[VIDEO] What does Faheem Ashraf need to do to be considered a good Test all-rounder?

[ethan hunt]

Faheem has lost some pace in his bowling which is a pity as he is coming into his own as a test batter and generally hits pretty good areas as a bowler.
Ammad is the more impressive bowler at this stage. Faheem needs to regain the bite and hell be a force.

[Bewal Express]

I have told you the reason. His action needs work.
Plus, he doesn't have a dexterous wrist like Asif or a Walsh to just rely on that to generate movement of the pitch.

He is becoming a terrible bowler, he doesn't threaten any batsman. Something as simple as holding the ball for outswinger will help him to move the ball back in off the seam. The guy seems dumb as a rock.

[Pacy with wisdom]

He is becoming a terrible bowler, he doesn't threaten any batsman. Something as simple as holding the ball for outswinger will help him to move the ball back in off the seam. The guy seems dumb as a rock.

It isn't that simple.
You need to have a strong base and a good non bowling arm for it to be that simple. He doesn't have these.
This is the problem with all our bowlers. They are technically very weak, and dont know how their actions work.
Our coaches are terrible.

[moghul]

He will not be dropped after his batting performances in last 3 matches

Yes, not in Pakistan where selectors are so insecure, in any other country an all rounder with such a poor bowling performance would have been axed.

[shamaan]

Cannot take wickets in Asian condition, cannot take wickets in SENA, where does he takes wickets ?

*Odd wicket

[naseem]

Yes, not in Pakistan where selectors are so insecure, in any other country an all rounder with such a poor bowling performance would have been axed.

If not for him.....Pak would have collapsed .......credit to him Fawad and Azhar for that....also Yasir for the 160 odd lead.......give credit where it is due......when ur premier bowlers Abbas Saheen Hasan don't take wickets .......don't expect him to do miracle.....it is only in Pakistan that fans want to drop players after performing.......who who will replace him..???

[MenInG]

[Bigboii]

Even if he makes centeries after centeries guess what some random indian cricketer (or if they're feeling especially generous they'll add some Aussie into the mix) in thier domestics would still be better than him

Some PPers and thier ultimate wisdom

[Pacy with wisdom]

The "non-cricketer" in the runs again.

[Pacy with wisdom]

Babar and Haris are mental midgets.

Sohaib Maqsood; the new inzi.
Azhqr ali will be Pakistan's Ian bell in odi's.
Junaid is as good as 2010 Amir.
Pakistan will be whitewashed in England for every one of the last 3 away tours.

[MenInG]

[Square Drive]

Identify as an Indian.

[Square Drive]

Sohaib Maqsood; the new inzi.
Azhqr ali will be Pakistan's Ian bell in odi's.
Junaid is as good as 2010 Amir.
Pakistan will be whitewashed in England for every one of the last 3 away tours.

Let's make the conversation about username, though.

He knows Pakistan cricket like the back of his hand. Perhaps that hand has always been kept in his pockets.

[NoBallZombie]

"Gullible fans of a 7th ranked team overhyping a mediocre player"

[Khan12]

Sohaib Maqsood; the new inzi.
Azhqr ali will be Pakistan's Ian bell in odi's.
Junaid is as good as 2010 Amir.
Pakistan will be whitewashed in England for every one of the last 3 away tours.

And many more. Fluke.

[Thunderbolt14]

And takes the wicket of Faf du Plessis

[MenInG]

And takes the wicket of Faf du Plessis

Faheem amazing!

[jeeteshssaxena]

At the moment this guy is looking solid with the bat and he was always a good enough 4 th bowler.
Pulled Pakistan back into this match

[Pakhs]

At the moment this guy is looking solid with the bat and he was always a good enough 4 th bowler.
Pulled Pakistan back into this match

Yes he was always good enough 4th bowler or 3rd in subcontinent conditions. So far in his career his batting seems to be good enough for 7 player in test cricket too.

[Titan24]

Playing some important knocks lower down the order for a while, got an important wicket as well today. Going in the right direction, hopefully can continue progressing.

