What do we make of Imam-ul-Haq's performances?

[Madplayer]

2 hundereds in 5 ODI innings. Some suggest he has done enough being a new player. Some say he is too limited given his track record in domestic cricket as well. Some believe this is his ceiling as far as strike rate is concerned.

What to make of these 100s of his? How to evaluate him as a player? To drop or not to drop? For me he is one of the most confusing players out there in terms of investing in.

 

[mkyawar]

Not impressed. Too limited. If he score 15 of 25 balls against top sides, they will not allow him to make 114 of 120 balls

 

[dauntless]

not good enough despite of the runs he scored. No intent whatsoever another selfish shahzad in making

 

[InziRules]

Not impressed. Too limited. If he score 15 of 25 balls against top sides, they will not allow him to make 114 of 120 balls

Assuming he goes at a run ball from there, he'd be 110 off 120, which again, is not bad.

 

[Madplayer]

Assuming he goes at a run ball from there, he'd be 110 off 120, which again, is not bad.

On a good batting surface, 110 off 120 is not good enough. It would almost always mean that the team achieves a below par total unless someone else scores a 20 ball 50 which is not possible in all matches.

 

[Xoib]

young batsman should be givin a longer rope especially if he shows consistency in scores. Imam I believe is a very good talent who with more experience will get better. One of the best odi openers in the world Rohit Sharma was one of the most frustrating players for good 5 years. Sometimes you have to back a young talent it may not work every time but it is the right way.

 

[Xoib]

On a good batting surface, 110 off 120 is not good enough. It would almost always mean that the team achieves a below par total unless someone else scores a 20 ball 50 which is not possible in all matches.

this is his first game in two months first odi in 6 months naturally he will take time to settle in if he batting like this come game 3 sure you can raise eyebrows but now you should be glad we have a batsman who puts value on his wicket.

 

[Madplayer]

young batsman should be givin a longer rope especially if he shows consistency in scores. Imam I believe is a very good talent who with more experience will get better. One of the best odi openers in the world Rohit Sharma was one of the most frustrating players for good 5 years. Sometimes you have to back a young talent it may not work every time but it is the right way.

Rohit showed power hitting ability early on in his career. Some people believe this strike rate which Imam is playing at today is his ceiling. He plays same way in domestic as well.

 

[InziRules]

this is his first game in two months first odi in 6 months naturally he will take time to settle in if he batting like this come game 3 sure you can raise eyebrows but now you should be glad we have a batsman who puts value on his wicket.

Agree with both your posts. Also, I disagree [MENTION=131678]Madplayer[/MENTION], a 110 off 120 would more often than not see us get 300, if the other batsman play well. Considering how our batting is, nearly 300 against a good team doesn't happen often

 

[Madplayer]

this is his first game in two months first odi in 6 months naturally he will take time to settle in if he batting like this come game 3 sure you can raise eyebrows but now you should be glad we have a batsman who puts value on his wicket.

It is impressive. But i am confused because of his domestic cricket strike rate which doesnt give us much hope.

 

[InziRules]

Rohit showed power hitting ability early on in his career. Some people believe this strike rate which Imam is playing at today is his ceiling. He plays same way in domestic as well.

This is something he can work on. I appreciate our players don't improve much, but power hitting is a lot about power, and that's something you can work on.

It's also what I don't get about Fawad, it's not impossible to bulk up and train if you have to.

 

[babajee]

Hate his batting

 

[Xoib]

It is impressive. But i am confused because of his domestic cricket strike rate which doesnt give us much hope.

young players develop as they play more thats why you give chances to early 20 guys. Kohli developed his power game couple of years after his debut Iman has shown he belongs at this level whether he can become world class can only be deduced if he is givin some time.

 

[Madplayer]

This is something he can work on. I appreciate our players don't improve much, but power hitting is a lot about power, and that's something you can work on.

It's also what I don't get about Fawad, it's not impossible to bulk up and train if you have to.

Have a look at how he is batting in death overs. He is at 125 and he cant even hit a 4. I am willing to wait for him to improve on it but to be honest these sort of players dont inspire much confidence.

