Now having drawn the first test match with brilliant individual performance from Mohammed Yousaf and contributions from Inzmam and Faisal in the second innings; Pakistan still has not found a solution for its opening position.
Both Butt and Farhat look as vunerable and fragile as ever and each time they both bat – fingers are crossed by Pakistan supporters as to how long either of them will last.
The opening pair has been a problem for sometime now and no permanent answer has been found since the retirement of Saeed Anwar and Aamir Sohail, different batsmen have been tried and tested but no one as yet has been good enough to make this position their own.
When Pakistan toured Australia – the emergence of Butt was seen by many including myself as a great find and an answer to its opening problem.
He has scored runs for Pakistan but has not shown the level of consistency which was expected of him and seems to be getting out in the same manner each time. Imran Farhat also is no different and both didn’t deliver in the first test match.
What do you think are the options for Pakistan going into the second test match considering the fact that both of them didn’t look comfortable and didn’t deliver; stick with them for another test and hope that they will deliver or try Tauqfiq Umar along with Akmal or Faisal etc?
I have been against inclusion of M Hafeez all this time, but if all cards are failing, lets give him another chance, I am sure he won’t disappoint as much as Imran Farhat (sorry, he wasn’t a disappointment but reassurance), Mohammed Sami. I would like to give Salman Butt this whole series, but not to Imran Farhat, I would prefer Shoaib Malik to partner Salman. Otherwise, we can all fallback to Yasir Hameed :k:
Inzi hinted in one of his interviews during this test match that these are young players who needs encouragement and therefore a failure in the second innings does not mean that one or both the openers will be dropped from the next match.
Lets not go into the discussion that how much encouragement they need. Lets be practical.
Younis will be coming back in the next game. I have said that several times before that with a fully packed middle order, it is hard for Faisal Iqbal to get in the side as a middle order player. People said that he is a middle order and it would be unfair if he is tried as an opener. Well he played this test not as a middle order but one down (infact he was more like an opener in the second innings).
International Cricket has become really competive, where players really have to work hard to maintain their spot, and therefore an argument that Faisal should not be tried as an opener is not valid. On top of that we know that there is an opening crises.
Would it make more sense to try the same combination of butt and farhat and drop Faisal to accomodate Younis? I don’t think so:snooty:
Why can't they stick with one pair for at least one series, even that is not enough. Stick with one pair for at least a couple of series, if they don't click bring someone else but don't drop them just after one match and then bring them back again.
Hopefully they will stick with Butt and Farhat for this series and let them get some confident back. They got the talent, use it properly.
— Someone has to be dropped, and given that our bowling is already quite weak because of injuries, we need to retain Afridi as he provides as a valueable bowling option without taking too much away from batting depth, which would be the case if we dropped him and included a bowler.
— I am all for giving Imran Farhat and Salman Butt an extended chance, i.e., a series, but not both at the same time. They are just not good enough for that. What we can do is sit down with them, and tell them, hey guys, we are going to give you BOTH good two series, but we may have to alternate between you two. This will be more practical as well, as with Shoaib Malik’s eventual return, competition will be even tougher.
— The only reason both Butt and Imran Farhat were tried together in the first place was becuase of injuries. Now with Younis coming back, and Faisal showing good technique consistently, we need to reward him by keeping him in the team and making him an opener. If he fires, great, if he doesn’t, it would not put his career in danger anymore than his sitting outside of the team will. Kamran Akmal failed as an opener too, it didn’t destroy his career. We cannot let the hyped up idea of ‘destroying his career’ prevent us from trying our options!
It is not going to work for Pakistan when they introduce Faisal as an opener, besides Faisal is already getting his chances from series to series. He will replace Inzamam and when series is done or Inzamam is injured, Faisal is there to fill the spot. It suits him, let him be there.
We are talking about make-shift openers whether they are Faisal or Malik (who is in Pakistan), they are not openers. Openers set the pace of the inngs and game. If you want to introduce, how about Kamran Akmal (hard worker, takes pressue, reliable, plays fast etc etc)...oh wait we did that against One day lost to India.....Everyone is not an opener.
You can put your money on Salman and Imran if you think they will improve as the series goes deeper and becomes even more intense. Pakistan is not going to win this series if our openers continue to play like this. It is only sensible when we bring back Yasir Hameed.
I'd say stick with them for the whole series and then throw them out if they both are total flops. Start fresh with Mohd Hafeez (Like Captain1, I am not his supporter either but his performances down under deserve credit) and Shoaib Malik.
