Can Imam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Rizwan swap places in the ODI line up?

[Babar_Azam_fan]

Imam is a really good player for Pakistan standards, but plays quite a few dots in the PP.

Rizwan is doing good as an opener in T20Is, but is struggling in the middle order (ODIs and T20Is) where he's confused between playing his natural game and building the innings.

Can both swap their places

Also it'll make a Right left combo, rather than having two lefties at the top.

Also Imam can build an innings much better at 4 when there's not a lot of fielders stopping singles.

Rizwan +
Fakhar
Babar *
Imam
Haris/ Saud (7th bowler)
Imad (Bat avg of 43 at 110) (6th bowler)
Nawaz
Hassan
Usman/ (Faheem/ Shadab)
Shaheen
Rauf

Batting till #9
5 genuine wicket taking options + Imad & Haris/ Saud

Back up
Sharjeel (opener)
Haider (m.o.b)
Sarfraz (wk)

[angrypathan]

Imam in the middle order would be disastrous

[shamaan]

Imaam can only open if the management thinks about rizwan oppening then imaam should be dropped

[ads101]

I think eventually someone will have to move down to accommodate Rizwan opening. Think Fakhar would have a better chance succeeding as opener than Imam though. Then again neither has ever been played middle order, we don't know whether they'd be good there or not.

[TheNightWatchman]

I like Rizwan to open but like the other posters say--Imaam in the middle order would be disastrous and worsen the situation even more

[hitthestump]

Imam and Fakhar ain't broke so don't try and fix it.

Rizwan's position in the batting order is a difficult one but he's risen to challenges before. Tell him the number 4 slot is his and he'll adapt to it by 2023.

[Ab Fan]

If Pakistan have to become a top 4 team, then their three best bats should play in top 3.

Rizwan, Fakhar and Babar should be the top 3. Imam doesn't have the ceiling of a world class batter. He is even worse than Bavuma.

Rizwan
Fakhar
Babar
Middle order batsman
Middle order batsman
Imad
Faheem
Nawaz
Hasan
Shaheen
Fast Bowler

[ayemgilani86]

Imam is a really good player for Pakistan standards, but plays quite a few dots in the PP.

Rizwan is doing good as an opener in T20Is, but is struggling in the middle order (ODIs and T20Is) where he's confused between playing his natural game and building the innings.

Can both swap their places

Also it'll make a Right left combo, rather than having two lefties at the top.

Also Imam can build an innings much better at 4 when there's not a lot of fielders stopping singles.

Rizwan +
Fakhar
Babar *
Imam
Haris/ Saud (7th bowler)
Imad (Bat avg of 43 at 110) (6th bowler)
Nawaz
Hassan
Usman/ (Faheem/ Shadab)
Shaheen
Rauf

Batting till #9
5 genuine wicket taking options + Imad & Haris/ Saud

Back up
Sharjeel (opener)
Haider (m.o.b)
Sarfraz (wk)

Imam should not be in the team, dont care about his average, management should make a strong decision and drop him despite his inflated average

[Shoaibbtt]

It really depends to be honest but just like Usman Salhuddin in FC cricket he must also work on rotating the strike more. I expect more from our openers in the powerplay which we lack taking advantage of, i mean seriously come on.

[Ab Fan]

Imam averages 42 at strike rate of 75.

Babar averages 54 at strike rate of 87.

Fakhar averages 48 at strike rate of 95.

Only this stat is worthy as it is against top 8 opponents. Stats vs associate teams are meaningless.

Imam as ODI bat is just Younis Khan level while Fakhar is Dhawan level although a bit inconsistent but can switch to higher gear than Dhawan after 50+ score.

[Hasan123]

Imam is an opener. He is not going anywhere so keep on leaving him out of your 11s, it doesn’t make a difference. He is good friends with Babar and he is scoring runs and batting how Misbah and Babar want. He does need to improve his strike rotation. Our middle order is a much bigger issue.

[Shaka81]

Imam and Fakhar work well as an opening pair. Why the obsession to get rid of performing players when the issue is clearly the lack of performance by the middle order. We need to fix problems in the ODI team set up, not create new ones!

[Bhaag Viru Bhaag]

If Pakistan have to become a top 4 team, then their three best bats should play in top 3.

Rizwan, Fakhar and Babar should be the top 3. Imam doesn't have the ceiling of a world class batter. He is even worse than Bavuma.

Rizwan
Fakhar
Babar
Middle order batsman
Middle order batsman
Imad
Faheem
Nawaz
Hasan
Shaheen
Fast Bowler

It seems you have already given up on a 25 year old veteran cricketer lmam. Would be interesting to read why do you think so and why can't he improve his pathetic average of 52 in ODIs? May be just like other next big things in World Cricket, Imam hasn't reached his peak yet?

[MHN1293]

Imam is a decent batsmen but if pak are to consider rizwan for the opening position and imam cant find a place in the team. With babar and rizwan pak will mostly be getting good starts and someone like imam at 4 would ruin the momentum. Haider ali needs to be tried.

