"He's been a match-winner before and we hope we will see the same Hassan Ali again" : M Wasim

[MenInG]

Mohammad Wasim speaking to the press:


Why not pick youngsters for the ODI series vs NED?

"When people speak of giving chances to youngsters then that is applicable in a scenario where you have a well settled side with experienced players in it but when you look at this squad, you will not see that many experienced players in it"

"None of these players has played 100 ODIs so it is a young side; When you have a side which has experienced player than you go towards rotation of the side"


"This squad does have some players who haven't played much or not played ODIs at all such as Abdullah Shafique so we can look at giving him a chance to play also"

Shan Masood

"I have said this before that yes Shan has performed well but there is so much competition in our top-order that we don't have a place for him there"

"You cannot compare him to a middle-order batter like Agha Salman because he has given evidence of his utility by performing in the middle-order"

"To experiment at the international level by playing an opener in the middle-order? Well we had a discussion on that but lack of evidence in this aspect does not allow us put an opener in the middle-order slot; If Shan can show that evidence in the upcoming domestic season then we can think about it"

"At the moment the performances of the top-order are in front of you with Imam, Fakhar doing well, and in the way Abdullah is coming up as well then it is their right to be considered first"


Hassan Ali


"There comes a time when a good player needs a break for his and the teams betterment; Same thought process we have with Hassan Ali as we gave him an extended run but at the moment we feel that he needs a break; With this break, he will have a chance to regather and regroup himself; The qualities of being a match-winner etc. he has shown to us before and we hope we will see the same Hassan Ali again"


Naseem Shah

"He has extra pace so we have included him as an attacking option because in white-ball cricket you need to take wickets; He can swing the ball and his temperament was shown to us in Test cricket where he has performed well; So when we brought him in place of Hassan Ali, our thought process was to have a bowler who has swing and pace, and his pressure-handling is good also; So we are hoping that just how he has been successful in red-ball cricket, Naseem will do the same in the white-ball version too"


We don't have a good spinning allrounder and Is career of Imad Wasim finished?

"You are saying you don't see a spin all-rounder but if you cant see Shadab then that would be unfair to him - in fact we have 2 spin all-rounders in the shape of Nawaz and Shadab, now on to your next question it depends on how many types of such players we need, so at the moment we had 2 best all-rounders and we need just 2 of them in the side"

[Saj]

Hassan's not been himself and has looked low on confidence.

Hopefully he can work on his game, look at areas that he needs to work on and come back stronger.

But it won't be easy for him.

[hitthestump]

Hassan has been down and out before and came back stronger than ever.

No doubt the best decision was to drop him but you'd also be foolish to write him off.

He might be playing really bad at the moment and also be a bit of a fool at times...but nobody should question his heart.

[Shafi]

Shan has treated unfairly. He is better than hit or miss Fakhar. Hasan Ali can perform well in low quality & stress free league matches and will be back to International matches to cause us loose more matches. Salman doesn’t have any potential.

[Shafi]

Hassan has been down and out before and came back stronger than ever.

No doubt the best decision was to drop him but you'd also be foolish to write him off.

He might be playing really bad at the moment and also be a bit of a fool at times...but nobody should question his heart.

He can’t handle pressure and will fail 19 out of 20 matches.

[Nasty Naz]

He can’t handle pressure and will fail 19 out of 20 matches.

He was Pakistan best bowler in 2017 and helped win us CT and he was once again Pakistan best bowler in 2021 Tests wise.

Hasan's high are incredible and his rough patches are brutal. Hopefully he can find some consistency and limiting his formats going forward will do that.

[Usman]

Shan Masood

"I have said this before that yes Shan has performed well but there is so much competition in our top-order that we don't have a place for him there"

"You cannot compare him to a middle-order batter like Agha Salman because he has given evidence of his utility by performing in the middle-order"

"To experiment at the international level by playing an opener in the middle-order? Well we had a discussion on that but lack of evidence in this aspect does not allow us put an opener in the middle-order slot; If Shan can show that evidence in the upcoming domestic season then we can think about it"

"At the moment the performances of the top-order are in front of you with Imam, Fakhar doing well, and in the way Abdullah is coming up as well then it is their right to be considered first"

Forget Hasan Ali, it’s these comments I take issue with.

In both test matches and Odis, we are struggling with the middle order. In ODis we are relying on Babar and Imam to do all the scoring (and they’ve done a damn good job of it). In tests, we are relying on Babar with others chipping in.

In these circumstances, to be so narrow minded as to say “Shan is an opener and therefore he must forever play as an opener unless he provides evidence that he can be successful elsewhere” - this is total rubbish. A good batsman is a good batsman whether he bats at 1 or 11. To waste Shan’s epic form like this, on the basis of ludicrously rigid thinking, is criminal.

And to play batsmen who are simply not performing, but who identify themselves as middle order batsmen, is totally and utterly bonkers.

With this attitude, Babar and Rizwan would never have opened in T20s. Usman Khawaja would have never opened. Ollie Pope would have never batted at 3. Granted the last example is a work in progress, but my point is that the lack of imagination on the part of Mohammed Wasim and the team management is hurting Pakistan badly.

We could have done with Shan in the test side against Sri Lanka. We can do with him in the one day side now. Logic and reason simply isn’t allowed to prosper in Pakistani cricket.

[daytrader]

Good decision to drop Hasan Ali. He was easily being targeted as the weak link by opposing teams. A break will do him good.

Tragic to waste Shan's purple patch though. Can never have too many top order options. And if he can only be fit in the top then they need to rotate and send someone lower.

[mesmerizer85]

I still dont understand why hes being backed as hes finished...Lost us the t20 match against AUS...and let me remind ppl again he was the second worst bowler after Wahab in that 444 England scored against us in ODIs..its time to move on...

[BunnyRabbit]

Lol how quickly did he dodge the question regarding Imad Wasim without even taking his name. He definitely hates him.

Agha Salman has no power game to be considered as a finisher and he isn't simply good enough of a batter who can bat at no.5.

[Mamoon]

Naseem Shah

"He has extra pace so we have included him as an attacking option because in white-ball cricket you need to take wickets; He can swing the ball and his temperament was shown to us in Test cricket where he has performed well; So when we brought him in place of Hassan Ali, our thought process was to have a bowler who has swing and pace, and his pressure-handling is good also; So we are hoping that just how he has been successful in red-ball cricket, Naseem will do the same in the white-ball version too"

It seems that the bar for “success” is comically low when it comes to his favorites.

Naseem has had a very mediocre Test career so far - he has been anything but successful.

Nevertheless, I don’t disagree with his views on excluding Imad. Shadab is garbage but you cannot have two SLA A/Rs in the team and Nawaz is clearly better than Imad.

[Saj]

Lol how quickly did he dodge the question regarding Imad Wasim without even taking his name. He definitely hates him.

Agha Salman has no power game to be considered as a finisher and he isn't simply good enough of a batter who can bat at no.5.

Definitely something behind the scenes between Wasim and Imad.

[BunnyRabbit]

Definitely something behind the scenes between Wasim and Imad.

Those people shouldn't be given a position of power who can't keep their personal bias aside. Wasim is one such person who abuses it. I'd assume Imad is not the only casualty.

[Shafi]

It seems that the bar for “success” is comically low when it comes to his favorites.

Naseem has had a very mediocre Test career so far - he has been anything but successful.

Nevertheless, I don’t disagree with his views on excluding Imad. Shadab is garbage but you cannot have two SLA A/Rs in the team and Nawaz is clearly better than Imad.

What's your opinion about Salman Agha? Does he have any potential?