[Hyperion66]

On current form he is the most valuable player from Pak right now in test cricket. Took Pak to respected total in NZ, massively contributed to the SA win and again without his heroics today with the tail Pak wouldn't be crossing 200. Honestly he looked ordinary just like an year ago, such massive improvement, wow!!

[Thunderbolt14]

Highest Test batting average against short balls (>8m) since 2006:

1. Umar Akmal - 105.00
2. Adam Voges - 96.66
3. AB de Villiers - 95.11
4. Hashim Amla - 88.59
5. Faheem Ashraf - 87.00

Interesting stat

[Prince of Pakistan]

Highest Test batting average against short balls (>8m) since 2006:

1. Umar Akmal - 105.00
2. Adam Voges - 96.66
3. AB de Villiers - 95.11
4. Hashim Amla - 88.59
5. Faheem Ashraf - 87.00

Interesting stat

Umar Akmal was phenomenal during that tour down under in 2010. Smashed Aussies and Kiwis to all parts of the ground at their home. That tour is probably the reason for U. Akmal being there.

Faheem always been good against the short ball but since a few months he has improved his overall batting.

[Markhor]

Day and night difference with his batting now. Could've got a hundred had he farmed more of the strike.

Faheem's form allows us to balance the side perfectly now. No more debates about 4 vs 5 bowlers.

With Faheem at 7, you can try so many combinations from 4 seamers and 1 spinner, 3 seamers and 2 spinners, or even 2 seamers and 3 spinners if it's a raging turner.

[Greenstorm]

Highest Test batting average against short balls (>8m) since 2006:

1. Umar Akmal - 105.00
2. Adam Voges - 96.66
3. AB de Villiers - 95.11
4. Hashim Amla - 88.59
5. Faheem Ashraf - 87.00

Interesting stat

Interesting indeed.

Faheem actually struggled with bounce in SA. It will be interesting to see how he copes with bounce in Aus and SA next time. Yes he did well in NZ but kiwi bowlers didn't jave much pace.

That being said, he has become a valuable player for us. Should bat at 4 for Islu in PSL.

[ask_analyse_act]

Day and night difference with his batting now. Could've got a hundred had he farmed more of the strike.

Faheem's form allows us to balance the side perfectly now. No more debates about 4 vs 5 bowlers.

With Faheem at 7, you can try so many combinations from 4 seamers and 1 spinner, 3 seamers and 2 spinners, or even 2 seamers and 3 spinners if it's a raging turner.

This is the most important thing... Faheem gives the much needed balance which is what every test team is looking for...

His batting has improved leaps and bounds.. Want more performances like this from him..

[TeymurBlake]

He just looks so more assured in his batting right now and just as a cricketer. I would like to see his pace improve if I am honest but overall very impressive with his recent form.

[Omer2002]

very good indeed ..i wouldnt blame him today for not farming the strike as he was looking a million dollars.

I hope his pace is not down to shoulder injury he has had. If he get to 82-85 mph regular and with his batting form he will be a great asset moving forwards.

[Kroll]

Was called the most useless cricketer ever and so on. Now people are doing a double take on here.

Another one, Junaids rightly backed while everyone else turned on him.

[Markhor]

Was called the most useless cricketer ever and so on. Now people are doing a double take on here.

Another one, Junaids rightly backed while everyone else turned on him.

Because he was useless pre-Yousuf sessions. There's no point saying the sky is green and grass is blue. The numbers speak for itself - but he's worked hard on his game and the results are there to see.

As for Junaids, he also would like to promote Mohammad Nawaz as a Test #5 so perhaps you ought to be careful before declaring him a paragon of cricketing wisdom with all due respect to him.

[Kroll]

Because he was useless pre-Yousuf sessions. There's no point saying the sky is green and grass is blue. The numbers speak for itself - but he's worked hard on his game and the results are there to see.

As for Junaids, he also would like to promote Mohammad Nawaz as a Test #5 so perhaps you ought to be careful before declaring him a paragon of cricketing wisdom with all due respect to him.

