Sadiq Mohammad : "3 openers who deserve a chance ahead of Imran Farhat"

[Saj]

Speaking exclusively to PakPassion.net, former Pakistan opening batsman Sadiq Mohammad was of the opinion that Pakistan's batsmen were to blame for the heavy defeat at the MCG.

"I was very disappointed and I would term Pakistan's batting in Melbourne as a failure. Yes there were some glimpses of brilliance, in that Umar Akmal looked good, Yousuf was very good in both his innings, Misbah did very well in the first innings and Salman Butt got starts. However, to do well in test cricket, the batting needs to click collectively which Pakistan's batting didn't do", stated Sadiq.

Sadiq felt that the Pakistani batsmen need to take a leaf out of their Australian counterparts. "The Australian batsmen laid the foundations for their team's victory in the first innings by batting as a unit and all of them got set and scored heavily. They ensured that the tempo for the match was set by their batting in the first innings".

Sadiq who played 41 tests for Pakistan and scored 5 centuries and 10 half centuries added "There was far too much pressure on Pakistan skipper Mohammad Yousuf, due to the failure of the batting. I could sense that Yousuf was very restricted and under pressure and didn't feel comfortable in going for his shots".

Sadiq who had a stint for Tasmania during his playing career further added "Salman Butt and Imran Farhat played some false shots when they were out leg before. An opener should play with a straight bat wherever possible and it was frustating to see our batsmen play across the line to straight deliveries".

Responding to a question about who he thought should be in Australia opening the innings for Pakistan, Sadiq stated "I have no problems with Salman Butt opening in test cricket, however there are better players than Imran Farhat in Pakistan and they should be given a chance. It's about time that someone like Asad Shafiq of Karachi Blues, or Azeem Ghumman the Pakistan Under 19 captain were given a chance. Another opener who I would recommend to the selectors would be Naeemuddin of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited who is a fine opening batsman. These boys need to be given a run of matches and not just discarded if they fail once or twice.

[AZ]

Azeem Ghumman is too young IMO but he is definitely a very fine young player

[Saj]

My sincere thanks to Sadiq for his time today.

Really was a pleasure speaking to him and also many thanks to his son (who is a regular poster on PakPassion) for putting us in touch with Sadiq.

[Shaheerthe2nd]

Never heard of Asad Shafiq and Naeemuddin? How old are they and do they have decent techniques?

[AZ]

Originally Posted by Saj My sincere thanks to Sadiq for his time today. Really was a pleasure speaking to him and also many thanks to his son (who is a regular poster on PakPassion) for putting us in touch with Sadiq.

can we know who he is?

[Ayyub]

Originally Posted by Saj My sincere thanks to Sadiq for his time today. Really was a pleasure speaking to him and also many thanks to his son (who is a regular poster on PakPassion) for putting us in touch with Sadiq.

who ?

sadiq mohammad said well but i think why he has not name ahmed shahzad name

[asadee]

I had the pleasure of meeting Sadiq Mohammad in London when I was around 12 yrs old. He was so down to earth and friendly - a great guy!

[Saj]

Originally Posted by Ahmed Zulfiqar can we know who he is?

No, unless he tells me that he is ok with everyone knowing that he is Sadiq's son.

[AZ]

fair enough

[Juggernaut]

Originally Posted by Shaheerthe2nd Never heard of Asad Shafiq and Naeemuddin? How old are they and do they have decent techniques?

Asad Shafiq was the highest run scorer in the QeA trophy this season. He scored over a 1100 runs in 20 innings with 4 hundreds at an average of 64.

I know next to nothing about Naeemuddin.

[Geordie Ahmed]

There are a plenty of openers who could do a better job than Farhat - along with the names mentioned you can add Afaq Raheem, Azhar Ali, Ahmed Shehzad etc - if given a run in the side im certain would outperform Farhat and even Butt

Thats the thing about Farhat and Butt - they are getting our schoolboy style, it just shows they are not working on their game either because they are deluded in thinking they are good or they know that they will continue to be selected despite failing again and again

[Golden arm]

sadiq muhammad is I think coach of hyderabad team as well.

