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Zeeshan Malik - Talented young batsman

Saj

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My brother in law is currently based in Kenya and he has been watching the Pakistan under 19s playing Kenya Under 19s this weekend.

A few players caught his eye but he particularly mentioned Zeeshan Malik a right handed batsman who was born in Chakwal and who scored 156 today.

It's always difficult to gauge how well Under 19 cricketers will do in future, but he seemed very impressed with this young man.

One to keep an eye on perhaps.
 
There is an under 17 schoolboy Hassaan Khan who looks impressive.
Zeeshan is good. Yes, I ve seen him
 
He is undoubtedly Pakistan's best Under 19 batsman wrt skillset, potential and domestic performances aswell.

# Failed to deliver at big stage. Wonder whether it was pressure or whether he got out of form at the wrong time.
 
All good players do not come off immediately on the big stage.

I can understand your disappointment.
Agreed.

You shouldn't be writing off young players this early, there's plenty of room for him and others his age to improve.
 
Like most pakistani batsmen he lacks the batting intelligence. No plan whatsoever. Bad balls are blocked or left while good balls are attacked. And they play shots they do not master, just to give impression of they are taking on the bowler.

If you wan't to play positive cricket you have to play the ball on it's merit.

He and the management made another blunder by batting first against 5 windies pacers.

Anyways he is still young. Let's see how he fares.
 
He is undoubtedly Pakistan's best Under 19 batsman wrt skillset, potential and domestic performances aswell.

# Failed to deliver at big stage. Wonder whether it was pressure or whether he got out of form at the wrong time.

If this is the "namuna" of best U19 talent, then trust me - future is association, future is bad.

Absolute leg side hack, very close to Shahzeb Hasan without the power. Almost nothing in off side, no footwork what so ever with stone dead front-foot, which makes him a sitting duck for anything nipping back & batting intelligence level below those Indian boys playing in Mumbai & Delhi street cricket. And, if he is a good domestic performer, then that sums up Pakistan domestic cricket perfectly for my assessment.
 
I wasn't impressed with him but u19 is too young off an age to disregard anyone.
 
This guy is a hack, mediocre at his stage. So he needs to work hard and show a lot of improvement
 
If this is the "namuna" of best U19 talent, then trust me - future is association, future is bad.

Absolute leg side hack, very close to Shahzeb Hasan without the power. Almost nothing in off side, no footwork what so ever with stone dead front-foot, which makes him a sitting duck for anything nipping back & batting intelligence level below those Indian boys playing in Mumbai & Delhi street cricket. And, if he is a good domestic performer, then that sums up Pakistan domestic cricket perfectly for my assessment.


What's your view on Mohsin and Masood?
 
If this is the "namuna" of best U19 talent, then trust me - future is association, future is bad.

Absolute leg side hack, very close to Shahzeb Hasan without the power. Almost nothing in off side, no footwork what so ever with stone dead front-foot, which makes him a sitting duck for anything nipping back & batting intelligence level below those Indian boys playing in Mumbai & Delhi street cricket. And, if he is a good domestic performer, then that sums up Pakistan domestic cricket perfectly for my assessment.

I did not watch his single innings in this worldcup.

I watched with bat against England Under 17 and also against visiting A sides of Afghanistan & another team.

He was efficient of both front & back foot , was picking the length of deliveries very early and was playing shots all round the ground as per merit of the balls.

A. He isn't in form

B. He is short of confidence

C. He might have been intimidated by the pace and bounce of Joseph & Holder.


It will be interesting to see how bengali batsman fare against Joseph & Holder's pace. Were they part of the team which got thrashed by Bangla boys 3-0 ?


And Yes don't jump to conclusions so Soon. After Inzimam failed to impress in 3 matches Javed went to Imran Khan and said :

" Din't I tell you he has nothing in himself and he won't succeed ? His short range is so limited. Drop him for good now. "

Imran did not listen to great Miandad's assertion and ignored him all together.

The same limited Inzimam won us two crucial world cup games and averaged almost 40 in odis and almost 50 in test cricket.


Our Domestic cricket competitiveness and structure isn't great but it is not as poor as you try to pen picture it.