I do recall he did have a very decent outing in SA with the ball so perhaps the criticism was a bit OTT although he wasn't performing with the bat at the time especially in LOI's.

They must have seen something in him to back him till now.

Nobody mentioned Nawaz here but maybe he could surprise us all like Lord Faheem has done.

[moghul]

Faheem has been very lucky to have a free ride for 4 years. He was selected as a bowling all rounder but has been no less than pathetic in both. Now at least his batting has improved and has been a very useful contributor at lower middle order . His bowling is still not good , even pace is down.

If he improves his bowling too and chips in with couple of wickets in each outing, he can be a very useful team member.

[Khan12]

Faheem has been very lucky to have a free ride for 4 years. He was selected as a bowling all rounder but has been no less than pathetic in both. Now at least his batting has improved and has been a very useful contributor at lower middle order . His bowling is still not good , even pace is down.

If he improves his bowling too and chips in with couple of wickets in each outing, he can be a very useful team member.

Faheem has always been decent in tests and shouldn't have been dropped. But odis and t20s he was dreadful to say the least.

[Titan24]

Faheem has always been decent in tests and shouldn't have been dropped. But odis and t20s he was dreadful to say the least.

This.

I have mentioned it as well quite a few times before that our fans and sometimes even the national selectors confuse formats. He always had a better FC record (Average of 30+) as well in comparison to T20s and List A (Average of 16)

If we take out the last 6 innings of Faheem which he played in last few months he only played 6 innings in test cricket in the period of 2018-2020(Start) where he also had a highest score of 83 in Ireland and 37 off 38 in Eng as well.

He has improved his overall balance and positioning but, its not like as per earlier stats or performances he could have been refereed to as not meant for test cricket based upon just 6 innings in test cricket he played.

On the other hand he is yet to perform in LOIs with bat which has been his weaker format from the very start. Hopefully his improvements come into play in white ball cricket as well. I wont be surprised if his reputation deteriorates again in the eyes of critics and fans if he doesnt perform in white ball cricket and talks about his exclusion even from test squad start.

[Titan24]

Performances in different formats should be judged separately.

[gazza619]

Score a few hundreds and take a few five wicket hauls.

To do that he will need to work 10 times harder. He doesnt appear to be someone who would want to go the extra 10 miles. I hope I am wrong though.

[Junaids]

Because he was useless pre-Yousuf sessions. There's no point saying the sky is green and grass is blue. The numbers speak for itself - but he's worked hard on his game and the results are there to see.

As for Junaids, he also would like to promote Mohammad Nawaz as a Test #5 so perhaps you ought to be careful before declaring him a paragon of cricketing wisdom with all due respect to him.

The Mohammad Nawaz issue is slightly different, to be fair.

Ever since the Tests in England and Ireland in May 2018 it has seemed obvious that because of Pakistan’s weak batting and shallow bowling, the best Test option outside Asia is ALWAYS

7. Shadab Khan
8. Faheem Ashraf

Twice in three Tests they turned collapses into Test victories with the bat.

I do have some doubts about Faheem’s bowling, and I would be grooming Amad Butt in every national squad in every format in the hope that he can improve his batting and bowling. That extra 5K speed with the ball and 6 cm in height makes him have a much higher ceiling with the ball than Faheem has.

Mohammad Nawaz is there for a different reason for me.

I think that for the World Test Championship 2021-23-25 cycles the only viable specialist batsmen so far are:

Babar Azam
Mohammad Rizwan

Azhar and Fawad will be even older.

Saud Shakeel is unproven. Haider Ali and Abdullah Shafique are even less proven.

That means that there need to be contingency plans. And if the team is accepting of batsmen like Abid Ali and Haris Sohail who struggle to average 20 against decent opposition, you have to consider whether you stick Rizwan up as a specialist batsman so that you can accommodate Rohail Nazir at 6 and you just accept that 5, 6, 7 and 8 are all going to be all-rounders to give you batting depth to try to camouflage the lack of specialist talent.

