Continuing national team failures; Is it just a matter of selection?

The failure of the national team’s top order again in the second innings of the second Test match between Pakistan and New Zealand made me think why not headline the news this time. I advised a friend in the office to tell me, man, what should be the headline this time? “National team’s batting line is in trouble again”, “Pakistan’s batting line shattered like playing cards”, “National batting line proved to be a wall of sand”, “Pakistani batsmen Helpless in front of Kiwi bowlers. I am tired of putting such headlines. Tell me something new

Already angry at the performance of the national team, the friend replied, “Brother! Your batsmen haven’t had a chance to come up with any new headlines, so spend on them and put on any. Anyway, the cricket board or the selection committee or the coaches are not going to be ashamed of this news. ”I said,“ Dude! It’s not our batsmen’s fault, it’s the New Zealand Cricket Board’s fault, because they’ve created a magic pitch that works well for the Kiwis, but when our batsmen go to bat, they don’t see the ball. The sitting friend burst out laughing and resumed his work and I began to wonder if the only reason behind the continuous failure of the national batsmen on the pitches of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and England was the wrong selection.

Against Sri Lanka at home, Pakistan’s top four order batsmen set records by scoring centuries in a single innings, but on the pitches of England and New Zealand, these batsmen are in the same situation as Australian fast bowlers Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins. Made a strong team like India.
The Awesome Foursome: bAbidAli_Real ✔ @ shani_official @ AzharAli_ @ babarazam258
Only the second instance in Test history of the top-four batsmen scoring 100s in the same innings. First time for Pakistan. #PAKvSL LIVE: https://t.co/jFigEwJ4Bs pic.twitter.com/ODZdJY0Tcj

Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) December 22, 2019

The national team’s batting line-up also failed miserably in New Zealand after the tour of England, especially the top-order batsmen were once again seen resisting these wickets and instead of showing consistency in performance like every batsman on the tour of England, Demonstrated responsibility in one innings and appeared in the mood to secure his place in the team. Fawad Alam did well in the second innings of the first Test and Azhar Ali did well in the first innings of the second Test, but the performance of just one or two players will not work but against strong teams like New Zealand and England. Therefore, every player has to perform at the same time. As Kiwi captain Ken Williamson scored a double century in the second Test, Henry Nichols scored 157 and Daryl Mitchell 102.

Looking at the recent performance of Pakistan’s top-order batsmen, opening batsman Shaun Masood, who has scored 4 centuries and 6 half-centuries at an average of 30 in 24 Test matches, scored 156 in the first innings of the first Test against England in August. Later in the next 8 innings could not even cross the figure of 25. In the recent series, he managed to score only 8 and 14 runs while representing Pakistan Shaheens against New Zealand A. After scoring 10 runs in the first Test against New Zealand, he did not even bother to open the account in the next three innings while the same Shaun Masood was seen scoring centuries against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at home.

This is not surprising, as not only Shaun Masood but most batsmen who score runs at home forget to bat abroad. Now it may be Abid Ali, who joined the national team on the basis of his performance in domestic cricket, who showed his dangerous ambitions in international cricket by scoring centuries in ODIs and Test debuts, but also in England and New Zealand. Only one half-century in the last nine innings against. Similarly, Harris Sohail also failed miserably in this tour, he was content to play 3, 9 and 1 runs in 3 innings.

Now the question arises whether we should boycott overseas tours only by holding matches in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi or at most in the UAE or the cricket board should improve team selection as well as provide good conditions to the players. Do I need to increase my quality by feeding? I think the second option would be better because Pakistan Cricket Board is not in a position to use the first option. With great difficulty, the teams of England and South Africa have agreed to play in Pakistan, lest they have to wash their hands of it.

Fawad Alam:

However, the PCB and team management will have to seriously address a number of issues, including honoring the top domestic performers. Instead of forming Test teams on the basis of PSL or T20 matches, those who perform in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (like Fawad Alam, the first Test will be opened in 2009 and given a second chance in 2020) will have to be given opportunities on a regular basis. Usman Salahuddin was also given a Test cap in 2018 and since then he has been consistently scoring runs in the domestic but only certain faces in the team are given opportunities.

. @ RealUsmanPak posted his eighth half-century of the season and is batting on 51 (147 balls, three fours) at the start of play. Can he see his side home today?

WATCH # QeA20 Final ➡ https://t.co/TFQynkDyzy#HarHaalMainCricket | #KPvCP pic.twitter.com/AQtz4Tt3cG

Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) January 5, 2021

In addition, the choice of playing XI must be made on merit rather than personal preference. It is incomprehensible not to give a chance to Imran Butt, who played a brilliant domestic season despite Harris Sohail’s failure in the first match of the recent tour Are batsmen who score runs).

Recently, Saleem Khaliq, sports editor of Express News, in a tweet, talked about giving a chance to Kamran Ghulam, Pakistan’s domestic performer of the year and a 37-year-old domestic record breaker in this year’s domestic series against South Africa, which is a good thing. Yes, but I believe that not only Kamran Ghulam but all the players who have been performing consistently in the domestic arena for the last several years should be given consistent opportunities.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa middle-order batsman Kamran Ghulam scored a century in the final of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, setting a 37-year-old record for most runs scored in an edition of a tournament. Earlier, in the 1984-1983 season, Sadat Ali had scored 1217 runs in the edition. Apart from this, Kamran Ghulam also got the honor of being the batsman to score 5 centuries in an edition of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 5 years later.

1218 runs!
Most runs in Quaid-e-Azam Trophy
Congratulations Kamran Ghulam

WATCH # QeA20 Final ➡ https://t.co/TFQynkDyzy#HarHaalMainCricket | #KPvCP pic.twitter.com/Dkw3BAjEKN

Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) January 3, 2021

The cricket board has to consider the selection of the national team as well as the creation of supporting pitches and the players have to be fed on conditions and pitches that are compatible with England, New Zealand and Australia. Former national team captain and chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq has also expressed this several times.

In New Zealand, the Pakistani team not only failed to bat but also set the record for worst bowling as well as dropping catches. But the postmortem of the coaches will be done in the next part of the blog, why they are engaged in politics instead of working on the technique of batsmen. Especially on the failure of bowlers, why bowling coach Waqar Younis is still silent and why he is receiving such a huge salary.

Finally, on the positive side of the tour of New Zealand, it is a continuation of the performance of Mohammad Rizwan, who captained the team against New Zealand, and the good performance of Faheem Ashraf as an all-rounder in both areas, which is further improved. There is scope to bring.