[12thMan]

Originally Posted by Shaheerthe2nd Never heard of Asad Shafiq and Naeemuddin? How old are they and do they have decent techniques?

Asad Shafiq
http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/sh...ad.php?t=86208

[Amir]

Why can't someone like him be the selector. I love how he recommended Naeemuddin without having to look at some news paper. I never heard of Naeemuddin but at least this indicates Sadiq follows our domestic cricket and watches these batsmen play, he doesn't need a scorecard to tell him how to do his job.

Iqbal Qasim, take note (or in his case the scorecard and family tree chart).

[Juggernaut]

Originally Posted by Geordie Ahmed There are a plenty of openers who could do a better job than Farhat - along with the names mentioned you can add Afaq Raheem, Azhar Ali, Ahmed Shehzad etc - if given a run in the side im certain would outperform Farhat and even Butt Thats the thing about Farhat and Butt - they are getting our schoolboy style, it just shows they are not working on their game either because they are deluded in thinking they are good or they know that they will continue to be selected despite failing again and again

Where's that pride in performance? Being able to really say that you became the absolute best player that you could be?

[Geordie Ahmed]

Originally Posted by Juggernaut Where's that pride in performance? Being able to really say that you became the absolute best player that you could be?

It doesnt seem to exist. Farhat has NOT improved since he first came on the scene, the same goes for it - infact i would say they have gotten worse, especially Butt, who looked quite good during the last Aussie tour

[Bouncer]

Can some one pleas eprovide more info about Azeem Ghumman ? Something more than his profile on cricinfo...has anyone seen him Bat?

[Saj]

Go to the talent spotter section on PP and you will see a profile and some quotes from Asad Shafiq and Azeem Ghumman.

[Sufian84]

Naeemuddin:

http://www.cricinfo.com/qea-09/conte...er/318001.html

OK average, but he is 28 years old.

[Amir]

Originally Posted by Sufian84 Naeemuddin: http://www.cricinfo.com/qea-09/conte...er/318001.html OK average, but he is 28 years old.

More to aplayer than stats and we need selectors who see talent and not numbers. Michael Vaughan is a prime example. Not the most outstanding FC stats but smashed those Aussies apart.

[Sufian84]

Originally Posted by Amir More to aplayer than stats and we need selectors who see talent and not numbers. Michael Vaughan is a prime example. Not the most outstanding FC stats but smashed those Aussies apart.

True, we need to look more than the numbers. Also, Misbah should also recommend him if we trust Sadiq Mohammad.

[sali]

Its unfortunate that Mohammad family with talent like Sadiq, Hanif, Mushtaq, and Shoib have no role in Pak cricket. These guys understand defense and technique better than anyone in Pakistan. I was listening to Shoib Mohmad and he was pointing out the problems with most batsman in Karachi vs HBL final and I was thinking why we don't have someone like him helping as a batting coach or technical selection team member?

We have Iqbal Qasim- the main selector, Inti- the coach, Waqar- Bowling Coach and Aqib- assistant coach. All bowlers trying to pick the batsman based on domestic records and bunch of politics. The result is that we have player who don't even use a traight bat.

[akafen]

Asad Shafiq is a very good player.



He's also good to watch.

[Tay'yab-Ali Malik]

Originally Posted by Ahmed Zulfiqar Azeem Ghumman is too young IMO but he is definitely a very fine young player

Too young? You mean just like Aamir and Umar?

[mindless slogging]

Originally Posted by Amir Why can't someone like him be the selector.

Because he talks sense.

Originally Posted by Amir More to aplayer than stats and we need selectors who see talent and not numbers. Michael Vaughan is a prime example. Not the most outstanding FC stats but smashed those Aussies apart.

