Future of Pakistan’s senior players – Part Four
Continued from the previous part...
A vulnerable batting line-up has always been a massive concern for the Pakistan team. The Green Shirts relied on http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shoaib-Malik-c90088, the former Pakistan captain, in the middle-order to stabilize things in the World T20.
The cricketer from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sialkot-c842 remained out of the national team for about a year after the controversial tour of England in 2010. Since his return to the international fold last year, the 30-year-old cricketer has been miserably out
of form. As a result he was dropped from the team after the series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758.
The former captain could only manage 59 runs in five innings of the World T20, failing to fulfil the expectations of the selectors and the team management. However, the all-rounder was slotted in to bat at number five, where it
was quite difficult for him to construct an innings, having to play aggressive shots all the time.
After some impressive performances in Pakistan’s domestic cricket, Malik was also included in the One Day International squad for the series against Australia in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/United-Arab-Emirates-c3033 (UAE) before the illustrious tournament, but
failed to break into the playing-11.
One of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Aamer-Sohail-c41418, criticised the team management before the World T20 for not giving enough confidence to Malik.
The former chief selector believes that Malik can be a very useful cricketer for the team if he is properly used.
“If I was the captain or coach and I wanted Malik to be an integral part of my world T20 line up then I would have given Malik a thorough chance to find his form and confidence and to start performing and then have exposed him to
the three T20Is in UAE against Australia,” feels the former captain.
Over the last couple of years, a number of players have established themselves in the Pakistan side. The likes of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Asad-Shafiq-c46208 have been pushing for their place in the side, keeping the senior players on their toes.
This is one of the reasons why Malik never got a permanent number in the batting order, which is crucial for a player’s morale. While defending the out of form batsman, Aamer expressed that being a senior cricketer, Shoaib deserves
to be give a fix role in the team so that he can plan accordingly.
He mentioned, “They never gave him a “number”, he batted in UAE against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 without a role or batting position, which can be disturbing for a batsman. I feel that the bigger picture has been ignored here.”
Malik played a superb cameo in one of the warm-up matches of the World T20 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kamran-Akmal-c70122. The right-hander also looked in great touch in a Super 8 match against the
arch-rivals but failed to convert his start into a big knock.
Having already scored more than seven thousand runs at the game’s ultimate stage, Malik’s experience can be vital for the Green Shirts in future, considering the fact that some of the other senior batsmen, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 and Younis
Khan, are at the twilight of their careers. However, Malik needs to perform consistently well in order to find a permanent place in the side once again.
To be continued…
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