What should Pakistan's starting XI be for the 2019 World Cup?

[barah_admi]

This is the big question and for me, the top 3 are set in stone but questions still rage about the middle order and the bowling unit. I think the best possible combination for the first game is:

1. Imam ul Haq
2. Fakhar Zaman
3. Babar Azam
4. Muhammad Hafeez (in for his bowling)
5. Sarfraz Ahmed (sadly) wk/c
6. Asif Ali
7. Imad Wasim
8. Shadab Khan
9. Hasan Ali
10. Muhammad Amir (Shaheen needs a break)
11. Muhammad Husnain (in for pace alone)

 

[shamaan]

imam
fakhar
babar
sohail
sarfraz
hafeez (asif)
imad
shadab
hassan
amir
wahab

 

[hur rizvi]

I think wahab bowled himself into XI and shahen bowled himself out of XI

Hasan and Amir open bowling

Hasan should bowl on 7 on trot
Amir should bowl 6 on trot

First change Imad
Second change Shadab

Wahab comes in at minimum 20+ over mark for his first spell

Pakistan need to stick with this even if results don’t start coming

 

[hur rizvi]

Next warm up

Rest imad and try all pacers

Last chance for shahen

 

[hisham_ashraf]

Imam
Fakhar
Babar
Haris
Sarfaraz
Asif
Imad
Shadab
Hasan
Wahab
Shaheen

Play Hafeez in the matches against spin heavy teams.

 

[asadee]

Drop Haris he is useless

 

[sshakir411]

Imam
Fakhar
Babar
Sarfraz
Malik/Haris
Asif/Hafeez
Shadab
Imad
Hassan
Amir/Hasnain/Shaheen
Wahab

This is probably your best line up. Sarfraz needs to bat at 4. He is useless down the order and the batting line up isn't balanced. One of Malik and Hafeez should be in unfortunately because of experience. Haris and Asia together cannot handle the pressure.

 

[barah_admi]

It is remarkable that Riaz, the same guy who cant pick wickets and gives away too many runs is now an automatic pick. What is the basis of this? A decent domestic season? A decent warm up game?

 

[Hasan]

Let the team management decide, they know better and have the necessary information.

 

[lahoriyah1234]

Please drop imam or malik both cant play, dot kings they are. Malik was blocking against Afg as if he is facing brett lee and shane warne. Pathetic from him, couldn’t even connect a ball to a six on a small ground.

My Team.

Fakhar
Asif Ali worth trying
Babar
Harris
Sarfraz
Hafeez
Imad
Shadab
Amir
Hassan Ali
Shaheen

 

[Shaka81]

1. Fakhar
2. Imam
3. Babar
4. Sarfraz
5. Hafeez
6. Asif
7. Imad
8. Shadab
9. Hasan
10. Wahab
11. Amir

Shaheen would've been there but he's completely off form. Hasnain is too raw and wayward right now. Malik is finished at the top level and Haris is too unfit and really lackadaisical whether running between wickets or fielding.

 

[hur rizvi]

Let the team management decide, they know better and have the necessary information.

LOL obviously they are deciding but this is a discussion forum meant for discussion of these things

 

[Ami]

1. Fakhar
2. Imam
3. Babar
4. Sarfraz
5. Hafeez
6. Asif
7. Imad
8. Shadab
9. Hasan
10. Wahab
11. Amir

Shaheen would've been there but he's completely off form. Hasnain is too raw and wayward right now. Malik is finished at the top level and Haris is too unfit and really lackadaisical whether running between wickets or fielding.

I second that.

 

[Babloo]

Imam
Fakhar
Babar
Haris
Sarfraz
Hafeez
Imad
Shahdab
Hassan
Amir
Wahab

Hafeez needs to bowl his full 10 overs against Bangladesh tomorrow to find his line and length...considering he hasn't bowled much recently. His bowling will be very crucial for Pak in this WC. Also, please keep the other 38 year old away from the playing 11. His not good enough to solely play as batsmen.

 

[Snowflake]

Do we know when Asif will join the team?

