Pakistan seem bent on picking batsmen who are well past their best, and for reasons other than cricketing merit

[vvvslaxman]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/pakistan/10112989/Pakistan-seem-bent-on-picking-batsmen-who-are-well-past-their-best-and-for-reasons-other-than-cricketing-merit.html Pakistan seem bent on picking batsmen who are well past their best, and for reasons other than cricketing merit Pakistan have been the disappointments of the Champions Trophy to date. The other countries have looked young and eager, Pakistan - very uncharacteristically - old and decrepit, especially in their batting. Kemar Roach bowled a fiery opening spell for West Indies in Pakistan's first match at the Oval. Still, to be dismissed for 170, and for only two of their batsmen to score more than six (yes, six runs), was feebleness. Batting second at Edgbaston was always going to be difficult in pursuit of South Africa's total of 234. But one of the world's top eight countries should have made a better fist of it than 167, and again only two batsmen contributed: the young left-hander Nasir Jamshed and the captain Misbah ul-Haq, who had led from the front while fielding, in spite of his 39 years. "Nobody is justifying their place in the team," as Misbah lamented after the defeat by South Africa. "And nobody is making runs for Pakistan." Pakistan's batsmen have often found run-scoring difficult outside Asia, except for the generation that was steeped in county cricket, like Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas, Majid Khan and several other glorious stroke-players. Inzamam ul-Haq, the exception to several rules, is the only Pakistan batsman to have made 5,000 Test runs without such background training. But there is more to this inability to score runs than being unable to cope with English conditions - or Irish conditions, for don't forget that in their build-up to this series Pakistan were held to a tie in, and by, Ireland. What is particularly disturbing for the outsider who wishes to see Pakistan prosper, especially while they are fated to play in exile, is the apparent dearth of talent. Behind the doors that have been closed by the security chiefs, is domestic cricket in Pakistan failing to unearth talented youngsters? Or are they appearing, but not being selected for the national side? I suspect the latter is more likely. Pakistan's selectors seem bent on picking batsmen who are well past their best, and for reasons other than cricketing merit. Look at the ICC Player Rankings for one-day internationals. Whatever the pros and cons of such a system, they do give some indication of how a player is performing. To find half of the batsmen in Pakistan's top six, you have to scroll a long, long way down. Shoaib Malik is 76th in the ODI batting rankings. Imran Farhat is 77th. Kamran Akmal is 79th. Given that there are eight competitive countries - 10 if you include Bangladesh and Zimbabwe – and that each country has six or so batsmen, we are talking here about the world's one-day batting basement. :giggle: These three batsmen are all in their thirties - for age, if not batting average - and they have been failing for a long time now. Players who are not quite luminaries like Vusi Sibanda, Gary Wilson, Collins Obuya and Hamilton Masakadza are ranked above them. Farhat is equal in 77th place with Darren Sammy, the West Indian who is primarily a bowler, and that was before his fine 50 against India on Tuesday. If Pakistan were being bowled out with a side of young batsmen, who then benefited from the experience and improved, this would be understandable. But the selectors seem bent on picking old lags who keep on failing. And lags whose reputations are not invariably whiter than Karakoram snow. When Shoaib Malik scored 43 against Ireland last month, it was the first time he had reached 40 in a one-day international since September 2009. And while he used to be a skilful bowler of offbreaks and doosras, those days are gone: he has taken two ODI wickets since 2011. In normal circumstances, cricket observers could go to Pakistan and find out what is happening on the ground. As we cannot, I think followers of Pakistan - and of world cricket - are owed an explanation for what is going on behind those closed doors.

[Number]

Lol their ex-cricketers, experts all are praising Indian batting. :giggle:

[Asim]

Wasim Akram on Imran Farhat :D btuYPJe9tK0

[vvvslaxman]

what is he saying.. translation

[vvvslaxman]

Collin obuya is ranked above most of the Pakistani batsmen lol

[Lord]

lol he seems pissed

[coffee_rules]

Great Urdu/Punjabi accent of Wasim. Didn't know he could speak so well. :cantstop: Imraan ko dekhte dekhte barah saal hogya.. Tu opener ai, tera choutha comeback ai.. thodi laaj nikal...

[panther]

Pak have many good batsman, but all are in domestic cricket except 1 or 2.

[vvvslaxman]

Guy like Hafeez should bat at no.7 or 8 as a specialist bowler. Robin Petersen is a far better batsman than Hafeez lol Yet he bats high up the order.

[Asim]

very simple, FOR NOW it should be: 1. Jamshed 2. U Akmal 3. Azhar Ali 4. Asad Shafique 5. Misbah 6. K Akmal 7. Hafeez 4 bowlers...

[Old guy]

very simple, FOR NOW it should be: 1. Jamshed 2. U Akmal 3. Azhar Ali 4. Asad Shafique 5. Misbah 6. K Akmal 7. Hafeez 4 bowlers...

dont think umar will survive new ball with attacking jamshed u can open with defensive azhar :hmmm:

[Pagalpanti]

I remember first watching Farhat in 2003 Ind tour of Pak, he was shite then and 10 years on he's still opening for Pak. Says a lot about their selection

[riwi999]

what is he saying.. translation

Rameez asks Wasim what he thinks about Pakistan's batsmen. Akram: "I'm sure if you look around Pakistan, there must be some good batsmen somewhere. Look at Imran Farhat. I've been seeing this guy for 12 years now. Is there any chance that he will come good at all? This is his fourth comeback. Here boy, you've got good first-class scores, at least save your face with some good scores now. You are an opener, go out there and show them that you can bat. You keep playing on the back foot, nudging...I don't think you will be able to bat".

[putrevus]

Their batting was always feeble in their history except handful of batsmen who really could be termed as international class. Earlier they used to get home cooked umpires to inflate stats and make them look better than they actually were, now that option is gone. This notion that they have great bowling attack is also hilarious.It is good but nothing special.

[vvvslaxman]

Rameez asks Wasim what he thinks about Pakistan's batsmen. Akram: "I'm sure if you look around Pakistan, there must be some good batsmen somewhere. Look at Imran Farhat. I've been seeing this guy for 12 years now. Is there any chance that he will come good at all? This is his fourth comeback. Here boy, you've got good first-class scores, at least save your face with some good scores now. You are an opener, go out there and show them that you can bat. You keep playing on the back foot, nudging...I don't think you will be able to bat".

Thanks man... i am pretty sure he was pretty pissed off.

[putrevus]

Wasim Akram on Imran Farhat :D btuYPJe9tK0

This is hilarious from Wasim Akram.

[riwi999]

Why don't Pakistani batsmen play county cricket anymore? Or aren't they good enough to get county contracts anymore? Like this article says, a lot of past cricketers made a name for themselves in English county cricket. County cricket has been valuable experience for sub-continent players. This could be something the PCB should encourage its players to take up.

[coffee_rules]

very simple, FOR NOW it should be: 1. Jamshed 2. U Akmal 3. Azhar Ali 4. Asad Shafique 5. Misbah 6. K Akmal 7. Hafeez 4 bowlers...

No Khatmal. Drop Imran Farthat. and find a decent wicket keeper.

[panther]

I think some of the u19 batsman can easily walk into this team babar azam and waheed.

[The Outsider]

Sad day for world cricket :((