I think we're missing a full-time spinner, who should be there to support Yasir.

 

Shadab is there!

 

Its clear Mickey is going again for the 3 spinner 1 pacer combo in the UAE that lost us the matches against Sri Lanka.

 

3 pacers would be there and Yasir Shah and Shadab will be there!

 

Not a regular full-time spinner, and he's nobody in Test.

 

Who is this Bilal Asif character and why does he keep getting selected?

 

Apparently an off spinner who can bat a bit too.

 

No need for specialist bowlers in Asian conditions when you have all rounders who can play in place of specialist bowlers.

My Playing XI would have been;

Fakhar
Fawad
Haris
Saud
Usman
Imad *
Rizwan +
Shadab
Nawaz
Hammad
Faheem

 

rofl rofl Bilal Asif and Rizwan

note @Red Devil

 

Sarfraz is the captain, you cant drop him

 

Yasir Shah ke baghair tum Australia ko nahi hara sakte plus Wahab Riaz is a must too against Aus!

 

Not sure what to make of this test squad.

As usual not surprised one bit to see a few odd names in there such as Bilal Asif who's neither a bowler or a batter (if you go by stats) and the same can be said about a few others.

I would have rather preferred someone like Asghar getting in instead of Bilal.

Hafeez who didn't make it for the Asia Cup could have got a look in especially due to the fact that he can bowl again and can also be handy in the SC with the bat.

Wahab is back because he's the fastest in the country (143-145k's) pace bowler, who can bang it in and can revese it too.

Hasan and Shadab I'm not too sure of yet especially given them not being in form. As for form, nearly all are out of it so can't be debated about really.

Hamza and Abbas could be similar in terms of pace, but doubt that Hamza will get picked to play a test as Abbas is coming fresh from a successful county stint so he in fact could be classified as the only in form player going into this series.

 

Also Fawad Alam was another name whose now used to not being selected and it seems that it will be that way even though the test side is far from settled.

 

Junaid Khan should have been there.
Also Hafeez would be more than useful. His batting in UAE alone is good enough to merit a place but then there is his bowling too which would help rotate bowlers and be a partnership breaker. I miss Hafeez the UAE specialist. He would be much better than Haris Sohail

 

Why no Fawad Alam and what is this obsession with Haris Sohail ?

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

they think fawad alam is a selfish player - thats a quote from someone I know. not sure why a guy protecting his wicket is a bad thing in their opinion, but no surprises, he wont ever make it, neither will any of the other top performers in the domestic world because there is no intellect in team management.

its a crap, ordinary squad with players picked, as per the usual and forever habit of the pcb, our of format.

the new guys they have selected, like Shan in the Asia cup, wont get a game so it will be the same tested bs,and the same crappy results most likley unless the Aussies are in even ore disarray.

this is what they will pick because they are crap:

1. azhar (boring and in decline)
2. imam (totally out of his depth, should be fakhar but wont be)
3. babar (has shown zero ability to play the long format at any point in his entire career, should be haris)
4. usman (good selection but will play him here instead of 5/6 because asad is a coward)
5. asad technique shafiq (overrated, underperformed in decline, should be fawad, or farad +shafiq)
6. sarfraz
7. shadab (totally unproven at any level beyond t20)
8. faheem (totaly unproven at any level beyond t20)
9. yassir
10. wahab (ttf, should be mir/sadaf)
11. abbas

these are the guys that shouldn't eve bother unpacking their stiff, bring a pair of sunglasses and a Hawaiian shirt: fakhar, haris, bilal, mir, hassan - although agree in the case of hassan, he is struggling and has been since the ct.

 

My XI for the first test.

Azher
Fakher
Imam
Shafiq
Baber
Sarfaraz
Bilal
Faheem
Yasir
Wahab
Abbas

Yes, Imam is at 3.
Sachin and Ganguly opened for a decade in ODI's but never in Tests.

Sent from knowhere

 

Time to move on from Hafeez.

 

Batting does look kinda thin..there is a epic collapse in there waiting to happen.

 

Interesting to see Azhar this series. He had a poor tour of England in the summer and also didn’t do so well for Somerset in the county champsionship.