Add Strauss, Collingwood and Micheal Clarke among others to that; they have a better average in tests than in domestic cricket (Collingwood averages 43 in tests and 37 in FC).

[Juggernaut]

Originally Posted by akafen Asad Shafiq is a very good player. He's also good to watch.

You've seen him play?

First impressions?

[Rizwan25]

It makes me sad after reading these interviews as so many talented players have been over looked by our selectors for so long. Hate for imran sifarishi is growing at a much faster rate now.

[AZ]

Originally Posted by Tay'yab-Ali Malik Too young? You mean just like Aamir and Umar?

for an opening batsman? I'd rather see him to get some more experience in FC cricket

[Juggernaut]

Originally Posted by Ahmed Zulfiqar for an opening batsman? I'd rather see him to get some more experience in FC cricket

Agreed.

Same goes for Ahmed Shehzad.

Azhar Ali is the perfect age. Even Asad Shafiq is older than Ghumman and Shehzad.

[insaftak]

The only thing we could do is to make Pakpassion so big that Pakistan selectors can't ignore our voice and continue with ******** players.

[Inswinger]

Is Umar Amin an opening batsman or a middle order bat? He was praised by a few former players and was almost selected a few series ago. Ahmed Shezad and Azeem Ghumman need a few more tours with the 'A' team. Players like Azhar Ali, Afaq Raheem, and Asad Shafiq should be given a chance now.

[Dare2Dream]

Originally Posted by Amir Why can't someone like him be the selector. I love how he recommended Naeemuddin without having to look at some news paper. I never heard of Naeemuddin but at least this indicates Sadiq follows our domestic cricket and watches these batsmen play, he doesn't need a scorecard to tell him how to do his job. Iqbal Qasim, take note (or in his case the scorecard and family tree chart).

Exactly, everything he said was absolutely correct and what is needed. We need someone like him to chair the selection committee so we don't have crap ********* players like Farhat in the team.

Good balanced sensible views for a change.

[Dare2Dream]

Originally Posted by Ahmed Zulfiqar Azeem Ghumman is too young IMO but he is definitely a very fine young player

We need to stop judgeing or hindering players based on age, let him be given a chance on merit, lest we continue to play the likes of Farhat, Malik, Faisal Iqbal, and others. Thank god Aamer and Umar Akmal were given chances.

[*sallu*]

Even though Farhat has failed in this match and maybe he isn't good enough to be in the side but the fact remains that he has done reasonably well since his comeback

Sadiq is contradicting himself by saying Farhat should not be in the team and that players should not be discarded after one or two failures.

We have forgotten Fahrat got 100* and 61 in the match before Melbourne

[AZ]

Originally Posted by Dare2Dream We need to stop judgeing or hindering players based on age, let him be given a chance on merit, lest we continue to play the likes of Farhat, Malik, Faisal Iqbal, and others. Thank god Aamer and Umar Akmal were given chances.

on what merit are you selecting Azeem then?

Umar Akmal and Aamer deserved their chance, it wasn't a gamble...that they have done so well on the intl. stage is a credit to them justifying their selection and proving that they are good enough...Azeem has yet to do that

[Dare2Dream]

Originally Posted by *sallu* Sadiq is contradicting himself by saying Farhat should not be in the team and that players should not be discarded after one or two failures.

Not really, Farhat is not a new player discarded after one or two games, he keeps getting chance after chance after chance despite his overall abysmal performance. One or two innings doesn't change the fact that he has a proven track record of failure at the international level. How many tests has he played?

[Dare2Dream]

Originally Posted by Ahmed Zulfiqar on what merit are you selecting Azeem then? Umar Akmal and Aamer deserved their chance, it wasn't a gamble...that they have done so well on the intl. stage is a credit to them justifying their selection and proving that they are good enough...Azeem has yet to do that

My comment was in response to you saying he is too young to be chosen right now (you did not provide any other reason for not selecting him). As I said, age should not be the criteria, if Azeem can make it on merit (and I am not arguing whether or not he can) then he should play. The point being that age is a non-issue in a discussion of whether or not a new player should get a chance.