I have summarised Pakistan's performance against world cup runner ups in their home in a thread started by [MENTION=133726]GoUgandaCranes[/MENTION] regarding pakistan cricket's resurgence. Read that post.
 
What's your view on Mohsin and Masood?

Mohsin (the all-rounder), is quite a decent prospect, but he 'll never be a pace bowler. Best role for his is like Jaques Kallis (absolutely no comparison yet) - a player who can make the Test team as No. 6 & can support with 20 overs, on in ODI someone like Malik with medium pace version - a decent bat, sharing 6th bowler's load. But, he is quite intelligent cricketer, should make the LO side at least - but that has to be in next 2 years, so that he can realize that there is a milky way between PAK domestic style & an ODI against Zimbabwe; therefore he 'll understand what he need to do. 5 years in PAK domestic, he 'll become Sohail Tanvir with bat. In one sense, Imran was built by the 1971 tour of shame - he got in to the team touring UK due to his family connection, but fortunately for him (& unfortunately for teams playing against Pakistan), Imran had fire in belly, hate in eyes & self respect - he knew what he had to do to become a Cricketer - left PAK at 18, spent 4 years in Oxford & County, by '76, became Khan.

Masood (WK), is a decent bat, but it's immaterial unless he is a better WK than Sarfraz. Sarf is likely to remain in the team for another 3/4 years, so by 2020, Masood, if he makes the team, must be better WK than Sarf, batting 'll only make effective sense, if he is a better WK, otherwise, he should stop Keeping & focus on batting, so that he can give a try for a top 5 spot.

Both are good potentials - next they should plan their career. May be during summer in UK, playing League cricket & in winter, try to find a Club in Dhaka League, even if they can play 15-16 Division 2 matches, they 'll learn to compete in high intense game. Cricket is a game dominated by skills & mental toughness. Playing PAK domestics is a waste of time, won't add anything to their game & mentally they 'll turn into Rahat Ali or Umar Akmal - just like today PAK U19 THICK Tank decided to test their batting skills against 5 men pace attack in a 9AM start, during early February. If i were PCB, I would have checked bank accounts of those people behind this decision.
 
I always watch under 19 WC with great interest for years. This the weakest Pak team , ever. Talent is drying up. WI pacemen are impressive.
 
Not really impressed by him, but hey, he's young and has the potential to improve.
His captaincy vs SL was brilliant though. Absolutely fantastic captaincy.
 
[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION]

Playing domestic cricket in pakistan is a complete waste of time , money & energy.

If any budding players if Any like 2,3 batsman , 2 pacers , 2 spinners , 1 odd keeper they should be sent to Bangladesh to play domestic cricket there. If and only BCB opens up their arms and accepts them. It will also depend upon how much PCB begs BCB and how much kneels down infront of them.

And in pakistan domestic cricket should be closed until we can re emerge after 10 years by copying Bangladesh domestic cricket and by following their structure. And import board organisers from Bangladesh aswell.



# I hope I am not getting on your nerves.
 
I always watch under 19 WC with great interest for years. This the weakest Pak team , ever. Talent is drying up. WI pacemen are impressive.

Yeah was a relatively weaker side than what our usual U19 teams are. But still some good talent in this group. Was impressed by Mohsin, Masood, Shadab, Sameen.
 
I did not watch his single innings in this worldcup.

I watched with bat against England Under 17 and also against visiting A sides of Afghanistan & another team.

He was efficient of both front & back foot , was picking the length of deliveries very early and was playing shots all round the ground as per merit of the balls.

A. He isn't in form

B. He is short of confidence

C. He might have been intimidated by the pace and bounce of Joseph & Holder.


It will be interesting to see how bengali batsman fare against Joseph & Holder's pace. Were they part of the team which got thrashed by Bangla boys 3-0 ?


And Yes don't jump to conclusions so Soon. After Inzimam failed to impress in 3 matches Javed went to Imran Khan and said :

" Din't I tell you he has nothing in himself and he won't succeed ? His short range is so limited. Drop him for good now. "

Imran did not listen to great Miandad's assertion and ignored him all together.