 

Its UAE. He will be the second coming of Don Bradman on these pitches.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

Yes true but Aussies have a good attack. Don’t think it will be as one sided as last time.

 

In UAE tests Hafeez is a beast. Only second to Younis Khan as a batsman. He would be an ATG if he played on those pitches all his life - that's the level he's on when he plays in UAE.
He was and still is the best Pakistan batsman in UAE conditions. Be it tests or ODIs

 

Azhar had a knee injury after the Champions Trophy I think. Since then his performance has gone down considerably. IMO his career is finished.

He was not a FTB though, his defense was solid as rock in Australia and NZ the winter before, even scored a double ton.

 

1. Azhar Ali
2. Imam
3. Babar Azam (he must bat at his favourite number in my opinion)
   
4. Harris Sohail
5. Asad Shafiq
6. Sarfraz
7. Shadab
8. Yasir Shah
9. Hassan Ali
10. Wahab Riaz
11. Abbas

 

Imam
Azhar
Haris
Shafiq
Babar
Sarfraz
Shadab
Bilal
Yasir
Wahab
Abbas

 

Maybe Fahim Ashraf in the place of Hassan Ali!

1. Azhar
2. Imam
3. Babar
4. Harris Sohail
5. Asad Shafiq
6. Sarfraz
7. Shadab
8. Fahim
9. Yasir Shah
10. Wahab Riaz
11. Abbas

 

Do you think Shadab is good enough as 2nd spinner. I would play Bilal ahead of Fahim even though I don’t really rate him

 

I think Shadab is very good and he performed alright in Asia Cup! In my opinion, Nawaz failed to pick too many wickets and support Shadab and he was always going to be milked by india and Bangladesh also won cus we played Nawaz instead of Fahim against them. Had we played Fahim Ashraf and Harris Sohail in place of Asif Ali and Nawaz, then we would have atleast won against Bangladesh if not india!! Fahim Ashraf would be the 4th pacer and Harris Sohail would fill in as left arm spinner in the absence of Nawaz, bowling attack would be much stronger this way! What happened Bangladesh and India just milked Nawaz and ultimately when Pakistan did not manage to pick wickets when spinners were on. As a result, Bangladesh managed to put runs on the board and India won so easily! Had we got a 4th pacer and Harris Sohail, then we would have performed much better and not to mention Harris Sohail and Fahim Ashraf are much more capable batsman than Asif Ali and Nawaz!!

 

Suppose we lose the toss against Aus and have to bowl first, where would you take your 3 spinners? 3 pacers atleast are a must in order to bowl first if we have to!! 2 spinners can do the job on 4th and 5th day pitches!!

 

Alright ? Yes but not very good. You need very good spin performances in the UAE to win. Shadab would be my spinner outside of UAE but in UAE he should be second spinner in ODIs & third spinner in tests

 

Both Shadab & Bilal Asif are garbage test spinners.

 

*In these conditions. Shadab did get a 4-fer at Lords

Idk about Asif. Don’t rate him but he has done well recently in domestic, albeit in List A

 

You need atleast 3 pacers in your test side to be able to bowl on first day of a test match and you cant select an 11 after the toss! You have to a name an 11 prior to toss therefore you would go with 3 pacers 2 spinners most times in UAE conditions!! You would pick 3rd spinner when its a square turner like you get in india at times!! Shadab would walk into most teams as 1st spinner but in Pakistan, he is the 2nd spinner and your first spinner is none other than Yasir Shah!!

 

Marcus North has a 5fer at Lords.

 

And in Shadab's place, Bilal.

I wouldn't play Shadab at all, at least not in first Test. You see, not only he took a match off before our match against Ban (because of injury), but even against Ban, he REALLY looked out of touch, and not 100% fit.
And in Tests, you need to be 110% fit.


Sent from knowhere

 

Lyon will put our boys in a spin. And they have Starc to wipe out the tail.

 

Aus will get creamed anyway.

 

Was this the best A side Inzi could have selected? Very weak!

 

Not whilst Lyon is around