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Which opener should partner Azhar Ali in Tests for Pakistan's tour of Ireland and England?

Which opener should partner Azhar Ali in Tests for Pakistan's tour of Ireland and England?

  • Total voters
    54
A

Abdullah719

T20I Captain
Joined
Apr 16, 2013
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44,825
Sadly, Shan Masood is out of contention. :(

Sarfaraz has suggested that Azhar will be back at the top of the order after a short stint back at #3 so that's one slot that's taken.

It's between Sami/Imam/Fakhar.

I'll go with Imam but it'll be harsh on him to debut in England against Jimmy and Broad, hopefully he has the strength of character (and technique :asad) to thrive.
 
Fakhar, Imam and Sami are all good candidates but I'd have to say Fakhar is the best one. Him at the top allows us to have an attacking player and a defensive player opening for us. Fakhar can potentially play the role Warner (had) played for his side over the past couple of years, which was to keep the run-rate ticking
 
Sami. Not convinced with Imam at all and I don't think its fair to debut Fakhar in such conditions where his style of play at the top of the order isn't usually successful.
 
Playing 11

Sami
Imam
Azhar
Haris
Usman
Asad
Sarfaraz
Shadab
Aamer
Rahat Ali
Abas

bench:
Meer Hamza
Hasan Ali
Asgar
Babar Azam
 
really surprised to see so many people supporting Sami Aslam to be a Test opener - y'all really need to check his domestic records

His strength is limited over cricket, thats where he's piled on the runs. He's totally looked out of sorts in Tests

Having Aslam open is tests is akin to having Azhar open in ODIs - need to put people where they are strongest, not keep experimenting
 
Abdullah719 said:
Sadly, Shan Masood is out of contention. :(

Sarfaraz has suggested that Azhar will be back at the top of the order after a short stint back at #3 so that's one slot that's taken.

It's between Sami/Imam/Fakhar.

I'll go with Imam but it'll be harsh on him to debut in England against Jimmy and Broad, hopefully he has the strength of character (and technique :asad) to thrive.
Click to expand...

I wont watch any matches
 
Imam
Would have gone for Sami if he had started to switch from gear 1 to gear 2 or 3 atleast if not 4 and 5.
He blunts the new ball well, but defends unnecessarily even the poor balls which could easily be dispatched to the boundary which ends up putting a lot of pressure on him and the team. And now with the cool heads of Younis and Misbah gone, I don't expect the likes of Shafiq and Sarfraz to handle the blockathon pressure created by the top order bats.
 
Tough pick between Sami and Imam. In the end, I'd go for Sami.

I am not convinced regarding Fakhar's test ability and completely pointless to debut him in foreign conditions.

Thank goodness, we don't have Shan Masood available. That guy is a sitting duck in English conditions. Not that these three are all that great either.
 
Imam couldn’t handle the swing of Suranga Lakmal and Lahiru Gamage. Hope he proves me wrong though.
 
Think Fakhar can do it but needs some serious coaching before he can go for this role!
 
Undoubtedly Sami Aslam.

His 80 odd in UK last time was great to watch. Could have been the youngest centurion at that ground ever had it not been Hafeez causing the run out.
 
Fakhar, might as well be 40-1 after 6 overs in a test then 10-2 at lunch with Azhar/Sami or Imam opening.

Also with 3 tests been played in UK why do we need 4 openers in the squad?
 
BunnyRabbit said:
Imam
Would have gone for Sami if he had started to switch from gear 1 to gear 2 or 3 atleast if not 4 and 5.
He blunts the new ball well, but defends unnecessarily even the poor balls which could easily be dispatched to the boundary which ends up putting a lot of pressure on him and the team. And now with the cool heads of Younis and Misbah gone, I don't expect the likes of Shafiq and Sarfraz to handle the blockathon pressure created by the top order bats.
Click to expand...

He himself has realised this as he once in an interview after Australia tour accepted his slow paced innings is doing harm to himself also and vowed to give pace to his innings in future.
 
Fakhar. Go all out.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
AFM said:
It was Azhar
Click to expand...

Exactly and then Mr. Acha Bacha decided to get out on the last ball of the day to a ball that was 2 feet outside the off stump. Singlehandedly changed a position of strength into weakness the sole reason we went onto lose that test. If it weren't for acha bacha's brain fade we might have won our last tour to England.
 
With Fakhar = Warner being said, I am sure he is not far from being the regular Test opener.
 
Went for Sami Aslam. If Zaman plays, maybe he can play a dasher role in the middle order
 
Syed1 said:
Exactly and then Mr. Acha Bacha decided to get out on the last ball of the day to a ball that was 2 feet outside the off stump. Singlehandedly changed a position of strength into weakness the sole reason we went onto lose that test. If it weren't for acha bacha's brain fade we might have won our last tour to England.
Click to expand...

We still had a 100+ lead. It was the fault of the bowlers and the collapse on the last day that made us lose that Test.
 
Judging by the squad selected it's pretty clear that Azhar Ali will play at 3.
 
Kashmiri_Pak_fan said:
He himself has realised this as he once in an interview after Australia tour accepted his slow paced innings is doing harm to himself also and vowed to give pace to his innings in future.
Click to expand...

Didn't see anything different from him in SL series. Scored a slow 50, a 30 and two slow single digit scores. What probably hurt the most was his 4th inning dismissal in 1st Test at Abu Dhabi. Chasing 127 and this guys is defending for his life.
 
Fakhar all the way. No need for useless Sami and Imam is a newbie.

The team needs some dynamism upfront instead of the snail show of Azhar-Sami.
 
sshakir411 said:
Judging by the squad selected it's pretty clear that Azhar Ali will play at 3.
Click to expand...

We dont have to good opening options :facepalm: so all that will happen is he will end up facing new ball anyways! clearly lessons from last tour of UK havent been learnt!
 
Sami played well the last time he was there. Retain him in the opening spot

Sami
Azhar
Babar
Haris
Sarfraz
Shafiq

Frankly, i don't think we should take more than 6 batters. We need 5 legit bowling options. Amir, Hasan, Shadab are three. We need one more quick and one all rounder.

I don't see how having 7 batters is going to prevent a batting collapse. So i would highly recommend just 6 batsmen. Either our batting is going to click or it isn't.
 
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