I don’t think we have any problems bowling wise but the batting line up still looks shaky to me. Of the youngsters coming through, only Hameed has looked the part, although I haven’t seen him play off the back foot as far as pulling or hooking is concerned.
Hafeez looks like he’s not quite good enough to me. His strike rate is poor in one dayers (he made 2 off 17 deliveries today). That’s not so bad in itself, but he doesn’t look very solid either, with a definite weakness outside off stump. I’d like to see Salman Butt given a few games. He’s a lefty and he looks like he’s got a lot of talent. The current batting line up is short of class with Inzi and Yoyo looking in a different league to the rest. We must have one of the worst batting line ups in the world right now that much was clear watching SA v England, both teams pretty strong in that dept, and India and Australia are in a different league as well.
well, i think the current Pakistani ODI batting line up is not that bad at all. Infact with the emergence of Hameed and Shoaib Malik later down the order, i think Pakistani batting line up is quite balance overall.
However if we talk about technique and producing awesome quality test batsmen then it indeed is an area of concern. Still i believe with imroved facilities like RLCA and PCBCA, Pakistan should be producing far better technically correct batsmen in few year's time.
Lastly, i think there are few potential top-quality batters around that are being ignored for some strange reason. Hasan Raza, who scored back to back not out 50's against Australia in test matches is sitting out for no apparent reason at all. I am begining to HATE this selection committe to tell you the truth. This Junaid Zia saga is a complete joke! Now Mohd Sami is sitting out to make place for Junaid. This is just purely insane.
The current one day batting line up is strong only because there are so many allrounders. When you look at the actual specialist batsmen there isn't much quality at all. Bengalis don't seem to have too much trouble tying them down so I guess we'll see what they are made of when SA arrive.
That's only 4 batsmen, and only Inzi and Yoyo are top notch out of them. Yaasir is a good prospect but has to prove himself yet, and Younis is an ordinairy player who can play a supporting role sometimes, but doesn't win many matches off his own bat. Pakistan's batting line up is one of the weakest of the major test playing countries. how many times have we passed 400 in test matches last couple of years?
ehsan, it's not like SA have a great bowling line up either. Ntini apart, they are mostly medium pace trundlers with Pollock past his best. I still wouldn't back our lads to score big though and let's face it, on our pitches if we fail to do so it will show us exactly where we stand.
Asif, the thread is about lack of quality batsmen. It's not about our one day side which can cover the weakness of the batting line up due to the inclusion of so many allrounders. The fact is the specialist batsmen aren't up to much.
Asif, the thread is about lack of quality batsmen. It's not about our one day side which can cover the weakness of the batting line up due to the inclusion of so many allrounders. The fact is the specialist batsmen aren't up to much.
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I hear ya bro.
If you purely want to discuss the quality of the specialist batsmen then I reckon we may witness better quality batsmen emerging in near future as result of Acadamies and stuff like 'vision 2005' that is put in place by the PCB and reported to be working great.
(with a change or addition here and there) for quite a while. I dont see any problem with batting if you give enough chances to Yasir and Faiso to prove themselves.
I think the concern is right. Our batting problems begin right with the opening. We don't have a reliable opening pair yet. One of the opening player occasionally scores more than 30, which is VERY bad. Our openers should be able to score 40-50 consistently rather randomly. Then we have some "stars" in the middle.
Of the current lot, only Inzimam, Youhanna, Younis are more reliable and capable of producing results. Other than these three, you never know.
I think major problem lies with our Openers... We need to find openers that can put pressure off from YOYO, INZI and Younis so that they can score easily.... So far, none of the openers have given us 100s in ODI or test for a long time....
Hafeez has looked very inconsistent so far, and hasn't scored a 50 against Bangalis so far in 3 one dayers. The only thing keeping him in the team is his ability to take quick wicket but he also has the ability to give his own wicket to the opposition very often.
Pakistan is left with no choice for the S African series as they are done with experimenting, only Salman Butt and Hafeez will be opening for test while Hafeez and Yasir will be opening in the one dayers.
Middle order still looks very strong with both Inzi and Youhana doing very well but what concerns me the most is that they too will fall against Pollock and Ntini just as they did after destroying the Zimbabwens and went to be humiliated against the Proteas in January of this year.
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*Originally posted by TomSawyer: *
That's another reason Indian TV programs should not be banned. The youngsters could watch Indian on TV and pick up batting techniques.
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Similarly Pakistani TV should not be banned by India either. The youngsters could watch Pakistanis on TV and pick up bowling techniques.
Tom's point is valid enough, India has produced consistently better batsmen for years now. Forget tendulkar who's on a different planet, but the likes of Yuvraj, Kaif, Dravid are all class players capable of playing match winning knocks. We should be producing players of that standard as well.
