World Cup
While the top-order trio of Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman shone brightly during Pakistan’s 3-1 T20I series win in South Africa, the performances of the middle and lower order weren’t quite as convincing. The final match of the tour was a case in point: Pakistan slipped from 92 for 1 to 129 for 7 before Mohammad Nawaz steered them home in a chase of 145.
One middle-order batter who came under the spotlight in particular was Haider Ali, who made scores of 14, 12 and 3 in his three visits to the crease during the T20Is. Pakistan’s batting coach Younis Khan has termed the 20-year-old Haider a “future star”, and has backed him to succeed, given enough chances to settle into his role in the side.
“Haider is a future star and very much capable,” Younis said in a virtual conference. “His natural game is attacking, and I still remember he smacked a six off his very second ball on debut. I understand he has played a lot of games since then, and missed a few opportunities to grow, but we have to give him time [to grow into his role]. He was opening in the previous series, and then, when he was playing in the PSL for his franchise, he put up some amazing performances lower down the order. Here too we tried to use him in that [middle-order] role.
“I struggled for four years when I came into international cricket. I was lucky that my performances didn’t get highlighted. But at the same time when you come into international cricket there is a big responsibility on the player himself. You represent a 220 million population and it’s up to you in the end, regardless of anything. You have to prepare yourself for this big opportunity and you have to give everything to make it count. We have a responsibility as a coach but the players are growing into their roles, and they will make mistakes, otherwise you can’t learn.”
Haider made his T20I debut during the tour of England last year, scoring a half-century on debut batting at No. 3. After batting in that position in his first five T20Is, he has moved up and down the order, opening on three occasions and batting at No. 5 during the tour of South Africa.
All that shuffling has coincided with a lean patch. After starting his career with two fifties in his first three innings, he’s only crossed 20 once in his last nine innings, causing his overall average to drop to 20.91. Asif, meanwhile, has struggled to replicate the hitting ability he’s shown in domestic T20s in international cricket. While he averages 25.06 and boasts a strike rate of 146.98 in all T20 games, his corresponding T20I numbers are a modest 17.14 and 124.72 respectively
