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Which bowlers should be selected for Pakistan's home series against South Africa?

Titan24

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So as we have seen for well over an year now bowling attack is really struggling to create much impact. So definitely some changes might be on the cards.

Some of the top performers from current QAE trophy are:

Pacers:

Hassan Ali (43 wickets in 9 matches at an average of 20)

Waqas Maqsood (41 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 21)

Irfanullah Shah (21 wickets in 6 matches at an average of 20)

Amad Butt (8 wickets in 2 matches at an average of 16, also took 6 wickets for Shaheens in NZ)

Spinners:

Sajid Khan (64 wickets in 11 matches at an average of 25)

Nauman Ali (61 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 23)

Zahid Mehmood (52 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 26 but an economy of over 4)

So these are top domestic performers in bowling department this season. According to you guys what changes should be done to the current bowling attack to have a decent attack to compete with SA at home? Share your lineups/squads.
 
Expecting no major changes from misbah and co.Hasan has strong chance while sajid also have outside chance

Naseem out hasan in
sohail khan out sajid khan in
 
Expecting no major changes from misbah and co. Hasan has strong chance while sajid also have outside chance

Naseem out hasan in
sohail khan out sajid khan in

Mohammad Wasim will be the selector for SA series so maybe we can see some changes but, you never know.
 
Naseem, Shaheen, Abbas, Yasir, Abbas is a proven winning combo. Why change.

However Naseem is an oldie now so can be dropped. Let’s find another 16 year old with silly smooth bowling action as seen in a couple of viral but hazy low-res WA video-clips.

Just joking
 
Mohammad Wasim will be the selector for SA series so maybe we can see some changes but, you never know.

He will make the basic changes such as drop Shan and Harris. Probably Naseem too.
 
Hasan ali in for naseem shah.
zafar gohar in for yasir.
sajud khan or nauman ali for abbas if its a spin friendly wicket.
Shaheen remains.
 
Optimistic that Wasim can find a place for the top performers from the QeA - Ghulam, Saud, Hasan, Sajid

Plenty of non-performers in the team that can be dropped from the #7 ranked team
 
It depends on if Misbah is still there as a coach. If he is then he might go with the bowlers he has used in the last couple of tours. If he's sacked then maybe some new faces and returning faces may come in.
 
So as we have seen for well over an year now bowling attack is really struggling to create much impact. So definitely some changes might be on the cards.

Some of the top performers from current QAE trophy are:

Pacers:

Hassan Ali (43 wickets in 9 matches at an average of 20)

Waqas Maqsood (41 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 21)

Irfanullah Shah (21 wickets in 6 matches at an average of 20)

Amad Butt (8 wickets in 2 matches at an average of 16, also took 6 wickets for Shaheens in NZ)

Spinners:

Sajid Khan (64 wickets in 11 matches at an average of 25)

Nauman Ali (61 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 23)

Zahid Mehmood (52 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 26 but an economy of over 4)

So these are top domestic performers in bowling department this season. According to you guys what changes should be done to the current bowling attack to have a decent attack to compete with SA at home? Share your lineups/squads.

I'd make the following changes:

Hasan Ali for Naseem Shah

Amad Butt/Irfanullah Shah for Mohammad Abbas

Sajid Khan for Yasir Shah

Also, how tall is Irfanullah Shah? He looks to be a decent height, and does anyone know what speed range he operates in?
 
Bowling wise, i'd retain Zafar and give Sajid Khan or Numan Ali a shot. I like Sajid Khan's bowling action as well. Either way you can't go wrong with either of those choices in spin dept.
 
We need tall fast bowlers who can help improve our performances in souther hemisphere.Irfanullah Shah can be one. Arshad Iqbal I havent seen much of but i think he's also rated. Lets see how he does in next few seasons
 
Haris Rauf IN, Naseem Shah OUT.
Amad Butt IN, Musa Khan OUT.
Hassan Ali IN, Mohammad Hasnain OUT.
Faheem Ashraf RETAINED
Mohammad Abbas RETAINED
Sohail Khan RETAINED
Wahab Riaz RETAINED

Zafar Gohar IN, Yasir Shah OUT.
 
Pacers:
1. Shaheen Shah Afridi
2. Hasan Ali
3. Mohammad Abbas
4. Faheem Ashraf

Spinners:
1. Zafar Gohar
2. Yasir Shah
3. Sajid Khan
 
Faheem
Zafar/Sajid
Hasan
Yasir
Shaheen

I think this is a good attack. In Pindi, depending on conditions it could be worth replacing Zafar/Sajid with Abbas
 
For Karachi

1) Imam
2) Azhar
3) Saud
4) Babar
5) Ghulam
6) Fawad
7) Rizwan
8) Gohar
9) Zahid (would prefer Zahid but would settle for Yasir Shah)
10) Hasan
11) Shaheen

For Pindi, would bring back Faheem and Naseem for Gohar and Yasir, KG can take care of spin if needed.
 
