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Why doesn't Sarfaraz Ahmed play as an opener?

M

Moiza

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On more the one occasion he has shown that he's quite a competent opener who can find gaps easily and is good at strike rotation unlike our two Kings.

Does anyone here oppose the idea of him opening? Why?
 
He is the exact opposite of an opener. Poor technique and no power. Recipe for disaster.
 
He looked so good as opener each and every time he came out to bat as one. But he's a hitter apparently according to the management.
 
I've wondered this as well. He was opening with Shehzad during the 2015 WC and that's where he scored his first century and he even averages 42 with a solid SR of 81.5 as an opener
 
Desperate times call for desperate measures.

For the CT I wouldn't mind him opening with Fakhar. I realize Fakhar is an A-grade hack, but his hacks may come off in the powerplay. In any case he can't do worse than Shehzad and Kami.


The question is who will play in the middle order?

I hope to God, Saad and Talat have a stellar Pakistan Cup.

Fakhar
Sarfaraz
Babar
Malik
Saad
Talat
 
he is not a good opener as his game is not for that role. 2/3 good innings dont change fact

and in the LT would be terrible

finally. too much workload

captain 3 formats, keep and open!
 
Syed1 said:
Desperate times call for desperate measures.

For the CT I wouldn't mind him opening with Fakhar. I realize Fakhar is an A-grade hack, but his hacks may come off in the powerplay. In any case he can't do worse than Shehzad and Kami.


The question is who will play in the middle order?

I hope to God, Saad and Talat have a stellar Pakistan Cup.

Fakhar
Sarfaraz
Babar
Malik
Saad
Talat
Click to expand...

Don't expect such wholesale changes for the Champions Trophy.

At most, I think one of Shehzad or Kamran will be replaced by someone else with the rest of the lineup staying as it is.

Regarding Sarfraz, I don't think he's the answer. But none of the current options are close to that, either.
 
Should be batting higher than 6, your best batsmen need more strike of the ball and no point playing duds up top.

I wouldn't mind it. Yes in theory he shouldn't be able to do it, but for some reason when he plays top order he excels. So I'm all for it.
 
Rayyman said:
He can't bat outside the crease in CT against Rabada and co. You need the skill to stand still and clear the inner ring as an opener.
Click to expand...
Opening batsman tend to stand outside the crease to counter any lateral movement...
 
Ellipsism said:
Opening batsman tend to stand outside the crease to counter any lateral movement...
Click to expand...

Yes, that worked for him in England against trundling Broad and Anderson. That won't work against genuine pacers like Starc and Rabada.
 
Rayyman said:
Yes, that worked for him in England against trundling Broad and Anderson. That won't work against genuine pacers like Starc and Rabada.
Click to expand...
He did against Woakes as well, who is by no means a trundler.
 
Could be a world record: Captain, Batsman, Keeper and Opener.
 
Syed1 said:
Desperate times call for desperate measures.

For the CT I wouldn't mind him opening with Fakhar. I realize Fakhar is an A-grade hack, but his hacks may come off in the powerplay. In any case he can't do worse than Shehzad and Kami.


The question is who will play in the middle order?

I hope to God, Saad and Talat have a stellar Pakistan Cup.

Fakhar
Sarfaraz
Babar
Malik
Saad
Talat
Click to expand...

should have given him here the chance to open against WI weaker opposition in WI... Asking to open against top teams in England, he will definitely fail , even though he shows some promise to be little better than shehzad and kami in england scoring some good 30s and 40s he will dropped next series for not scoring centuries.. Better this crappy lot of kami and shezzie open in ENGLAND and get discarded forever...
 
I was all for this a while ago as well.

But I believe Sarfraz can make an exceptional middle-order batsman, and we need him there considering Haris is yet to get back to his best. Workload will also be an issue, especially with Sarfraz's fitness.

He should bat at #4 in the long-term (obviously Hafeez has cemented his spot there for the near future :hafeez).

Fakhar has to be given more chances.
 
Syed1 said:
Desperate times call for desperate measures.

For the CT I wouldn't mind him opening with Fakhar. I realize Fakhar is an A-grade hack, but his hacks may come off in the powerplay. In any case he can't do worse than Shehzad and Kami.


The question is who will play in the middle order?