 

[UN talkz]

Can't hit at all

 

[UN talkz]

Liability after 35th over

 

[InziRules]

Have a look at how he is batting in death overs. He is at 125 and he cant even hit a 4. I am willing to wait for him to improve on it but to be honest these sort of players dont inspire much confidence.

I agree with most of this, but I can't see any better option, other than Farhan. For this series, he's far better than Hafeez. He's better than Shehzad and Azhar. At least, he's rotating and giving to Asif

 

[Xoib]

we should be glad we have a 22 yr old who has hunger for runs. Power hitting, strike rotation are things you can work on.

 

[mkyawar]

If we want an Imam type player, then it is better to have Azhar Ali. Technically better than Imam and also more experienced and has a good record in England when it comes to ODI. Lets not forget he was the main guy in the chmpions trophy final when Fakhar was struggling.

 

[Madplayer]

I agree with most of this, but I can't see any better option, other than Farhan. For this series, he's far better than Hafeez. He's better than Shehzad and Azhar. At least, he's rotating and giving to Asif

Lets see how he does. From 50 to 100 he played well. Took only 34 balls to get from 50 to 100. But before and after this period he was not so good.

 

[Xoib]

in ideal world Baber needs to open with a stroke player coming in at 3 but unfortunate we do not have one so Imam is probably the best option to partner Fakhar with Babar @ 3

 

[Rayyman]

Infuriating batting. Will be a liability against better opposition.

 

[Xoib]

Lets see how he does. From 50 to 100 he played well. Took only 34 balls to get from 50 to 100. But before and after this period he was not so good.

as I said benefit of doubt its his game in a while if he bats like that by the end of the series then sure question his place.

 

[Madplayer]

Infuriating batting. Will be a liability against better opposition.

He is consistent, he plays long innings which is rare for a Pakistani and then you look at Pakistan's brittle batting line up. He cannot hit big at the end, plays too many dots, looks clueless in death overs, has an above average strike in general. Mix all these factors and i am at sixes and sevens what to make of him.

 

[Hamza_]

Minnow basher and that too at a slow pace.

 

[Tabishbeigh]

He will only improve with due course of time . Yes he has technical issues doesn't have the power game but let's not forget what averages Pakistani openers have had in past decades. A few of them averaged 20 none that I remember averaged over 35. So please don't jump to conclusions. He hasn't even played 10 ODIs

 

[InziRules]

He will only improve with due course of time . Yes he has technical issues doesn't have the power game but let's not forget what averages Pakistani openers have had in past decades. A few of them averaged 20 none that I remember averaged over 35. So please don't jump to conclusions. He hasn't even played 10 ODIs

I'm glad we're getting to a stage where someone like Imam seems out of space. Four years ago, we'd be billing him the future for playing a knock this quickly, when we made 250 look like 400

 

[Xoib]

at the moment he bats like Babar can we can afford two Babar's I dont know but then even babar's output vs quality teams is questionable.

 

[Abdullah719]

Good Test opener.

 

[Markhor]

If you look at the scorecard and see Imam's SR, you'll be asking what's the issue.

But he got off to an extremely slow start with his SR as low as 59 at one point - yes against a weakened Zimbabwe attack you can make up for it but not against better bowlers.

 

[Arham_PakFan]

If you look at the scorecard and see Imam's SR, you'll be asking what's the issue.

But he got off to an extremely slow start with his SR as low as 59 at one point - yes against a weakened Zimbabwe attack you can make up for it but not against better bowlers.

59?It was below 50 for the first 40 balls of his innings.

Better teams would take advantage of his slow SR

 

[Arham_PakFan]

we should be glad we have a 22 yr old who has hunger for runs. Power hitting, strike rotation are things you can work on.

Agreed.Deserves more chances but should not be overhyped.

 

[New Yorker]

If we want an Imam type player, then it is better to have Azhar Ali. Technically better than Imam and also more experienced and has a good record in England when it comes to ODI. Lets not forget he was the main guy in the chmpions trophy final when Fakhar was struggling.