We talk about the batting cupboard being rather bare, but to me it seems like the bowling cupboard is looking pretty bare too these days.

The current crop aren't exactly in great form and then you have a number of untried bowlers.
 
Last edited:
For Karachi

1) Imam
2) Azhar
3) Saud
4) Babar
5) Ghulam
6) Fawad
7) Rizwan
8) Gohar
9) Zahid (would prefer Zahid but would settle for Yasir Shah)
10) Hasan
11) Shaheen

For Pindi, would bring back Faheem and Naseem for Gohar and Yasir, KG can take care of spin if needed.

I would rather open with Sharjeel Khan than Imam
 
So as we have seen for well over an year now bowling attack is really struggling to create much impact. So definitely some changes might be on the cards.

Some of the top performers from current QAE trophy are:

Pacers:

Hassan Ali (43 wickets in 9 matches at an average of 20)

Waqas Maqsood (41 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 21)

Irfanullah Shah (21 wickets in 6 matches at an average of 20)

Amad Butt (8 wickets in 2 matches at an average of 16, also took 6 wickets for Shaheens in NZ)

Spinners:

Sajid Khan (64 wickets in 11 matches at an average of 25)

Nauman Ali (61 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 23)

Zahid Mehmood (52 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 26 but an economy of over 4)

So these are top domestic performers in bowling department this season. According to you guys what changes should be done to the current bowling attack to have a decent attack to compete with SA at home? Share your lineups/squads.

Have seen Waqas Maqssod bowling and its depressing to see a bowler with his quality and pace is leading the table .

Hasan has done enough to make a come back, Irfanullah is much younger and taller, Amad had performed well too and should be considered.
 
Pacers:
1. Shaheen Shah Afridi
2. Hasan Ali
3. Mohammad Abbas
4. Faheem Ashraf

Spinners:
1. Zafar Gohar
2. Yasir Shah
3. Sajid Khan

I wouldn't include Abbas either. The fact that he hasn't improved his pace in a year is concerning. If he's injured, he needs to go back to domestic and figure out how to bowl with this new limitation, because the international stage is not for people to learn how to do the basics.
 
He is pretty tall, around 6ft 4 in.

That's a good height. I think he operates around 130kph, hard to tell from recordings. He could be a good prospect, and he's played some decent number of FC games. Still needs another full reason to even be considered, but he's a good potential player, one who should be developed. Shahnawaz Dhani isn't bad either, just needs to be given a consistent run in FC cricket.

However, given that our bowling coach is Waqar Younis, and the lack of visible progress made, I'd keep these fresh pacers away from him before he tells them to become off spinners.
 
I wouldn't include Abbas either. The fact that he hasn't improved his pace in a year is concerning. If he's injured, he needs to go back to domestic and figure out how to bowl with this new limitation, because the international stage is not for people to learn how to do the basics.

I would keep him in the squad as the backup pacer. Pakistan should play 6 batsman, Rizwan, 2 spinners and 2 pacers.
 
I would keep him in the squad as the backup pacer. Pakistan should play 6 batsman, Rizwan, 2 spinners and 2 pacers.

Yeah, that would work as well, assuming that our batsmen can actually hold bats.
 
Yeah, that would work as well, assuming that our batsmen can actually hold bats.

At least at Karachi they can go with that combination. At Rawalpindi they can bring in Faheem as all-rounder and third pacer in place of a batsman.
 
I would keep him in the squad as the backup pacer. Pakistan should play 6 batsman, Rizwan, 2 spinners and 2 pacers.

If hypothetically speaking we play Sajid Khan and Hasan Ali then the tail can afford to have Faheem in there at 7 in place of a specialist bat.

5 bowlers isn't super important at home though.
 
I would rather open with Sharjeel Khan than Imam

in Tests? on flat tracks in Karachi, this is not the worst idea but it defeats any kind of long term thinking. We might have strong reservations over Imam's strike rate in ODIs and T20s but he has everything to be a successful test opener
 
Hope Tabish Khan is given a chance, poor guy is almost 35 yet bowling is heart out, won't be a long term solution but if he can be very effective against SA probably more than Abbas or Naseem at this point. Looks like Hasan Ali and one of Kamran Ghulam/Saud Shakeel are the only guaranteed selections
 
Might be worth bringing back Rana Naveed and Rao Iftikhar Anjum if they are still fit , can’t be any worse then Naseem
 
I think Pakistan needs to play 2 genuine spinners at home and prepare the wickets accordingly

Yasir and Sajid khan should play for sure
 
Zafar needs to be persisted with.

I dont want Yasir Shah. Can we perhaps play Shadab Khan and extend the batting?
 
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