The same limited Inzimam won us two crucial world cup games and averaged almost 40 in odis and almost 50 in test cricket.


Our Domestic cricket competitiveness and structure isn't great but it is not as poor as you try to pen picture it.

I have summarised Pakistan's performance against world cup runner ups in their home in a thread started by [MENTION=133726]GoUgandaCranes[/MENTION] regarding pakistan cricket's resurgence. Read that post.



Form has nothing to do in figuring out the class of a batman - those who understand what is batsmanship, don't pick batsmen from the scores on board. SRL kept investing on Attapattu despite 5 ducks in 1st 6 innings, India kept opening with Tendulkar without any hundred in 78 ODI, PAK thought they have found a Viv Richards after a 37 ball mad rush - there is something called, batting culture.

What you wrote about Inzi is not what I know. Khan picked Inzi not for his scores (he played 5 seasons in PAK Domestics before he was picked by Imran) - what made Inzi standout to Khan, still stands him out among everyone, may be apart from Viv - no player in the game had so much time to play genuine pace. Inzi was hitting WW in nets on front-foot effortlessly in their 1st few overs, which Imran marked. What stopped Inzi from becoming like the other 3 greats of his generation is his "comfort zone" - he should have played 3/4 years between 1992 to 1996 in English County.

Imran saw Inzi at 22 & then left world cricket entirely, therefore he didn't see the struggle of Inzi, how professional teams used to bunny him for his poor fitness, pathetic start & ugly running - in a sense, Khan was absolutely spot on, Inzi was as good as anyone to start with at 21; but his game stopped there. It was few years of Woolmer, when Inzi was actually almost 35 to 38, he became one of world's best. Looking at Inzi of 2004 to 2007 under Woolmer, gives an indication what he could have been had he developed his game in Count in his mid 20s.

Had Khan been there, he would have made or finish Inzi.
 
93 of 105 deliveries including 15 fours today vs England bowling.

http://www.icc-cricket.com/u19-worl...6/player-of-the-match-zeeshan-malik-pak-v-eng


Player of the Match today.


# Berhi dair ker di meharbaa aatay aatay.

# Too late zeeshan.


You have disspointed [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] immensely. Those Indian boys playing in the streets of Dehli & Mumbai have more batting intelligence than you. You are a "Namoona" Zeeshan sahib.
 
93 of 105 deliveries including 15 fours today vs England bowling.

http://www.icc-cricket.com/u19-worl...6/player-of-the-match-zeeshan-malik-pak-v-eng


Player of the Match today.


# Berhi dair ker di meharbaa aatay aatay.

# Too late zeeshan.


You have disspointed [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] immensely. Those Indian boys playing in the streets of Dehli & Mumbai have more batting intelligence than you. You are a "Namoona" Zeeshan sahib.

Did see him bat whenever Pakistan matches were telecast. He seems to be a batsman in the classy mold . Has good wrist and sees the ball late. The predominant issue with his batting is the initial shuffle that he has which makes him fall over. Other than that we have the makings of a pretty decent batsman. Every u19 world cup there is a list of players that have a potential of "making it". Zeeshan Malik, Hasan Mohsin, Umar Masood and Salman Fayyaz have that potential. What do you think?
 
Just watched the video of his highlights. I think I know now why [MENTION=138980]TalentSpotterPk[/MENTION] and some others were rating him so highly. Those were some amazing shots. Not sure why some people were referring to him as a legside hack.
 
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Just watched the video of his highlights. I think I know now why [MENTION=138980]TalentSpotterPk[/MENTION] and some others were eating him so highly. Those were some amazing shots. Not sure why some people were referring to him as a legside hack.

Eating him? They are better off rating him.
 
I saw him bat in one match and wasn't impressed but folks on this thread seem to rate him quite highly and for quite a while aswell.

Is he someone who can be fast tracked to the international side in a year or two? We seriously need a massive influx of good bats.
 
Well we know now who to turn to for batting analysis.

Well he turned up quite late in this tournament and well done to him. Well I wasn't impressed by him against Sri Lanka or WI. I hope he continues to improve.
 
