Afridi wasted in the middle order!

I know he has gone through a bad spell recently but my own feelings are that he should open or not play. I don't believe that he has the ability or temperment to bat in the middle order. If you contrast him and Dhoni you see a marked difference in their ability to finish games from the middle order. So either he opens or doesn't play at all!
I think the decision to open in the last match was correct and they should stick to it until the world cup, he may not have the technique but at least the field is in and he can hit over the top.

Disagree, the opening argument fails whenever there's something in the pitch or the bowling and you do expect to see that against quality teams.

We know through an experience of 200 odd ODI's that Afridi genuinely struggles against the new ball whenever there's a bit of bounce or movement. Inevitably against better teams he has failed when opening and thus we've been under pressure right at the start.

I thought we had learnt that lesson finally from the World Cup. I realize that other openers haven't done wonders but our best bet remains to find a stable opening pair. Afridi is simply not an answer and is too reliant on conditions that suit him.

Lower down he can hit out and accelerate but yes he isn't as reliable as some others. Combined with the bowling and fielding he makes a good ODI cricketer. Think of him as a bowling-allrounder.

Have you ever see Afridi scoring more than a quick 30 in the middle order? The big difference between India and pakistan recently i believe was the batting of dhoni, not only could he hit like Afridi but he could also finish games. As for Afridi's bowling, well again when the pressure was on against India he wilted and bowled rubbish!

The reason i would open with him is that he may give us the momentum that is at the moment lacking at the top. It is not if there is anyone better that should be opening. From what i have seen everyone tried has been lacking both technically and mentally.

I disagree. "I don't believe that he has the ability or temperment" - you require ability and temperament as an opener. Especially with the new ball you require greater temperament. The middle orders job is usually to keep the scoreboard ticking, which is precisely what Afridi does.. If you look at Afridi's middle order statistics he has done well. Moreover.. he is a floating batsman who can revolve around the lineup according to the situations. However, even though he floats, I would keep him away from opening. I think he even prefers not opening.

afridi is terribly inconsistent when opening. He may have scored centuries, but in between there have been long slumps. I would rather have an afridi in the middle order scoring 30-50 runs consistently than having an afridi open and scoring a century every 6 or 7 games.

Opening with Afridi experiment is a tried and tested failure. We are better off with his 20-30 contribution down the order somewhere between 6-8.

3rd one dayer, imran farhat and shoaib malik would open , with freedi coming at no 3.....dont forget you heard it here first ,!!! and noddy bhai you have some serious competition now

I have no problem with him wherever he plays and he should be a permanent member of the ODI team as an all-rounder. HE bowls quite well in Odi's,fields well and also contributes with the bat on occasions which turn the game in Pakistans favour whether it be opening( e.g. Century in India recently) or in the middle order(e.g. in Australia in the VB series where he hit a 50 with Abdul Razzaq).

If anything he doesn't have the temprement to open the innings. His game is far more suited down the order coming in towards the death. Now he wont always finish off the innings in typical Afridi style but he can offer you more down the order I believe.

Outside the subcontinent, He is wasted in the opening slot and more reguraly we see him get out early to a delivery that moves off the seam etc. No 6-7 is his ideal batting position in ODIs

I believe Afridi's batting order will always remain an issue. I am a huge Afridi fan and all for him being in ODI and test team.

The problems I see is that Afridi is very inconsistent as an opener yet as a lower order batsmen he has never been a finisher.

For example, I am not being critical of Afridi but I don't ever remember him finishing an innings or winning us a match where the chase is 6+ runs per over and has played a blazing cameo. Where as Razzaq has many times.

Afridi is a luxury but also a must in the ODI team due to his bowling and fielding.

Perhaps he should remain opener and hope he fires, where the pressure is less on him, yet the conditions are harder or maybe try him at 3 or 4. Its working for Pieterson and even Pathan is being used as 3 /4 in India's ODI team and is effective.

What have you been talking about??? You can bring Warne on those FLAT TRACKS and he would bowl worse than Afridi! If you want to see afridi bowling look at his figures away from Pakistan & India(ODIS) to see how good he is. The picthes in Pak & India grounds for the ODIS are FLAT!

One of the reasons Pakistan struggled against india was the poor bowling by the spinners in the middle overs. Not only did they not stop the scoring they also never looked like taking wickets. As we saw in both Lahore and Karachi, with wickets in hand it easy to chase 8-9 an over. Afridi as the main spin bowler is simply a not an option when it comes to beating the stronger teams.

My point about opening is that he may get you of to a flyer and if he gets out well it is not as if the other openers would do any better!

? are you pulling stuff out of your hair or you know something?

we lost because our bowling batting and fielding was terrible

If he is unable to give us that momentum against the better sides at the start, what's the point? That's when we need someone to see off the new ball.