We are talking about make-shift openers whether they are Faisal or Malik (who is in Pakistan), they are not openers. Openers set the pace of the inngs and game. If you want to introduce, how about Kamran Akmal (hard worker, takes pressue, reliable, plays fast etc etc)...oh wait we did that against One day lost to India.....Everyone is not an opener.
You can put your money on Salman and Imran if you think they will improve as the series goes deeper and becomes even more intense. Pakistan is not going to win this series if our openers continue to play like this. It is only sensible when we bring back Yasir Hameed.
Your arguments are of no value if you want to exchange Salman Butt for Yasir Hameed. Either you are intellectually dishonest, or you weren't around to see Yasir's manner of dismissals and the outrage that followed --- not too dissimilar to Butt's situation.
Save these personal comments for youself. You don’t wanna go down that road : ) Salman and Imran were sitting ducks in both inngs and gave away their wickets. It is about options isn’t it. There are flaws in everyone’s game and it is about ironing them out, its about time Butt and Farhat do that with their game. The only thing you can talk about is the way Yasir got out, just shows how wide your intellectual scope is.
I noticed that alot of people want a replacement in the form of Hafeez and Hameed
It is really difficult to understand this conservative approach of not trying a player only because he is a natural middle order player. Well there is no such thing as a natural middle order. If a player is talented and competent, he can adjust at any position. We have so many examples of different players like Tendulkar, Ganguly, Laxman, Dravid, Mark Waugh, Alec Stewart, Hooper etc who have played at different positions ranging from 1-6 for their teams.
It beats me what people are thinking when they are now willing to try hafeez and hameed, the players who were discarded for Butt and Farhat.
I would like to keep Butt in for a while, but not Farhat. He has been tried and tested more than any other recent opener. Hafeez was given one full chance after '03 reorg and he availed it to some extent then failed, he was given one more chance and he failed that one too, but he showed patience, didn't get tempted by anything offside. Since then he has proved himself in 20/20, domestic and in A team that he perhaps has improved much. Farhat was recalled after some heroics in domestic, I don't think he was made to go with A team.
I'll prefer to give Yasir a chance before Hafeez though as Yasir had performed in little chances given to him in last Australian tour.
Faisal is a good player and a potential great but he is no where near Tendulkar, Ganguly, Laxman, Dravid and Mark Waugh.
All I am saying is that Farhat and Butt are not setting the pace of the game, which is necessary. We will not win if they continue to play and commit mistakes like this. I hope they improve because they really need to put an effort in the next Test matches for Pakistan to win. It is only sensible if we keep Yasir and/or Taufeeq (who is been recalled) as an option in squad.
I'll prefer to give Yasir a chance before Hafeez though as Yasir had performed in little chances given to him in last Australian tour.
Why not Faisal instead of those who have been tried and tested?
Tell me something. Would you mind Faisal getting a chance as an opener and he delivers as well?
Salman Butt is only consistent when he gets into form. Otherwise no. I would prefer Imran Farhat as he has more experience and more consistent than Salman Butt recently. Yasir Hameed started off with the awesome career and I think he should have a chance. Shoaib Malik should open then. Still I do not care. I am more worried about our bowling. Usually I blame for our bowling. Our batsmen did a fabulous job.
in my opinion lets try faisal n akmal in 2nd test n if akmal fails thn change him with riffatullah mohmand but lets give faisal a chance to show his talent against the new ball. mohmund is a very attractive opener.... attacking, temprament, n has the ability to anchor the inning i think he desered to b there in the opening spot plus he is the best fielder in current pakistani lot even better than malik n afridi .... lets try
fasial n akmal ......... for 2nd test
call mohmund n thn
faisal/ akmal with mohmund ........... for third test
A right hand/left hand combo is a must. All the options are medicore at best, so we may as well disrupt Hoggards' natural strength which is swinging the ball into the left handers.
unless we have really good openers waiting in wings, i m sick and tired of giving chances to Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Hafeez and Taufeeq Umer. They should take some rest and make a comeback. I say screw openers....we almost play without them anyway.....lets make a pair from Shoaib Malik, Afridi and Kamran Akmal this will allow Pakistan to add more batsmen in the line
this will give Pakistan 8 players who can bat (4 specialist, 4 all rounders)
and 7 players who can bowl - 3 fast, 1 medium, 3 spinners (4 specialist , 3 all rounders)
We definitely need to discard Butt. Farhat though not brilliant could be given another match. Faisal should open with him and the middle order will be strengthened by the return of Younis. Thsoe who are saying that Faisal is a middle order bat must remember that Majid was also a middle order bat and than promoted himself to opener and was a great sucess partnering Sadiq.