[AZ]

ah right, I agree with you on that point...the good thing about Pakistan cricket that they are always willing to give a youngster a game...we are easily the most proactive team in that department

[waqar_ahmad]

Technically the best opener I have seen for pakistan was Ahmed Shehzad. He was compact, with a very good defense.

[samiakh]

Originally Posted by waqar_ahmad Technically the best opener I have seen for pakistan was Ahmed Shehzad. He was compact, with a very good defense.

i would have to disagree with that. Shezad had a very average technique, favoured the leg side too much, would be found wanting in more demanding conditions. Having said that, he is no worse than the clowns we have playing now, who, as Sadiq said, cant play a straight ball with a straight bat.

BTW I absolutely agree with the person who posted that have someone like Shoaib Mohd as batting coach would be a good idea. But that would be too sensible and logical a move to expect from out administration!

[waqar_ahmad]

Originally Posted by samiakh i would have to disagree with that. Shezad had a very average technique, favoured the leg side too much, would be found wanting in more demanding conditions. Having said that, he is no worse than the clowns we have playing now, who, as Sadiq said, cant play a straight ball with a straight bat. BTW I absolutely agree with the person who posted that have someone like Shoaib Mohd as batting coach would be a good idea. But that would be too sensible and logical a move to expect from out administration!

Ahmed Shehzad likes playing close to the body. Doesnt go for the wide deliveries. Thats one of the reasons he prefers the leg side. And that isnt really a flaw, its just a part of his technique.

He was played in T20s and ODIs I think. PLay him in tests, where seeing off the new ball is more important than hitting boundaries.

[Xoib]

Originally Posted by Juggernaut You've seen him play? First impressions?

Has quite a bit of Mo Yo in him.

[nazimcricket]

Even if we get some decent selectors, the influential sifarishis will always find a way to get their kin into the team and the cycle of really good talent missing out on a spot will continue.

[Amjid Javed]

Some intresting names raised. I guess these players dont have greatest profiles domestically so may not get noticed by our silly selectors!

[*sallu*]

Originally Posted by Dare2Dream My comment was in response to you saying he is too young to be chosen right now (you did not provide any other reason for not selecting him). As I said, age should not be the criteria, if Azeem can make it on merit (and I am not arguing whether or not he can) then he should play. The point being that age is a non-issue in a discussion of whether or not a new player should get a chance.

I think it is
During a rebuilding phase you can't bring in a 34 year old whos just gonna last a year can you?

You'd rather give a comparitively younger (perhaps lesser deserving) player a chance in the hope that he can serve the country for the coming 10-12 years

[Saj]

Just to confirm - Sadiq is a former first class umpire, a qualified Level 3 coach who is currently the coach of the QEA Trophy winners Karachi Blues.

[pakmania]

Sadiq Mohammad and their family in general i believe are a fantastic bunch

Hanif is the 'Little Master' and always speaks sense
and so does mushtaq and shoaib

Excellent players with solid techniques and bags of ability in their day,definitely should have a coaching/selectors role

[Saj]

Originally Posted by *sallu* Even though Farhat has failed in this match and maybe he isn't good enough to be in the side but the fact remains that he has done reasonably well since his comeback Sadiq is contradicting himself by saying Farhat should not be in the team and that players should not be discarded after one or two failures. We have forgotten Fahrat got 100* and 61 in the match before Melbourne

Other than the 100 and 61, these are Farhat's most recent scores in test cricket :-

0, 7, 20, 13, 22, 1, 32, 35, 9 and 12

[Saj]

Originally Posted by sali Its unfortunate that Mohammad family with talent like Sadiq, Hanif, Mushtaq, and Shoib have no role in Pak cricket. These guys understand defense and technique better than anyone in Pakistan. I was listening to Shoib Mohmad and he was pointing out the problems with most batsman in Karachi vs HBL final and I was thinking why we don't have someone like him helping as a batting coach or technical selection team member? We have Iqbal Qasim- the main selector, Inti- the coach, Waqar- Bowling Coach and Aqib- assistant coach. All bowlers trying to pick the batsman based on domestic records and bunch of politics. The result is that we have player who don't even use a traight bat.

