Aislabie
Test Cricket is Best Cricket
My problem isn't with Ifti's bowling - frankly I do not care in the slightest how good or bad the 7th-best bowler in the team is. My problem is that his batting is entirely unsuited to the role he keeps being picked to play.
I mean, same. That's why I mentioned that the team I picked in the post was experimental to see what would and what wouldn't work. I like Rizwan as an opener, and I like the Babar-Rizwan partnership. Just because they are different to the norm doesn't make them bad. The idea of experimenting with two powerplay hitters is to see if those particular resources can be better optimised. If that does not prove to be consistently successful, then go back to the tried and tested by all means.
Yeah that's fair - I don't mind that plan at all.
Equally, it would be unduly harsh to judge Dilbar by his Stars debut, when they thought it would be a good idea to bring in someone who'd never played a senior hard-ball cricket match, to make his professional debut in a foreign country in entirely unfamiliar conditions.
I see his skillset as being quite like Liam Plunkett - a good, decent pace bowler who can bowl into the pitch for four of the middle overs; if he can turn his pace profile into a three-pace style (with a stock ball, a slightly slower ball, and a much slower ball) then he will make himself impossible to set himself to. He already has almost all of those skills, and his natural length is about nine metres from the batter, so that's my reason for naming him.
Like I mentioned a few sentences ago, I honestly agree with what you're saying here - with two caveats.
- I would still favour exploring the options of specialist powerplay hitters, seeing if those particular resources can be maximised a bit better.
- I would also send Rizwan and Babar to play in the National T20 Cup and Pakistan Super League with the express objective of consistently scoring at over 140, to develop their skills.
I'm quite unconvinced by Azam Khan in his current guise - for all the hype, he scores slower than Shan Masood and has far far worse fitness. I am also convinced that the two problems go hand in hand, which is why I would be looking to provide him a personal trainer to bring the absolute best out of his game. I do not mean to fat-shame here, but if he's going to play for Pakistan then he needs to be able to contribute to a high standard in the field from the first ball to the last.
I also rate Hasan as the better bowler, quite before looking at his possible contributions as a hard-hitting number eight. But I do also see Dilbar as a possible role bowler in the same way as Liam Plunkett was for England - he has the exact right raw ingredients.
22 T20I innings, averaged 20.60 and struck at 110. It was a really poor stint, and his two best innings by far came against Zimbabwe and Hong Kong - without those, it's a sub-100 strike rate which is awful.
I do think your assessment is completely valid; my assessment that he might be worth persisting with further is based only on him being one of the PSL's few very successful domestic hitters. If you're not going to let him bowl then you might as well get Asif Ali back in again.
Agreed tbh. I like him as a cricketer.
That's definitely prime time for experimenting then; hopefully the PSL will have unearthed some more talented players to fill in some gaps by then as well.
How would you feel about Asif Ali possibly being given a new role as a powerplay hitter?