Unfortunately, his style of batting is not much different from Khurram Manzoor.
Not a single batsman in the under 19 looked technically good. Alot of bottom hand stuff. I watched pak v lanka match a bit and to be honest lankan batsmen were technically more correct
 
He is undoubtedly Pakistan's best Under 19 batsman wrt skillset, potential and domestic performances aswell.

# Failed to deliver at big stage. Wonder whether it was pressure or whether he got out of form at the wrong time.


JazaakAllah Inzamam.

Thank You for doing your Job Honestly, Smartly & Diligently.


O Inzi you have the Eye :)
 
Rawalpindi Region 261-9 in 50 overs: (Zeeshan Malik 145, 145 balls, 15x4s, 5x6s)
 
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Should be opening with Fakhar at the World Cup. Or maybe atleast could play in the middle / late order
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Finally given a chance - 21 year old Zeeshan Malik in his first game of the domestic season scored 145 out of Rawalpindi's 262/9 against WAPDA <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a> <a href="https://t.co/MN02zaj2Y9">pic.twitter.com/MN02zaj2Y9</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1046814427889176576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 1, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Finally given a chance - 21 year old Zeeshan Malik in his first game of the domestic season scored 145 out of Rawalpindi's 262/9 against WAPDA <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a> <a href="https://t.co/MN02zaj2Y9">pic.twitter.com/MN02zaj2Y9</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1046814427889176576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 1, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

So lets wait until he is 29 and then play him in the A team.
 
Rawalpindi regional cricket is amongst the most corrupt in Pakistan - many of the players themselves have mentioned this to me over the years.

You can be amongst the best and not get a chance, be amongst the worst but if you have backing behind the scenes you will continue to be selected.
 
looks very composed and good technique, should be included in Pakistan A, is he a opener btw?
 
All these future stars do nothing at international level when given the chance. He will just join the likes of Umar Akmal, Harris Sohail, Hasan Raza and Sohaib Maqsood to name a few so called promising players. At the highest level they all collapse like a pack of cards.
 
Rawalpindi Region 261-9 in 50 overs: (Zeeshan Malik 145, 145 balls, 15x4s, 5x6s)

What this scorecard shows, once more, is that our batsmen just can’t rotate the strike. 5 sixes and 15 fours, what did he do with the remaining 125 balls? He scored 55 runs from them.
 
All these future stars do nothing at international level when given the chance. He will just join the likes of Umar Akmal, Harris Sohail, Hasan Raza and Sohaib Maqsood to name a few so called promising players. At the highest level they all collapse like a pack of cards.

Zeeshan is not an idiot. And Haris is not doing bad at all. He just hasn't played a lot.
 
looks very composed and good technique, should be included in Pakistan A, is he a opener btw?

Good technique, really? LOL

He looked a proper cowlasher in that video. No footwork, playing away from body, and playing in the air.
 
Good technique, really? LOL

He looked a proper cowlasher in that video. No footwork, playing away from body, and playing in the air.
cant jusge from a video where we see just boundries his handling of Irfan and the spinners was good Ehsan Adil troubled him with the nip back or ball coming in with the angle so needs to work on that part of his game
 
He is hybrid of Hafeez & Nauman Anwar of Peak which is all good enough for me.

He has shots all round the wicket something which is associated less with any Pakistani batsman.


Zeeshan Malik, Umar Akmal & Babar Azam are the names who have scored loads of runs in under age Cricket and created waves since age 13-14. Let’s see how he develops in the long run.



Most PPers are analysts based on scorecards. A batsman or a bowler can get out of form, it’s no secret. I remember before U 19 WC I earmarked Zeeshan as our best batting talent but he failed to score any runs in first 4,5 matches and than we had our Hall of Famer Bengali brother [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] who pounced onto my posts and started his long technical insights into Zeeshan’s batting and tons of problems he identified. Next match vs WI I think Zeeshan scored a high quality hundred (the best knock by a Pakistani U19 player in that WC) and than PP statisticians changed their tone and U-turn galore was witnessed once again.


Muhammad Waseem Coach of PTV and Multan Sultan’s should offer PTV contract and pick him for PSL aswell.