 

[Abdullah]

I think wahab bowled himself into XI and shahen bowled himself out of XI

Hasan and Amir open bowling

Hasan should bowl on 7 on trot
Amir should bowl 6 on trot

First change Imad
Second change Shadab

Wahab comes in at minimum 20+ over mark for his first spell

Pakistan need to stick with this even if results don’t start coming

I don't fully agree with that as batters will line bowlers up if they bowl that many consecutive overs. Also u need option of 3 spells from your quicks, so you have to get a couple of overs in each from Imad and wahab in first 13.

I agree wahab should bowl most of his overs from middle towards the back end.

 

[akmalfamilyfan]

Get what you are saying bro, and you are probably right too. But I would include Wahab solely based on that one over which he proved that he will actually go for yorkers. For some unknown reason our pacers refuse to bowl yorkers. A couple of good overs in the death with yorkers could be the difference maker. Amir or Shaheen can be removed.

 

[ShahidDar08]

Imam Ul Haq
Fakhar Zaman
Babar Azam
Sarfaraz Ahmad
Shoaib Malik
Mohammad Hafeez
Imad Wasim
Shadab Khan
Hasan Ali
Wahab Riaz
Mohammad Amir

 

[Maliq_Mudasir]

Fakhar Zaman
Imam ul Haq
Babar Azam
Sarfaraz Ahmad
Mohammad Hafeez
Asif Ali
Imad Wasim
Shadab Khan
Hasan Ali
Mohammad Amir
Shaheen Afridi

Open bowling with Mohammad Amir and Hasan Ali.

Against WI spin will play vital role. Need to bowl at least 60% of spin shared by Imad Shadab, Hafeez and Fakhar.

 

[sl-fan-of-pak]

Fakhar
Imam
Babar
Haris
Sarfaraz
Hafeez
Asif Ali
Imad
Hasan Ali
Wahab
Amir

Nothing much to say about the top 3. Haris and Hafeez will have to take care of the 5th bowlers spot.

Asif Ali needs practice. He needs to be there.

Imad instead of Shadab, Shadab will get hit allover the place, Imad can atleast mitigate the damage. Plus he's a better bat than Shadab.

Windies power hitters will love Hasnain's pace and Shaheens wayward bowling.

Wahab is in for his reverse swing. Amir (4) - Hasan (2)- Imad (4) will have to share the new ball. Hafeez (4) & Harris (3) can bowl a few with Hasan (3) until the 20th over. Only then should Wahab come. Wahab needs to bowl 4 of the last 10 overs. Amir (3) and Hasan (3) need to bowl the rest. Overs 20 to 40, will have Hasan (2) coming in at the latter half, Wahab in two, 3 over (6) short bursts bowling with a spinner on the other end. The remaining 12 will have to be managed by Imad (6) , Hafeez & Haris (6)

The ball used by Imad needs to be saved for reverse swing, as he tends to land one side of the ball on the pitch.

 

[Khwaja78]

If we had a better system and not biased cretins in the setup this would be a good team:

Sharjeel Khan
Fakhar Zaman
Abid Ali/Rizwan Hussain
Haris Sohail/Saud Shakeel
Sarfraz Ahmed(c)
Asif Ali
Shadab Khan
Hasan Ali
Mohammad Amir
Junaid Khan
Hasnain / Bilal Asif

 

[Taaya]

If we had a better system and not biased cretins in the setup this would be a good team:

Sharjeel Khan
Fakhar Zaman
Abid Ali/Rizwan Hussain
Haris Sohail/Saud Shakeel
Sarfraz Ahmed(c)
Asif Ali
Shadab Khan
Hasan Ali
Mohammad Amir
Junaid Khan
Hasnain / Bilal Asif

You lost all credibility when you dropped Babar from the side. Hilarious.

 

[Officer Barbrady]

Imad
Fakhar
Babar
Haris
Sarfraz
Asif Ali
Imad
Shadab
Hasan Ali
Wahab
Amir

This is our best 11 I believe. Strong top order with Haris at 4 - in case we lose early wickets or the conditions help the seamers. Asif at 6 for some power hitting later in the inning and we bat through to #10. With the bowling, we have pace/reverse (Wahab), swing or at least control (Amir) and some zip (hasan) complemented by legspin (a hopefully in form Shadab) and left arm spin (Imad). We would be lacking a proper 6th bowler and Haris would need to chip in with a couple of tidy overs.