This. I want to move on from Azhar as much as the next Pakistani testosterone adled teenager in search of a T20 bashing opener. But. Azhar did a surprisingly commendable job in the CT trophy, and set the pace early on in the final, if we recall. No other opener barring Fakhar has done better than his CT performances.

Nice to see Sarfraz being busy in the last overs, although unable to hit out as much as one would like, he regularly scores at a good clip. What about trying him as an opener?

 

[moghul]

Impressive, certainly there is a lot of room for improvement but best option available, except the legendary Hafeez.

 

[hussain.r97]

Frustrating and low-quality innings. He is going to be a complete liability to the team, we were about 50 runs short today, mostly because of him.

 

[Deewana Mastana]

Against quality teams he can't get away with scoring at a SR of between 50-65 for most of his runs.

 

[Syed1]

We saw what he was like against NZ.. can only score runs against SL and Zim type teams. That's his level.

 

[Xoib]

We saw what he was like against NZ.. can only score runs against SL and Zim type teams. That's his level.

he played one game. If we judge based on that series then drop half the team

 

[Syed1]

he played one game. If we judge based on that series then drop half the team

He is garbage

 

[the Great Khan]

we should bring back Umar Amin..he hits a better cover drive..

 

[Adijazz1706]

Just bring in an Akmal and get it over with

 

[New Yorker]

Frustrating and low-quality innings. He is going to be a complete liability to the team, we were about 50 runs short today, mostly because of him.

And with Inzi behind him he will keep getting selected now, for another 15 ODIs at least. Will be liability in the WC.

 

[Titan24]

His innings against Ireland in test showed a lot of character.

I think he can improve in terms of intent early in the innings if he works hard.

 

[New Yorker]

Impressive, certainly there is a lot of room for improvement but best option available, except the legendary Hafeez.

Certifiably better than CT trophy Azhar how?

 

[Ellipsism]

As [MENTION=133760]Abdullah719[/MENTION] said, he’s a test bat. Simply doesn’t have that extra gear required in the shorter formats.

 

[hadi123]

He's fine in Tests but not aggressive enough for this format. You can play innings like these against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe but against better teams, his style will only put pressure on others.

 

[InziRules]

As it stands, Imam is going to beat Zimbabwe by 20 runs or so

 

[mmkextreme_1]

I think Mickey should have a talk with him today and let him know that such selfish innings will not be tolerated. Approaches like these causes the team to lose wickets on the other end. We don't want another Ahmed Shahzad.

He needs to be told to develop his hitting game and up his SR. Let him play, if he continues like this, drop him and tell him to go work out his game and then come back.

 

[shaaik]

2 hundereds in 5 ODI innings. Some suggest he has done enough being a new player. Some say he is too limited given his track record in domestic cricket as well. Some believe this is his ceiling as far as strike rate is concerned.

What to make of these 100s of his? How to evaluate him as a player? To drop or not to drop? For me he is one of the most confusing players out there in terms of investing in.

not at all impressed with his limited stroke play, a gargabe player. not cut out for the cricket of this day and age. Needed to make a century of 50 balls max to impress the members here. Never mind this was only his 5th innings in odis. the guy needs to be booted right away for a veteran Hafeez.this should be his last game for pakistan considering we have likes of Richards, Abs and Sachins waiting in the wings...

 

[The_Odd_One]

The most promising young batsman after Babar. Give him some time. Pakistan badly need batsman who can score 100s and he seems to have that capability.

 

[Madplayer]

not at all impressed with his limited stroke play, a gargabe player. not cut out for the cricket of this day and age. Needed to make a century of 50 balls max to impress the members here. Never mind this was only his 5th innings in odis. the guy needs to be booted right away for a veteran Hafeez.this should be his last game for pakistan considering we have likes of Richards, Abs and Sachins waiting in the wings...

) you need to have followed his domestic strike rate to understand what is worrying people here. This strike rate seems to be his ceiling. I hope he proves us wrong. Apart from striking ability he is a good player.

