After the departure of Amir Sohail and Saeed Anwar, Pakistan has struggled to find a reasonable opening pair of batsmen. Number of players have come and gone, different permutations were used, but sadly to no avail.
To make a fair and objective analysis of the current setup, we have studied all Pakistans test match series (home and abroad) since October 2003 to determine what has happened. This starting period coincides with Inzimam’s captiancy post Bangladesh series and shows how things have evolved under his leadership. Iam sure many of you are already well aware of these facts, but to make an objective argument one needs to have all facts and figures to substantiate the veracity of a theory.
Therefore our study focuses on opening batsmen for Pakistan starting October 2003. Stats provided and used for our analysis focuses on each players innings as a opening batsmen only and does not incorporate their contributions down the order.
Captain: Inzimam-ul-Haq
Since October 2003 Pakistan has played 19 test matches (including the current England-Pak match) and 36 innings (one inning was washed out in NZ and second inning of the current match has yet to be played).
11 different pairs have been tried
6 players have been given the chance to open
Imran Farhat Played 11 test matches averaging 30.8
Taufeeq Umer played 9 test matches averaging 32.4
Salman Butt played 6 test matches ncl current match averaging 30.6
Yasir Hameed played 5 test matches averaging 34.7
Afridi has opened 3 times averaging 32.40
Shoaib Malik including current match has opened 2 times averaging 38.7
What does this data tell us? Even though 11 different pairs were tried in 19 test matches quite a high rate of change, fact is players tested were consistently revolving around the same number of 6. No player has been successful with the bat consistently and fell out of favor, some would say too quickly.
Most successful opening pair has been that of Taufeeq/Farhat followed by Yasir/Farhat. Post Taufeeq/Farhat, Pakistan selectors/management have tried and tested different permutations.
Out of the tested 6 players, four (Taufeeq, Farhat, Yasir & Butt) were regular batsmen, three (Taufeeq, Farhat, Butt) regular openers, Yasir started as a one down player, Malik and Afridi are all rounders who assumed the additional responsibilities of opening for Pakistan.
Conclusion:
Four regular opening players given the opportunity to open for Pakistan were fairly treated in terms of chances given to show their talent and consistency. It is unfortunate that the tested three (Butt still under radar) were unable to keep their spot as regular openers because of poor form, lack of consistency and in some cases flaws in technique.
Management has also been guilty of inconsistency in selection and demonstrated impatience when changing pairs/players on poor form.
Only four regular batsmen have been tried on a test level with support being sought from all rounders. We think this maybe a short term answer but longerterm solutions demand increased focus on regular batsmen. Selectors/Management must show more confidence in the available pool of talent and offer opportunities to players who have performed well in domestic cricket. Give these regular openers a series to play and then judge their temperament to play on the international circuit.