Ahmed Shehzad - Pakistan's Greatest Opener Ever?
The past year (2014), was the
year when Ahmed Shehzad stamped his authority and made one of Pakistan's
opening positions his own across all formats of the game.
After making his debut in 2009 as an 18 year old opening batsman, Shehzad found himself on the sidelines after his first ODI series for Pakistan. He remained on the sidelines for
two years before briefly returning to international colours just before the
World Cup in 2011. A tour of New Zealand, a World Cup in India and Sri Lanka,
and a tour of West Indies later, he was gone again. No one really knew why
considering he had opened for Pakistan and knocked a century in New Zealand and
another one in the West Indies. Despite a disappointing World Cup, he did not
deserve to be dropped.
Rumours were that he was punished
for his closeness with Shahid Afridi who was at loggerheads with the PCB
Chairman at the time and had announced his retirement from the game.
Shehzad was the best opening
batsman in the country but he was still not a part of the team. He continued to
pile on the runs in domestic cricket, and finally made another return to the
side in the middle of 2013 on another tour to the West Indies.
18 months since then and Shehzad
has undoubtedly become a mainstay of the side, one of the few players who is
key to the team's success across all formats, and is well on his way towards
becoming the best opener produced by the country.
After establishing himself as
Pakistan's opener in the limited overs formats, Shehzad made his test debut at
the start of 2014 in the series against Sri Lanka. In his 5th test innings, he
produced a magnificent 147, and followed that up with two more test tons during
the year against Australia and New Zealand.
In March 2014, he recorded his
first ever T20I century, becoming the first Pakistani to score a hundred in the
T20 format, and only the 7th batsman in the world (at the time) to record a
century in each format of the game. (Faf du Plessis became the 8th batsman
earlier this year).
2014 was truly the year that
brought Ahmed Shehzad to the world stage. He is only 23 and has an entire
career ahead of him. He has already achieved so much and one can just start to
imagine what he may be able to achieve going forward given his immense talent
and potential.
He has scored runs against all
comers and in all conditions. His international centuries have not only come in
the subcontinent and the UAE, but also in South Africa, New Zealand, and the
West Indies. He is yet to play international cricket in England, and the
upcoming World Cup will be his first international outing in Australia.
After just 57 innings as an
opener in ODIs, he is already the 8th highest run scorer for Pakistan in that
position. His 6 ODI centuries as an opener are bettered only by Salman Butt
(8), Rameez Raja, and Pakistan's best opener ever, Saeed Anwar (20).
What I find even more impressive
is the fact that he has 6 ODI centuries in only 58 ODI innings; that is a
remarkable conversion rate with Shehzad scoring an ODI century every 9.7
innings. Comparing that with innings:centuries ratios of Pakistan batsmen who
have scored at least 5 ODI centuries, shows that only Zaheer Abbas scored ODI
centuries at a faster rate.
There are only 10 batsmen in this
world among the top 8 ODI teams who take less than 10 innings to score their
next ODI century; Ahmed Shehzad is one of them!
Sure we are still in the early
stages of Shehzad's career and the challenge for him lies in maintaining the
stature that he has already achieved, but there is absolutely no doubt in my
mind that he is well on his way towards greater things.
Shehzad's best days are still
ahead of him. When you think of the best ODI batsmen to have played the game
you think of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Virat Kohli, Hashim Amla, and AB
De Villiers to name a few. Not all of them started off on the same note that they
achieved later in their careers.
Sachin Tendulkar did not score
his first century in ODIs till his 76th innings! Yet he went on to score more
ODI centuries than anyone in the history of the game.
Shehzad's career stats compare
well against those of some of the greatest ODI players at the same stage in
their career; i.e. after 58 ODI innings. Only Amla, among the batsmen shown below, stands out from the rest. All the other batsmen have pretty
much the same figures at the same stage in their careers.
Only Hashim Amla had more
centuries against his name than Shehzad does after 58 ODI innings. There is an
uncanny similarity between the careers of Pakistan's greatest opener ever, Saeed
Anwar, and Shehzad after 58 ODI innings.
And there's not much difference
between what Ponting and De Villiers had achieved at the start of their ODI
careers and what Shehzad has achieved.
As I already mentioned, the
challenge for Shehzad is to maintain this same form throughout his career.
There is no doubt in my mind that he has the ability and the will to do so.
There is also no doubt in my mind that he will.
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