 

[The_Odd_One]

A lot of posters are not seeing the bigger picture.

This is an era of big 100s. Almost all teams have an opener who can play big match winning innings. India has Rohit, Australia has Warner, NZ had Guptil, England has Hales, etc. After Salman Butt, Pakistan has failed to find an opener who has the capability to score 100s. Imam has shown that he has it in him to play these innings. He is very young and has all the time to improve his game. With time, he will learn the art of constructing an impactful inning. The problem with Pakistani fans is that they expect too much from their players. Be it Sarfraz's captaincy or Babar's batting. Have some patience. If he does not improve with time, he will be out like the other openers Pakistan has tried in the last 10 years.

 

[Pete Rose]

I can only repeat. The better odi players play at a fair clip throughout their innings. At no point do they aim for a strike rate of 70 or below (there can be exceptions). Add to that, this performance can against Zimbabwe, what can one say.
He seems like a better test player to me than an odi player.
Thankfully we have tougher odi series coming up: I am hopefully that the odi series against South Africa will malik, hafeez, and suspect new Paksitani players careers.

 

[mak36]

As [MENTION=133760]Abdullah719[/MENTION] said, he’s a test bat. Simply doesn’t have that extra gear required in the shorter formats.

Pretty much. Given he is an opener, his strike rotation today was also pretty worrying.

Either he needs to improve (and quickly) or realise his limitations and stick to tests.

 

[Pete Rose]

A lot of posters are not seeing the bigger picture.

This is an era of big 100s. Almost all teams have an opener who can play big match winning innings. India has Rohit, Australia has Warner, NZ had Guptil, England has Hales, etc. After Salman Butt, Pakistan has failed to find an opener who has the capability to score 100s. Imam has shown that he has it in him to play these innings. He is very young and has all the time to improve his game. With time, he will learn the art of constructing an impactful inning. The problem with Pakistani fans is that they expect too much from their players. Be it Sarfraz's captaincy or Babar's batting. Have some patience. If he does not improve with time, he will be out like the other openers Pakistan has tried in the last 10 years.

Nowehere but Pakistan do you hear the excuse that since xyz player is young he will somehow understand that you dont bat a snail's pace at the top of the innings.

 

[goran]

Has limited ability and completely lacks power game. I don't think he is any better than Azhar or Shehzad. We need someone with the power-hitting ability to partner Fakhar.

 

[Pete Rose]

Pretty much. Given he is an opener, his strike rotation today was also pretty worrying.

Either he needs to improve (and quickly) or realise his limitations and stick to tests.

It wont happen now. He (and malik/hafeez) will have a great odi series, and we have to write off the odi series against South Africa to get the right personnel.

 

[pakistanigoneaussie]

Uninspiring and potential disaster waiting to happen

While you hope he can improve, the signs aren’t there at all

 

[The_Odd_One]

Nowehere but Pakistan do you hear the excuse that since xyz player is young he will somehow understand that you dont bat a snail's pace at the top of the innings.

Do you think any players in this era does not understand that you have bat fast? It is easier said than done. Intent is not a problem here but the ability which can improve with time.

When Imam bats slow, people hate him. When Faheem tries to smash from ball 1 and gets out, people still have problems. There is no middle ground for Pakistani fans.

 

[Pete Rose]

Do you think any players in this era does not understand that you have bat fast? It is easier said than done. Intent is not a problem here but the ability which can improve with time.

When Imam bats slow, people hate him. When Faheem tries to smash from ball 1 and gets out, people still have problems. There is no middle ground for Pakistani fans.

sure that's totally what I said bat like imam or faheem.
Its a professional sport, nobody cares about his intent. Either get out there and do the job or get out of the way. Neither Fakhar Zaman nor Sharjeel had these issues.
This is all just mediocrity.

