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Tests

Hanif
Anwar
Javed Miadad
Younis Khan
Inzamam
Rizwan
Imran
Waqar
Wasim
Shaheen
Qadir

At the moment, both Shoaib Akhtar and Asif are ahead of Asif in terms of the third pacer. Fazal Mahmood is quite ahead of all of them.

 

[wrongun]

Rizwan- yes I think he could.
I don't think the past heroes in contention are all that complete as to be insurmountable. If Rizwan maintains his form I think he'll be the greatest. Especially if Pakistan unearth another excellent spinner in that time, to compliment him or allow him to shine.

Babar- difficult. There's a lot of competition with some huge records and achievements. On Babar's side is his youth, he's definitely got the time to mount a strong case still. To do it he'll have to do well in most of SENA, as strong cricketing nations currently (since likely no India matches)- he had some nice moments in his last tour of Oz at Brisbane and Adelaide (?) so has something to build on. With his age he'll get at least one more tour of those places and maybe even a couple to do it in.

The return of home matches will help grow Babar's reputation of he does well at home- nothing like a generation of fans "who were there when..." to build your legend. So it's possible but hard, when coming up against some real greats and some who had the chance to defeat India.

Shaheen- hard to say. To get past Shoaib, is possible. We haven't seen Shaheen's peak yet. If it is genuinely destructive then he'll have a shot, as he's likely to have greater longevity than Shoaib. Asif is hard to place in these things- maybe best remembered as the one who could have been, but wasn't quite.

So I wouldn't say Shaheen is on track yet. He's very good, excellent even at times but hasn't really built a record vs the best. The emergence of Rauf to compliment him might help- he's had to lead the show from day 1 so far and it's hard to build pressure without a partner in crime.

 

[Officer Barbrady]

Certainly hope all 3 are in there by the time they are done. If huraira Abdullah and Saim are also in there we’d have had a fantastic decade of test cricket!

 

[Kianig89]

RizBar is undoubtedly the best pair in international cricket everybody is in awe with them

 

[shamaan]

At the moment, both Shoaib Akhtar and Asif are ahead of Asif in terms of the third pacer. Fazal Mahmood is quite ahead of all of them.

Sorry who ?

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Sorry who ?

It was a typo. Shoaib Akhtar and Asif are ahead of Shaheen atm.
Fazal Mahmood is easily regarded as the fourth greatest fast bowler of Pak despite a relatively short test career. Was the architect of first victories for Pak. Had 4 10 fers in 34 tests.

 

[Bilal7]

Shaheen probably won't make it but Rizwan is a certainty, as long as he doesn't suddenly lose all form. Averaging around 40 and being very good behind the stumps is good enough.

Babar has a good chance but his competition is still. Miandad, Inzamam, Younis and Yousuf are all great test batsmen.

 

[Ab Fan]

Anwar
Hanif
Younis
Javed
Inzy
Rizwan(wkt)
Imran
Wasim
Saqlain
Shoaib
Waqar

Those who have a case in the XI ( basically 4 more names to complete a 15 man squad):-

Mohammad Yousuf
Rashid Latif(wkt)
Abdul Qadir
Fazal Mahmood

Conclusion - Rizwan gets in there, Babar has quite some way to go as his sample is low and career average is not yet 50. Shaheen would need to get to 50 tests because Akhtar and Fazal Mahmood maintained average of 24-25 for around 50 tests.

 

[shamaan]

It was a typo. Shoaib Akhtar and Asif are ahead of Shaheen atm.
Fazal Mahmood is easily regarded as the fourth greatest fast bowler of Pak despite a relatively short test career. Was the architect of first victories for Pak. Had 4 10 fers in 34 tests.

Of course they are but Shaheen has age on his side.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Of course they are but Shaheen has age on his side.

Yes but the damning thing for Pak pacers has been that not a single one has taken 200 test wickets since Waqar Younis. I do hope for the betterment of Pakistan Cricket Shaheen breaks the shackles and become one of our best.