If things don’t improve with the bat, Pakistan are going to have to seriously consider that the post-Azhar/Fawad world might look like:

1. Abdullah Shafique or Haider Ali
2. Mohammad Rizwan
3. Saud Shakeel
4. Babar Azam
5. Mohammad Nawaz
6. Rohail Nazir (wk)
7. Shadab Khan
8. Faheem Ashraf
9. Sajid Khan (Asia) / Hasan Ali (SENA)
10. Shaheen Shah Afridi
11. Naseem Shah

The batting - including Mohammad Nawaz - is terrifyingly poor.

But that’s why you pack Rohail and Shadab and Faheem as three guys who may well score as many runs from 6-7-8 as Shafique, Rizwan and Shakeel from 1-2-3.

[Hasan]

Answer to the o/p question: listen and act upon the advise and insights of PP’s own cricket specialists who have very skilfully extrapolated their experience of back garden, street and club cricket to the professional game.

These PP cricket specialists have also processed the unique experiences of observing their fathers, uncles and elder brothers discharging emotional outbursts and other forms of hot gases whilst watching the Pakistani cricket team. They have also closely observed these learned connoisseur provide their colourful post match debriefings.

These PP cricket specialists, after graduating from their respective incubative cricketing nurseries, feel duty bound to post their “insights” and “readings” on the professional game on open forums irrespective of the fact that they are consistently wrong on all aspects of the professional game.

PP cricket specialists are more entertaining than informative for the one and only reason, they think others actually take them seriously.

We are lucky to know that as long as there is PP their will also be PP’s own cricket specialists. May Allah keep them in his prospective custody.

[Thunderbolt14]

The Mohammad Nawaz issue is slightly different, to be fair.

Ever since the Tests in England and Ireland in May 2018 it has seemed obvious that because of Pakistan’s weak batting and shallow bowling, the best Test option outside Asia is ALWAYS

7. Shadab Khan
8. Faheem Ashraf

Twice in three Tests they turned collapses into Test victories with the bat.

I do have some doubts about Faheem’s bowling, and I would be grooming Amad Butt in every national squad in every format in the hope that he can improve his batting and bowling. That extra 5K speed with the ball and 6 cm in height makes him have a much higher ceiling with the ball than Faheem has.

Mohammad Nawaz is there for a different reason for me.

I think that for the World Test Championship 2021-23-25 cycles the only viable specialist batsmen so far are:

Babar Azam
Mohammad Rizwan

Azhar and Fawad will be even older.

Saud Shakeel is unproven. Haider Ali and Abdullah Shafique are even less proven.

That means that there need to be contingency plans. And if the team is accepting of batsmen like Abid Ali and Haris Sohail who struggle to average 20 against decent opposition, you have to consider whether you stick Rizwan up as a specialist batsman so that you can accommodate Rohail Nazir at 6 and you just accept that 5, 6, 7 and 8 are all going to be all-rounders to give you batting depth to try to camouflage the lack of specialist talent.

If things don’t improve with the bat, Pakistan are going to have to seriously consider that the post-Azhar/Fawad world might look like:

1. Abdullah Shafique or Haider Ali
2. Mohammad Rizwan
3. Saud Shakeel
4. Babar Azam
5. Mohammad Nawaz
6. Rohail Nazir (wk)
7. Shadab Khan
8. Faheem Ashraf
9. Sajid Khan (Asia) / Hasan Ali (SENA)
10. Shaheen Shah Afridi
11. Naseem Shah

The batting - including Mohammad Nawaz - is terrifyingly poor.

But that’s why you pack Rohail and Shadab and Faheem as three guys who may well score as many runs from 6-7-8 as Shafique, Rizwan and Shakeel from 1-2-3.

Fawad has another 5 years in him. Trust me. Azhar, due to dodgy knees plus bad overall fitness, plus role in the top order against the new ball, has only 1-2 years left in him. I don’t think we’re going to end up in as much of a jumble as you seem to be suggesting.