As I have written Sadiq is currently the coach of Karachi Blues. I'm sure that Shoaib Mohammad is one of the coaches at PIA.

[zaid65]

Other than the 100 and 61, these are Farhat's most recent scores in test cricket :-

Saj,

You forgot to add the number of chances in his 100 and 61 runs.

[srh]

Originally Posted by *sallu* Even though Farhat has failed in this match and maybe he isn't good enough to be in the side but the fact remains that he has done reasonably well since his comeback Sadiq is contradicting himself by saying Farhat should not be in the team and that players should not be discarded after one or two failures. We have forgotten Fahrat got 100* and 61 in the match before Melbourne

Originally Posted by Saj Other than the 100 and 61, these are Farhat's most recent scores in test cricket :- 0, 7, 20, 13, 22, 1, 32, 35, 9 and 12

*sallu* owned by Saj.

[hashmist]

Ijaz Butt is destroying Pakistan cricket by having Qasim select the side and have grandpa Inti as the coach. We need someone like Sadiq who knows a thing or two about our upcoming talent to be the chief selector and someone with batting/fielding experience to be the coach since that is our main weakness. Why is that so difficult to understand?

Is there any way to get Ijaz Butt replaced? Or the only person who can do that is our esteemed President?

[Dare2Dream]

Originally Posted by hashmist Is there any way to get Ijaz Butt replaced? Or the only person who can do that is our esteemed President?

I hope 'esteemed' was there to make a point

[d0gers]

This is just my opinion so have at it if you disagree:

I think we bring in players way too early to the international scene. The reason being that this is the way we've unearthed some of our best players, by throwing them directly in at the deep end. Miandad, Wasim, Waqar and more recently Aamer and Umar Akmal, are a few examples.

But for every one guy that succeeds there's about 20 that don't work out. Nobody ever talks about these failures and instead we choose to focus on the successes. I think the vast majority of these players (and more often than not they tend to be batsmen) just aren't mentally ready to be used at the Test level. They'll get overawed by the occasion, underperform based on what's expected of them, and then are discarded. Many times they'll try and correct technical flaws that were never there in the first place, and up more confused than before.

I respect Sadiq Mohammed's evaluation of the players in question but I'm just wary of wasting away another young talent because we introduced him to Test cricket too early.

[pakcricketfan]

Azeem Ghumman is a fine batsman (from what I've heard).I think he needs some time with the A team before he can be inducted into the national team.
Asad Shafiq is a very good batsman. He is someone to watch out for..I would like to see him getting a chance in Pak team soon.

As for Naeemuddin, I have no idea who he is.

[Juggernaut]

Originally Posted by d0gers This is just my opinion so have at it if you disagree: I think we bring in players way too early to the international scene. The reason being that this is the way we've unearthed some of our best players, by throwing them directly in at the deep end. Miandad, Wasim, Waqar and more recently Aamer and Umar Akmal, are a few examples. But for every one guy that succeeds there's about 20 that don't work out. Nobody ever talks about these failures and instead we choose to focus on the successes. I think the vast majority of these players (and more often than not they tend to be batsmen) just aren't mentally ready to be used at the Test level. They'll get overawed by the occasion, underperform based on what's expected of them, and then are discarded. Many times they'll try and correct technical flaws that were never there in the first place, and up more confused than before. I respect Sadiq Mohammed's evaluation of the players in question but I'm just wary of wasting away another young talent because we introduced him to Test cricket too early.

Good points dogers.