 

[Bilal7]

Yes but the damning thing for Pak pacers has been that not a single one has taken 200 test wickets since Waqar Younis. I do hope for the betterment of Pakistan Cricket Shaheen breaks the shackles and become one of our best.

I'd rather have ten bowlers take a hundred wickets at an average of 25 than one or two take 200 wickets at an average of 30.

Pakistan simply has a lot of competition when it comes to pace bowlere so the moment someone loses form or suffers an injury, they are replaced by someone better.

Not a bad thing for the team.

 

[Markhor]

Surely people are not already putting Babar ahead of Younis or Inzamam in their all-time XIs. Until Babar scores some matchwinning knocks outside SENA and converts those fifties and hundreds into 150s and 200s like Younis did with regularity, he's not in the conversation for now.

Shaheen has a long way to go too.

Rizwan probably already makes it into an all-time XI given the poverty of quality keeper-batsmen. Wasim Bari and Rashid Latif were excellent glovemen but batting contributions almost nonexistent.

At the moment I'd go: Anwar, Hanif, Miandad, Younis, Inzamam, Imran, Rizwan, Wasim, Waqar, Mushtaq, Saqlain.

An honourable mention goes to Mushtaq Mohammad who if it wasn't for Imran would be our greatest all-rounder and a good captain.

 

[shaz619]

Surely people are not already putting Babar ahead of Younis or Inzamam in their all-time XIs. Until Babar scores some matchwinning knocks outside SENA and converts those fifties and hundreds into 150s and 200s like Younis did with regularity, he's not in the conversation for now.

Shaheen has a long way to go too.

Rizwan probably already makes it into an all-time XI given the poverty of quality keeper-batsmen. Wasim Bari and Rashid Latif were excellent glovemen but batting contributions almost nonexistent.

At the moment I'd go: Anwar, Hanif, Miandad, Younis, Inzamam, Imran, Rizwan, Wasim, Waqar, Mushtaq, Saqlain.

An honourable mention goes to Mushtaq Mohammad who if it wasn't for Imran would be our greatest all-rounder and a good captain.

Who gets into your T20 XI between Riswan and Kamran Akmal, I would imagine those are the two candidates to pick from

 

[Markhor]

Will be hard for Babar to get ahead of Younis, Yousaf, Inzi and Miandad as test batters.

Rizwan can easily make it in the team as we have never had a good wicketkeeper batter. His keeping is already great. If he keeps his batting average over 40, he will certainly make it.

Regarding Shaheen, the 2 certainties as fast bowlers are Wasim and Waqar with Imran as the true allrounder(can bat can bowl). Considering the third specialist pacer, the options we have are Fazal Mahmood, Sarfraz Nawaz, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif.

Asif may have had a short career but anyone who saw him bowl knows he was one of the best we have had. Shoaib is pretty underrated as a test bowler but has the same disadvantage of having played not many tests 46( I believe). Same thing with Fazal Mahmood and Pak didn't play much international cricket during that formative period. Shaheen can surpass Sarfraz Nawaz in a few years easily. But if he can surpass Shoaib Akhtar remains to be seen. A lot of people would pick Fazal Mahmood due to the place in Pakistan Cricket history he has. Shaheen has a good chance though but having seen Shoaib Akhtar and Asif in their peaks, Shaheen has a lot of ground to cover to be as good on the eyes.

Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif were brilliant talents but their character flaws meant they played far less Test cricket than they should've. Fazal Mahmood had incredible stamina and helped put our cricket on the map - although much of his success was on matting wickets not turf.

How come not many have Zaheer Abbas in their list. But here’s a question (a bit painful) but if Mohammed Asif played a full career would he have been in the ATG eleven , I think yes (sorry to open old wounds but was just thinking about it)

Zaheer Abbas was a wonderful player of spin but didn't stand up against the stronger pace attacks of that era.

Who gets into your T20 XI between Riswan and Kamran Akmal, I would imagine those are the two candidates to pick from

Rizwan. Kamran had a decent 12 month period from the 2009 to 2010 T20 WCs but was pretty poor outside of that.