[UzmanBeast]

It's a confusing case. If we drop Imam, it won't look well because we'll be dropping a guy who has generally performed well for us.

However, I think there's a way we can apply some pressure on Imam to consume less dot deliveries. Against a weaker opposition, we could drop Imam and replace him with someone like Haider or Abdullah, and see what effect that has.

Competition brings an improvement in skills. Nawaz now is a better cricketer than he was a few years back, and there are countless other examples.

[Ab Fan]

It seems you have already given up on a 25 year old veteran cricketer lmam. Would be interesting to read why do you think so and why can't he improve his pathetic average of 52 in ODIs? May be just like other next big things in World Cricket, Imam hasn't reached his peak yet?

Against top 8 teams, Imam averages 42 at a poor strike rate of 75 in ODIs. That is not a ceiling of a world class batsman. First watch the game before debating anything.

Nevertheless, I would suggest you to enroll on a cricketing analytics training course to gain some cricket insights during this COVID-2 period as there is no international cricket coming for you over next 1.5 months so I guess good free period to brush up the skills before you indulge in any argument which gets backfired.

[ask_analyse_act]

I repeatedly say this , for a team like Pakistan , an opener like Imam must be valued as David Warner and Rohit sharma.

If his replacements were to be Azhar ali, Haider ali, Abdullah Shafique , Shehzad, Sharjeel. Then I would stick with Imam, as he offers that steady balance that needs at the top of the order

Against top 8 teams with an avg close to 50 with SR of 80+ is a gem of player. Consistency is the key here , his so called replacements are either slower in SR compared to him or highly inconsistent as they blow hot and cold with an avg mid 30s.

Rizwan is only a wicket keeper batsman and should be seen as such , he should be batting at 6 only in ODIs. With a few inns here and there people think he is an opener or he can bat at 4. In this ODI series against SA it shows why he is not good to bat no.4.

No.4 and no.5 are specialist batting positions, these positions were adorned and mastered by some LOI greats Yuvraj, Abdv, Dhoni, Clarke, Mahela,

Even for Pakistan they had Inzi and Yousuf to take that precious middle order position , and now with buffoons I charge who know nothing about the game of cricket , coaching, player development etc Pak tend to form a laughable middle order of Rizwan, Danish, Asif Ali even to correct this they shifted to Rizwan , Sarfraz, Nawaz. Sorry state of cricket under the current management who hardly knows anything about forming or building a team. Give them 20years and they would still come up with such sick order and logic.

[ask_analyse_act]

Against top 8 teams, Imam averages 42 at a poor strike rate of 75 in ODIs. That is not a ceiling of a world class batsman. First watch the game before debating anything.

Nevertheless, I would suggest you to enroll on a cricketing analytics training course to gain some cricket insights during this COVID-2 period as there is no international cricket coming for you over next 1.5 months so I guess good free period to brush up the skills before you indulge in any argument which gets backfired.

Who is your replacement. That can come close to his avg. name an opener from domestics that has this List-A avg.. when you bring that so called domestic champion we saw how they fumble and stumble against the top 8 teams. So also find someone in the past decade or after Anwar who has avgd with SR as such of Imam.

To me what Imam is doing is perfectly fine as an opener, and I wish long it may continue with steady and gradual rise in avg and SR.

[ask_analyse_act]

It seems you have already given up on a 25 year old veteran cricketer lmam. Would be interesting to read why do you think so and why can't he improve his pathetic average of 52 in ODIs? May be just like other next big things in World Cricket, Imam hasn't reached his peak yet?

When rizwan fails as an opener just like he was struggling against this SA bowling lineup coming in at no.4

They will eat their own logic and go back begging to Imam again.

They cannot understand the fact that Imam has stemmed that early collapse which was a routine for Pak in the past

When they go back to their golden old days where they will lose 3 wicket inside 10 overs then Misbah coming up to suck the life out of an innings play at 50 SR to stabilise the inns even then these ppl cannot realise what Imam doing is an exemplary work at the top and good for the team.

[topspin]

Against top 8 teams, Imam averages 42 at a poor strike rate of 75 in ODIs. That is not a ceiling of a world class batsman. First watch the game before debating anything.

Nevertheless, I would suggest you to enroll on a cricketing analytics training course to gain some cricket insights during this COVID-2 period as there is no international cricket coming for you over next 1.5 months so I guess good free period to brush up the skills before you indulge in any argument which gets backfired.

Bang on. In fact, I'd say it's not even good enough for a mediocre team like Pakistan. Anyone who thinks Imam is good enough is simply either a blind fan boy or delusional.

[ask_analyse_act]

The problem here is after a few innings people think that Rizwan is their Bairstow but in reality he is not.

He has just improved his boundary hitting skills. He must be playing like this at least 3 seasons to prove he is technically sound and also have the firepower , to be judged like the making of Pak bairstow.