I hope to God, Saad and Talat have a stellar Pakistan Cup.

Fakhar
Sarfaraz
Babar
Malik
Saad
Talat
Click to expand...

If they had to tried Talat that time was this series, BTW Inzi picked Fakhar over Talat, that selection was more on couple of PSL performance rather than evaluating their technical ability. From what I have seen Talat looked much better than Fakhar, but again maybe selectors have seen more than we can, at the same time Inzi is also not somebody who had an eye for talent, its more of stats and tallaqat thing, otherwise why he would have dropped Sami and picked Shaun and Shezad...

Who is Saad, is that Saad Nasim Or Saud Shakeel ?

Also, Sarfraz is not an opener, he cannot play pace. People just remember his one innings of 49 against SA in WC, where he looked so awkward against seamers. How he scored runs in that innings, hit three sixes in a row to Dummy in 11/12 over, that's what they all can do(Sarfi, Malik, Hafeez, Shezad) whack spinners, but that is not what you do as an opener...
In current team KA is still your best choice... And for down order hitting we have to bring back the other Akmal aka UA, he can help us in whack seamers in death on flatter wickets where par score is 320+...

No matter how much we hate Akmals, they(KA, Babar,UA) are the only few batsmen in our ranks who can play shots against 140 clicks pace, which we need a lot in CT...We are not going to play in UAE or WI to fill team with spin specialist batsmen, that would be huge mistake!!
 
What Pakistan also did not tried this time around is playing Shadab in death, out if 7 matches, he should have been tried atleast 3 times to see if he can whack seamers in death...This would have been good for his confidence...Forget about trying new youngsters, the one who is playing kind of unquestionably we did not gave him freedom to play :facepalm:
 
He's not an opener. He's better of in the middle order facing the spin bowlers. He will make sure that our dot ball percentage is lower if he's given number 4/5 position permanently.
 
He should bat at #5 or #6. We need to get some proper openers for the CT and not rely on TTFs and makeshift ones to set the tempo for our innings. Not sure who the top, young opening batsmen in Pakistan are but we need to get a new opener in and dispose of Kamran. I want to see this lineup for the CT:

1) Hafeez/Shehzad
2) Promising opener who will erase years of pain
3) Babar
4) I want to say Akmal but don't want to get grilled so anyone promising, with the skill to score quickly will do
5) Malik/Sarfaraz
6) Sarfaraz/Malik
7) Shadab/Imad
8) Amir
9) Riaz
10) Junaid
11) Hassan
 
Moiza said:
On more the one occasion he has shown that he's quite a competent opener who can find gaps easily and is good at strike rotation unlike our two Kings.

Does anyone here oppose the idea of him opening? Why?
Click to expand...

Actually, this is an ok idea plus it would open up a position in the middle/lower order.

they might as well give him a try.
 
Should Sarfaraz open vs Sri Lanka ?

Sri Lanka have a week bowling line up, so can we make sarfaraz open the Innings and give us a strong start ?

1-Sarfaraz Ahmed
2-Fakhar Zaman
3-Babar Azam
4-Haris Sohail
5-Shoaib Malik
6-Mohammad Hafeez
7-Imad Wasim
8-Shadab Khan
9-Mohammad Amir
10-Hassan Ali
11-Junaid Khan


What are your thoughts with this line up ?
 
sadida97 said:
Sri Lanka have a week bowling line up, so can we make sarfaraz open the Innings and give us a strong start ?

1-Sarfaraz Ahmed
2-Fakhar Zaman
3-Babar Azam
4-Haris Sohail
5-Shoaib Malik
6-Mohammad Hafeez
7-Imad Wasim
8-Shadab Khan
9-Mohammad Amir
10-Hassan Ali
11-Junaid Khan


What are your thoughts with this line up ?
Click to expand...

Fahim for Hafeez and that will be even better.
 
I think this should be the playing XI:
Zaman
Hafeez
Babar
Haris
Sarfraz
Malik
Wasim
Faheem
Amir
Hassan
Junaid
No need for Shadab as we have four spin options already.
 

He should bat at top of the oprder. Better if he can come at No. 3 or No.4 or even if he can open the innings. But not at all below than No. 5
 
I'd still prefer him to open against Scotland instead of Shehzad but unfortunately it seems like selfie will play :(
 
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