 

[pratiktc]

Shaheen will never make the ATG XI because Wasim

Babar may make it but realistically almost impossible to displace any of YK, Javed or Inzy in middle order. Better bet is for him to displace Anwar and partner Hanif as opener.

Rizwan has best chance of taking wk slot simply because competition is weak. Sarfaraz probably holds pole position at moment but if Rizwan can reach 3k run figure with 35+ avg and score 1-2 memorable impact inns (ala Sarfaraz's day 5 chase vs SL; Kamran's Karachi ton vs India) he should surpass Sarfaraz

 

[hitthestump]

Shaheen will never make the ATG XI because Wasim

Babar may make it but realistically almost impossible to displace any of YK, Javed or Inzy in middle order. Better bet is for him to displace Anwar and partner Hanif as opener.

Shaheen is way, way too young to be ruled out on the basis that another left armer is already in the team. We're still a few years away from seeing his peak. Who knows what that will look like?

Similarly while the names in the middle order are solid none are insurpassable. Babar seems to have the ability to do better in tests than his current stats would suggest. Again, i think he is too young to rule out him making the number 4 position his own at the end of his career. Let's hope he does it.

 

[GLORY OF '92]

No chance for all 3 mental midgets.

Anwar
Hanif
YK
Miandad
Inzy
Moin
Imran
Wasim
Waqar
Qadir
Akhtar

 

[Majestic]

Babar and Rizwan - Maybe
Shaheen - Less likely

 

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

Personally I see none of them making it.

They have to replace Javed, Zaheer, Bari, Wasim, Waqar, Imran. Not easy.

Maybe Rizwan as Pakistan have been poor with keeper batsmen - but only by default.

 

[TheSultan]

None of them make it.

Babar and Rizwan have no cricketing nous and are not real fighters. Rizwan is given this fighter tag just because he plays on when he’s injured or apparently injured. It’s not because he fights it out when the opposition have him under the pump.

There’s no way babar gets in to a middle order when he is competing with the likes of Miandad, Inzi, yousuf, younis and Imran as the all rounder. Even if one of them were injured he’s not getting past Majid Khan and Zaheer Abbas either.


Shaheen has great qualities and is probably the best fast bowler we have produced in the last decade, but he’s unfortunate that we have too many ATGs that will edge him out. Shaheen would easily get in to a post 2000s pak team, but not all time.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif were brilliant talents but their character flaws meant they played far less Test cricket than they should've. Fazal Mahmood had incredible stamina and helped put our cricket on the map - although much of his success was on matting wickets not turf.



Zaheer Abbas was a wonderful player of spin but didn't stand up against the stronger pace attacks of that era.


Rizwan. Kamran had a decent 12 month period from the 2009 to 2010 T20 WCs but was pretty poor outside of that.

Nah this is a narrative that we like to tell ourselves in order to make us feel better about our bowling reserves. Has our pace bowling attack from 2010-present good? The likes of Rahat, Wahab, Imran, Abbas, Ehsan, Talha, Cheema, Tanvir, Sohail, Gul, Amir, Junaid, Hasan etc has hardly been the amongst the top pace lineups at any particular time. Junaid had a good start and faded away after his knee injury in 2014. Amir returned as a military medium prima donna. Abbas had a grand total of 1 good year.

Similarly, Shoaib Akhtar was unavailable for longer time duration than he was missing the games. His replacements Sami, Rana Naved, Khalil, Shahid Nazir etc all failed to rise up and take the baton. Shabbir was the only one who was good consistently yet chucking had him banned for most of the career.

At the end of the day, you're not judged on the potential but what you did with it and longevity is a good parameter to gauge a pacer's success.

Regarding Fazal, would bring back the discussion that it's not his fault that he didn't get to play on turfs. He played in the conditions that were available to him. And great bowlers adapt and he would have done so had he faced the challenge, he would have done well which is the reason he should be ahead of both Shoaib and Asif.