2021-2022
1. Azhar Ali
2. Imran Butt
3. Saud Shakeel
4. Babar Azam (c)
5. Fawad Alam
6. Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
7. Faheem Ashraf
8. Hassan Ali
9. Yasir Shah
10. Nauman Ali
11. Shaheen Afridi

2022-2025
1. Haider Ali / Abdullah Shafique
2. Imran Butt / Usman Salahuddin
3. Saud Shakeel
4. Babar Azam (c)
5. Fawad Alam
6. Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
7. Faheem Ashraf
8. Hassan Ali
9. Yasir Shah
10. Nauman Ali
11. Shaheen Afridi

No need to create a hodgepodge of Rizwan opening or batting at 3. Our 3-11 is pretty much settled for the next 5 years — we just need to figure out the opening combination.

We can also move Saud up to open with Kamran Ghulam in at 3 if none of the four openers I listed work out.

[Kroll]

1. Abdullah Shafique or Haider Ali
2. Mohammad Rizwan
3. Saud Shakeel
4. Babar Azam
5. Mohammad Nawaz
6. Rohail Nazir (wk)
7. Shadab Khan
8. Faheem Ashraf
9. Sajid Khan (Asia) / Hasan Ali (SENA)
10. Shaheen Shah Afridi
11. Naseem Shah

The batting - including Mohammad Nawaz - is terrifyingly poor.

But that’s why you pack Rohail and Shadab and Faheem as three guys who may well score as many runs from 6-7-8 as Shafique, Rizwan and Shakeel from 1-2-3.

Naseem Shah? You should know better to throw up any random mediocre cricketer. The Naseem experiment is done and dusted. Haider Ali won't be able to cut it as an opener either.

[Saj]

His bowling is still lacking in Test cricket.

Against South Africa he took 1 wicket for 77 runs in the series.

To me, that is not the performance of an effective 3rd seamer.

[Thunderbolt14]

His bowling is still lacking in Test cricket.

Against South Africa he took 1 wicket for 77 runs in the series.

To me, that is not the performance of an effective 3rd seamer.

Agreed. He’s a batting all rounder for now, and can become a balanced all rounder in SENA I suppose. He got some pretty good reverse swing with the old ball in this last innings, didn’t see that from him before - I’d like to see if he can utilize that better going forward.

[shamaan]

Fahim batting has come on leaps and bounds.his bowling is steady enough picking up odd wicket

[Rellu_Katta]

Even if he makes centeries after centeries guess what some random indian cricketer (or if they're feeling especially generous they'll add some Aussie into the mix) in thier domestics would still be better than him

Some PPers and thier ultimate wisdom

brutal but true for "inferiority complexed" posters

[moghul]

Fahim batting has come on leaps and bounds.his bowling is steady enough picking up odd wicket

How many wickets the "bowling all rounder " has taken in two tests ? A part timer like Azhar Ali , Fawad or if Saud was playing could have done a better job in bowling than him.

Yes, his batting has improved, hope this is not a flash in the pan.

[moghul]

His bowling is still lacking in Test cricket.

Against South Africa he took 1 wicket for 77 runs in the series.

To me, that is not the performance of an effective 3rd seamer.

Faf gave that wickets to him, he didn't take it . It was a bad ball , should have dispatched for four.

[squanchy]

Our standards are so low that a Pakistani cricketer has to do nothing to be considered quality.

An all-rounder like Faheem pays his due by scoring a couple of half-centuries and a batsman like Fawad becomes a legend after scoring a baby hundred on his home ground.

Faheem has already proved himself. So has Fawad.

Having high standards means only praising a number 7 who averages more than 42 with the bat and lower than 33 with the ball.

These hot takes and more from our resident attention seeking contrarian.

[Muhammad Saad]

He can walk in to our brittle batting lineup as a batsmen alone. How many of our proper batsmen average 40+ in test cricket? Let him enjoy his purple patch with the bat and anything he does with the bowl should be considered as a bonus for now.