I'm not so worried about a bowler coming into test cricket at a young age. But if it were upto me you'd have to be atleast 18 years of age to even play test cricket for Pakistan. But the problem is that because of our poor first class system and in our desperation to do well and/or look for quick fixes we turn to 17 year olds like Mohammad Aamer.

Now there's no doubting he's a fantastic talent but in an ideal world I'd give him another season or two at domestic level along with the A team to get to know his game better. But that's working on the assumption that Domestic cricket is of a decent level which it isnt and so it's right that he's playing international cricket. His progress would be stunted otherwise. Countries like South Africa, Australia and England have that luxury, to give thier players time and it's because of their domestic systems.

As for batsman I whole heartedly agree with your view point that many of our batsman are thrown in way to early at the deep end. Unless your a batting prodigy that shouldn't happen. That's why I don't agree with people who say that the like's of Shehzad and Azeem Ghumman should be looked at as viable candidates for the opening slots in test match cricket. Their too young at the moment.

Having said all that allowing good batsman to spend more than a few years in domestic cricket without giving them a taste of international cricket means their likely to regress rather than progress. ODI's back in the day used to be a perfect format to blood new players. It can still be so but the problem is that a good young player that is even a borderline tullaybaaz is likely to go all Imran Nazir or Afridi as a result of ODI cricket and nobody wants that.

So really its the same with batsman. We have to blood them young otherwise we lose them to our donkey domestic league. However, if you have older players witha certain calibre then get them in I say: Azhar Ali, Taufeeq Umar etc. over Ghumman, Shehzad, Babar Azam at this point.

[Boi]

Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq really deserve a chance. Azhar is the perfect age right now to come into the side. The guy has played about 4/5 seasons of domestic cricket and has done pretty well. For me, he deserves a chance ahead of the likes of Umar Amin and Ahmed Shehzad, who are good players but they still need to play a couple of more seasons of domestic cricket. Azhar Ali seems like a fine prospect and he certainly deserve a chance as a Test opener.

[MajidBhuta-AamirFan]

Originally Posted by Juggernaut Asad Shafiq was the highest run scorer in the QeA trophy this season. He scored over a 1100 runs in 20 innings with 4 hundreds at an average of 64. I know next to nothing about Naeemuddin.

for me Asad Shafiq and naveed yasin were two best players in this season, i am 1000000000% sure they both are 1110000000% better than farhat, malik etc

I think yasin scoredcard was best in the QEA trophy this season.

He he scored 1055 runs with 6 hundreds in 16 innings.

http://stats.cricinfo.com/qea-09/eng...ype=tournament

[Saj]

Many thanks once again to Sadiq Mohammad for his time and best wishes to him and his Karachi Blues team in the ongoing Pentangular Trophy.

[KB]

Just on Sadiq Muhammad, interesting that Ian Chappell on the show on Cricinfo said that out of all the batsmen who played Dennis Lillee during his time, Sadiq played him the best.

[Sheikh]

Originally Posted by sali Its unfortunate that Mohammad family with talent like Sadiq, Hanif, Mushtaq, and Shoib have no role in Pak cricket. These guys understand defense and technique better than anyone in Pakistan. I was listening to Shoib Mohmad and he was pointing out the problems with most batsman in Karachi vs HBL final and I was thinking why we don't have someone like him helping as a batting coach or technical selection team member? We have Iqbal Qasim- the main selector, Inti- the coach, Waqar- Bowling Coach and Aqib- assistant coach. All bowlers trying to pick the batsman based on domestic records and bunch of politics. The result is that we have player who don't even use a traight bat.

Excellent post. The Mohammad brothers were indeed fantastic cricketers and representatives. I've personally been coached by Hanif and he's an absolute reservoir of insight and knowledge with, as you mentioned, the issue of technique foremost in his method of shaping a batsman, particularly top order batsmen with whom he used to spend the most time with.

His son Shoaib would be a great candidate as batting coach.