 

[Pete Rose]

Uninspiring and potential disaster waiting to happen

While you hope he can improve, the signs aren’t there at all

you know how this ends, right?
He will be dropped after South Africa and Inzi will back Azhar Ali becaue "We need senior players who can the (mythical/imaginary) seaming conditions in England in high pressure world cup"

 

[pakistanigoneaussie]

you know how this ends, right?
He will be dropped after South Africa and Inzi will back Azhar Ali becaue "We need senior players who can the (mythical/imaginary) seaming conditions in England in high pressure world cup"

Most likely

I’m sort of numb to it at this stage

 

[mak36]

It wont happen now. He (and malik/hafeez) will have a great odi series, and we have to write off the odi series against South Africa to get the right personnel.

Yes, he will be given a chance now which is why I have said he needs to show quick improvement or be binned.

There are much better options I would like to try from domestic cricket but I accept Imam is probably the best of the current so called "front-runners" (Hafeez, Azhar etc)

 

[Fahdi]

In tests he has shown good character on a few occasions but his technique was found wanting a few times as well. He should get a few more chances as he may have something to offer.

In ODIs he hasn't shown to possess anything of value. He has scored big on a couple of occasions but that has come against weak attacks and his SR hasn't been anything to write home about. So far in ODIs he seems like he will be a slightly better version of Shehzad. Can he improve? surely. But for now I say don't expect much from him.

 

[Pete Rose]

There are much better options I would like to try from domestic cricket but I accept Imam is probably the best of the current so called "front-runners" (Hafeez, Azhar etc)

I would dispute this. It is somewhat easy for a half decent naturally defensive player to accumulate decent scores against lower ranked teams. But it requires a different sort of vision/patience/guess to put a player like Sahibzada Farhan against teams like Zimbabwe. He is a more aggressive player, but he is also more likely to fail before finding his feet.
It takes a certain type of team management to blood naturally aggressive players against weaker teams rather than put their faith in steady players who you know will come undone when they face better teams.

 

[mak36]

I would dispute this. It is somewhat easy for a half decent naturally defensive player to accumulate decent scores against lower ranked teams. But it requires a different sort of vision/patience/guess to put a player like Sahibzada Farhan against teams like Zimbabwe. He is a more aggressive player, but he is also more likely to fail before finding his feet.
It takes a certain type of team management to blood naturally aggressive players against weaker teams rather than put their faith in steady players who you know will come undone when they face better teams.

You have misunderstand my point. As I said, for me there are much better options I would like to try (Zeeshan Malik, Nasir Nawaz, Ahsan Ali etc).

But I realise the players the management are thinking differently and the "front runners" for them are the likes of Imam, Hafeez, Azhar etc. Of those three Imam is the one I would go for. Hope that is clear now.

 

[mak36]

Coming to the topic of his test batting, he has two flaws he needs to iron out:

i) Like a lot of l/h he has an issue with the ball that swings back into him, which makes him an lbw candidate. Has got out that way a few times in his international career (in both ODIs and tests) as well as in domestic cricket.

ii) He has a habit of trying to play expansive drives early on in his innings. This often means he flashes at wide ones and gets caught behind. For a test opener that is a cardinal sin and he really needs to improve his shot selection in that regard.

 

[New Yorker]

A lot of posters are not seeing the bigger picture.

This is an era of big 100s. Almost all teams have an opener who can play big match winning innings. India has Rohit, Australia has Warner, NZ had Guptil, England has Hales, etc. After Salman Butt, Pakistan has failed to find an opener who has the capability to score 100s. Imam has shown that he has it in him to play these innings. He is very young and has all the time to improve his game. With time, he will learn the art of constructing an impactful inning. The problem with Pakistani fans is that they expect too much from their players. Be it Sarfraz's captaincy or Babar's batting. Have some patience. If he does not improve with time, he will be out like the other openers Pakistan has tried in the last 10 years.

It's also the era of 100+ SR. So what is it going to be, if a player can't provide you with both? Why pick someone capable of scoring long rather than fast, and hope that he learns, rather than someone capable of scoring fast, rather than long, and hope he learns? What is to say that Imam will in fact learn, rather than stagnate, like so many Ukmals and Shehzads? Why do we expect someone who has been a rather middling performer in domestics so far, comparatively speaking, to take apart Boult, Starc and Bumrah in 2019? And come to think of it, isn't this would be top order batsman capable of playing a not very fast anchoring innings already available, in the form of Babar?