 

[saeed5646]

Combination depend on condition and pitch on that day.For the first match we should definitely play shadab,imad with hafeez,malik supporting spinners .my lineup
Fakhar zaman
Imam
Babar
Hafeez
Sarfraz
Malik
Imad
Shadab
Hasan
Shaheen
Amir/wahab

 

[moghul]

Let the team management decide, they know better and have the necessary information.

Thanks for your valuable contribution to the discussion.

 

[Captain caveman]

Imad
Fakhar
Babar
Haris
Sarfraz
Asif Ali
Imad
Shadab
Hasan Ali
Wahab
Amir

This is our best 11 I believe. Strong top order with Haris at 4 - in case we lose early wickets or the conditions help the seamers. Asif at 6 for some power hitting later in the inning and we bat through to #10. With the bowling, we have pace/reverse (Wahab), swing or at least control (Amir) and some zip (hasan) complemented by legspin (a hopefully in form Shadab) and left arm spin (Imad). We would be lacking a proper 6th bowler and Haris would need to chip in with a couple of tidy overs.

I take it you meant imam at 1.
Yeah, agree with you 100%. Lets hope mickey does as well.

 

[salman24]

Imam
Fakhar
Babar
Haris
Sarfraz
Hafeez
Asif
Imad
Hasan
Wahab
Amir

 

[Sultan Baba]

Fakhar
Hafeez/Imam
Babar
Malik
Sarfraz(wk)(c)
Asif/Hafeez
Imad
Shadab
Wahab
Hassan
Amir

 

[LondonFan]

I think the warm up game vs Afghanistan was a little red herring. When batting, it looked like Shoaib Malik and Hafeez were looking for time in the middle, I don't expect them to bat so slowly when it comes to the real competition.

1. Fakhar Zaman
2. Imam ul Haq
3. Babar Azam
4. Hafeez / Sohail
5. Sarfraz (wk / c)
6. Asif / Malik
7. Imad / Asif
8. Shadab Khan
9. Mohammed Amir
10. Hassan Ali
11. Wahab / Shaheen

I think there are some dilemmas:

1. Number 4 - I believe Haris is seen as the best batsman out of Hafeez, Malik and himself - however Hafeez is the most reliable bowler of the 3, Malik the best fielder and I sense with West Indies having so many left handers Hafeez will get the nod.

2. Number 6/7 - Whilst Imad has bowled well, and also batted well in recent times - I wonder if the selectors will trust that Malik / Hafeez can bowl 10 overs between them and lengthen the batting i.e. 4 bowlers + Malik / Hafeez

3. Fast bowlers - I think Hassan Ali and Amir are 100% starters, Amir's economy and experience gives Sarfraz 10 overs he can trust more than any other bowler.
The issue now is Wahab / Shaheen - Shaheen, until very recently was a brilliant new ball bowler, but it seems when a batsman lines him up he is struggling.
Against West Indies, I would think about opening the bowling with Hafeez and Imad (if Gayle gets out), alongside Amir, and paying Wahab who can bowl in the middle with Hassan.

 

[usam wani]

1.Fakhar
2.Imam
3.Babar
4.Sarfraz
5.Hafeez
6.Asif
7.Shadab
8.Imad
9.Hasan
10.Aamir
11.Wahab


This is the best line up we have. Haris can replace hafeez if needed. And Malik can replace Imad. Both should not play at the same time.

 

[barah_admi]

Well the first game is over, what about the rest? I'm not sure where to go from here but there needs to be some names that should be dropped.

The team should hopefully look like this:

Fakhar
Imam
Babar
Hafeez
Sarfraz
Ali
Imad
Shadab
Amir
Shaheen
Hasnain

Riaz has to go, Hasan Ali is just pointless these days and .... well Hafeez stays in just because he may be useful with the ball.