[shamaan]

How many wickets the "bowling all rounder " has taken in two tests ? A part timer like Azhar Ali , Fawad or if Saud was playing could have done a better job in bowling than him.

Yes, his batting has improved, hope this is not a flash in the pan.

Please read again odd wicket* hes performing atleast in one department

[shamaan]

Faf gave that wickets to him, he didn't take it . It was a bad ball , should have dispatched for four.

same can be said when he got out to linde

[Amjid Javed]

Really needs to improve potency with ball espcially if hes going to be 3rd seamer if we are playing 2 spinners and 2 front line pacers to.

[gazza619]

Really needs to improve potency with ball espcially if hes going to be 3rd seamer if we are playing 2 spinners and 2 front line pacers to.

That is my biggest concern as well. He is perhaps OK to be the 4th seamer but not the 3rd seamer.

He really needs to up his game as a medium pacer,

[Ami]

He used to bowl between 135km to 140km...but this series was hovering around 130km or less?

Any reasons?

[Saj]

What made me chuckle was when Faheem was hiding the ball from the batsman when he was running in to bowl, as if he was Waqar Younis about to unleash a thunderbolt at 150kph. Instead it would end up being a 125kph double-bouncing delivery

He has a lot of work to do n his bowling as there isn't much to it.

To be fair though, he's an honest trier and I wish him all the best.

[gazza619]

What made me chuckle was when Faheem was hiding the ball from the batsman when he was running in to bowl, as if he was Waqar Younis about to unleash a thunderbolt at 150kph. Instead it would end up being a 125kph double-bouncing delivery

He has a lot of work to do n his bowling as there isn't much to it.

To be fair though, he's an honest trier and I wish him all the best.

Saj, surely he is not trying hard enough if he has lost at least 5 km/hr from his bowling speed and that too at such a young age?

[Saj]

Saj, surely he is not trying hard enough if he has lost at least 5 km/hr from his bowling speed and that too at such a young age?

One for Waqar to answer.

I'll ask him.

[Yk313]

What made me chuckle was when Faheem was hiding the ball from the batsman when he was running in to bowl, as if he was Waqar Younis about to unleash a thunderbolt at 150kph. Instead it would end up being a 125kph double-bouncing delivery

He has a lot of work to do n his bowling as there isn't much to it.

To be fair though, he's an honest trier and I wish him all the best.

Jimmy was hiding it too.

The delivery that got Gill or Rahane (cannot remember which) clocked around 129kph.

If Faheem can demonstrate the control that either of Jimmy/Younis have/had on the old ball, I will be merry.

Having said that I do want him to average 135kph and bowl from closer to the stumps.

He can and should use the crease for mixing things up but with his action and ability to hit the deck on a length, he can be frugal and incisive, simultaneously, bowling from close to the stumps.

[moghul]

Jimmy was hiding it too.

The delivery that got Gill or Rahane (cannot remember which) clocked around 129kph.

If Faheem can demonstrate the control that either of Jimmy/Younis have/had on the old ball, I will be merry.

Having said that I do want him to average 135kph and bowl from closer to the stumps.

He can and should use the crease for mixing things up but with his action and ability to hit the deck on a length, he can be frugal and incisive, simultaneously, bowling from close to the stumps.

Its like wishing Iman Butt to bat like Gavaskar, Greenidge and Sehwag.

Faheem is a club level bowler and can't be compared with legends if the game.

[Forum363]

If he’s averaging around 130-133 and keeping things tight / getting some movement, that’s perfect for his role. Trying to bowl faster than that will just shorten his career and there’s not a huge difference between 135 and 131, as in, it’s better to have the other skills which don’t increase the chance of injury.

[Junaids]

The weird thing is that when Northants gave him a red ball contract, they specifically linked it to him being a quicker bowler than most in county cricket!

[Yk313]

Its like wishing Iman Butt to bat like Gavaskar, Greenidge and Sehwag.

Faheem is a club level bowler and can't be compared with legends if the game.

That was the point of the post but I appreciate tone does not always convey well over text.