 

[Madplayer]

Uninspiring and potential disaster waiting to happen

While you hope he can improve, the signs aren’t there at all

In 2018 if a batsman plays 134 deliveries and still cannot reach 100 strike rate against Zimbabwe, something doesnt seem right about it. It should worry us as fans.

 

[The_Odd_One]

sure that's totally what I said bat like imam or faheem.
Its a professional sport, nobody cares about his intent. Either get out there and do the job or get out of the way. Neither Fakhar Zaman nor Sharjeel had these issues.
This is all just mediocrity.

Imam is 22 with just 33 List A games under his belt.

 

[TeymurBlake]

He will make for a good test opener other than that he is quite limited for ODI's. Need to bring in Sahibzada ASAP.

 

[shaaik]

) you need to have followed his domestic strike rate to understand what is worrying people here. This strike rate seems to be his ceiling. I hope he proves us wrong. Apart from striking ability he is a good player.

What was his strike rate today again. I think he's an ideal foil to Fakhar in limited overs. At least the kid has shown that he's appetite for big hunders which we hv been lacking in our openers from the times of saeed Anwar. I will take him any day in the week ahead of his competition which are no match to him honestly. I m sure he can only improve from here.

 

[Abdullah]

In itself it is fine what he done today but we only need one of that kind, and that is babar .

He also shows the correct attitude and desire ( unlike others including Harris)

 

[Abdul]

My favorite.

 

[saeed5646]

Electric fielder and great fitness .his running b/w after facing more than 100 ball was very good.he is still young but need to improve his power game .

 

[Rishta Aunty]

Hard to draw conclusions after just 5 games, especially against such poor attacks. But keep in mind that KL Rahul played most of his early games against Zimbabwe and looked gun even then. Imam has quality, but I don't think he's every going to be a match winner against good attacks. Too much kinks in his technique from what I can see. I'd LOVE to be proven wrong.

 

[Justcrazy]

He needs to improve his ability to find boundaries early on. he needs to make sure he goes at 100 % strike rate in the power play. A few boundaries early on can get his strike rate up.

 

[cricketerB94]

Needs to be persisted with till the end of Asia cup and after that we can judge him somehow.

The team dynamics of Pakistan is such that it is necessary for top 3 to stick around as long as possible so that no. 4 to 6 can play their natural game and do not have to construct an innings. Basically, they are our best (middle order) players of T20 so it is expected from them to fire at the end. They were exposed in New Zealand because no one from top 3 could stick around for 30 overs or so. So Pakistan team needed a player in top 3 along with Babar who can play long innings. Because Babar will not always come to rescue as we saw in New Zealand.

Moreover, I have noticed that he is very comfortable while chasing which is rare for Pakistan batsmen.

For now, I will say that his performance has been satisfactory according to his role. But he needs to find that extra gear. Maybe exposure in PSL will help in this case.

 

[gazza619]

Though Imam is limited, I have noticed that he is selfless. For example he charged down the wicket a couple of times when he was in his 80s and 90s in the previous game. Shows he is not the type of guy who would slow down when nearing a milestone.
You cannot have all top 6 batters being aggressors. Imam has done enough to be persisted with. As he gets older and works out on more muscles, he would get stronger and will be able to improve his big hitting game.

 

[ads101]

The issue is he's come in for Haris. Who doesn't have much power hitting game either. But unlike Haris he's quicker between the wickets and decent fielder. And more experience opening. Haris's pros is he has the technique to handle better bowling, but if Imam can do this too, get bigger scores and is younger than it pressures Haris. Especially since both are left handers too.

And while he didn't have the greatest innings, somehow he finished with a decent strike rate.

I don't really know what we should do. What we need is ideally a decent right handed opener to partner fakhar who doesn't stall SR. The only realistic option I can see to do that is promoting Babar. We're no.1 in T20s and a good part of that I think is the fact that the Babar-Fakhar combo at top is working for us.