Everyone following Pakistan’s men’s cricket must be aware of the fact that their limited-overs opening batsman Fakhar Zaman is going through a torrid time. Though his ODI numbers are good, his T20I results were poor in the recent past. He scored only 110 runs with an average of 9 in the last 12 T20I innings in which he featured.
On one of the YouTube channels, former Pakistani wicket-keeper-batsman Rashid Latif criticized Zaman by saying that the technique of the southpaw is poor, not allowing him to be a dashing and classy opener in the shortest format. Zaman has only played a handful of good innings in his T20I career.
At the same time, however, Latif praised him when it comes to ODIs saying that Zaman is a wonderful player to begin the innings in ODIs as he gets enough time to adjust up-front and then take on part-time bowlers in the middle overs.
Latif even criticized the left-handed opener Imam-ul-Haq, blaming him for his run-a-ball strike rate in T20Is and said, “Imam will play for himself and score his runs, but his strike-rate will be low. With his inclusion, Pakistan is likely to be 40 for no loss at the end of the power play, whereas their total score will be around 140 only.”
Rashid Latif wants three changes
Young left-handed hard hitter Khushdil Shah praised by the former Pakistan wicket-keeper is one of them. According to Latif, “They should play Khushdil, Hasnain and Musa in the third T20I. Throw them in the fire and see how they cope with the challenge. The inclusion of Hasnain and Musa will also bring variety to the bowling attack which only has left-arm pacers right now.”
In Australia vs Pakistan T20I series, hosts are leading 1-0 in three matches. Due to rain, Australia was on course to an easy victory before the rain played the spoilsport in the opening match of the series, forcing umpires to abandon it. In the second T20I, the hosts came back strongly to win it by a comfortable seven-wicket margin. On 8 November, both teams will play the final T20I.