Pakistan is a big country and we need addition of 3-4 new teams in PSL because many deserving talented players miss out on PSL.


Players like Zeeshan, Nasir, Saud, Sarmad, Husnain, Shaur, Arshad, Naseem need PSL game time which won’t be possible with limited number of teams.



Hassan Ali (peak) won CT for Pakistan but only few remember that it was Shoaib Malik who picked him for Sialkot Stallions when he was 17 and could bowl 78-80 mph. First time he played live televised match under Malik. That used to be National T20 Cricket. Even guys like 55 averaging Fawad Alam got exposure through that tournament. Now it’s alternate with much bigger outreach is PSL.
 
He is hybrid of Hafeez & Nauman Anwar of Peak which is all good enough for me.

He has shots all round the wicket something which is associated less with any Pakistani batsman.


Zeeshan Malik, Umar Akmal & Babar Azam are the names who have scored loads of runs in under age Cricket and created waves since age 13-14. Let’s see how he develops in the long run.



Most PPers are analysts based on scorecards. A batsman or a bowler can get out of form, it’s no secret. I remember before U 19 WC I earmarked Zeeshan as our best batting talent but he failed to score any runs in first 4,5 matches and than we had our Hall of Famer Bengali brother [MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] who pounced onto my posts and started his long technical insights into Zeeshan’s batting and tons of problems he identified. Next match vs WI I think Zeeshan scored a high quality hundred (the best knock by a Pakistani U19 player in that WC) and than PP statisticians changed their tone and U-turn galore was witnessed once again.


Muhammad Waseem Coach of PTV and Multan Sultan’s should offer PTV contract and pick him for PSL aswell.



Pakistan is a big country and we need addition of 3-4 new teams in PSL because many deserving talented players miss out on PSL.


Players like Zeeshan, Nasir, Saud, Sarmad, Husnain, Shaur, Arshad, Naseem need PSL game time which won’t be possible with limited number of teams.



Hassan Ali (peak) won CT for Pakistan but only few remember that it was Shoaib Malik who picked him for Sialkot Stallions when he was 17 and could bowl 78-80 mph. First time he played live televised match under Malik. That used to be National T20 Cricket. Even guys like 55 averaging Fawad Alam got exposure through that tournament. Now it’s alternate with much bigger outreach is PSL.

Not sure why you bothered to tag me here for a batsman who is not yet regular of his FC team after playing U19 WC 3 years back. Where you found me doing lots of technical analysis of his batting? If I can recall, I actually praised his innings, because I don't think he is a proper opener - won't last long more than few games once teams have their batting analyst working on his batting footage.

Anyway, now that he has scored a hundred in your mighty league, looks like your emotion is getting better of your talent spotting ability. It's a bit risky to back on such talent, who averages 14 after 10 FC innings with a highest of 47, at the age of 21 .... and I must say PAK cricket's 21. May be you are right - PAK needs 12-16 PSL teams, because T20 is the place to showcase such mercurial talents.

Before tagging me here, you should have take a note of Post No. 46 & 51 - to stay safe. Next time, I'll definitely take a better look at his batting - may be then we'll talk again.
 
[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] don’t wanna get into fight here but the guy looks good.
 
[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] don’t wanna get into fight here but the guy looks good.

May be, I haven't seen him much. 145 out of like 260 against a Corporate team is impressive, even more considering the 2nd innings of the game. But, there have been examples of Nauman Anwar, therefore it's tough to conclude with one List A innings, built on boundaries. His FC stats are poor, and that's one stats I'll always look first for a batsman. In recent PAK Cup, which should be an upgrade of the QeA Cup, Asif Ali was monotonous, but probably now you know why he still averages 21 in FC cricket.

Someone wrote here that he personally knows Zeeshan - he has bunked 5 years of age, that makes him 26-27 now; if that's the case, forget about a decent career for PAK. Unless by the biological age of 23-25 a batsman established himself in FC cricket, almost certainly his career won't progress beyond T20. He was a talking point about 3 years back in U19 cricket, since then hardly any progress - time is running away fast from him.

I wish him all the best, if he can make it to the top level.
 
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