And people do not understand why that batsman who scored 103 is in the team.

SHOCKING !!

He is 6th on the runs tally, has the 3rd best average, and the 3rd most number of centuries among ODI openers over the past 5 years.

What more can you ask for from a consistent opener?

He may have been drafted into the team in 2017 due to his famous and influential uncle, but he has surely remained a part of Pakistan's ODI set up due to consistent performances.

You cannot, just cannot, criticize or replace someone who has been one of Pakistan's (and the world's) best performer in ODIs

How can you?

Imam, along with Babar, is Pakistan's most reliable batsman in ODIs. I have no doubts that he will become just as reliable and consistent in test cricket also. 

He is one the mainstays of the batting line up, and yet you guys want him out of the team?

Why do you all love to hate Imam Ul Haq?

For the first time in Pakistan's ODI cricket history, the team has an opening pair where both of them average above 40!

And one of them, averages over 50, but you want him out of the team!??? 

Wah re Pakistanio ...

Mohammad Hafeez, in his first test innings in two years, smashed a century ensuring that no one takes away the title of Comeback King from him.

Hafeez' 126 against Australia in the first test in Dubai was his 10th test century. He has now joined an elite club of Pakistan openers with 10 or more test centuries, whose only other member is Saeed Anwar!

Can you believe that? No test opener from Pakistan has scored more than Saeed Anwar's 11 test hundreds and Hafeez is only one century away from equaling that feat!

Considering that Australia, England, and India have each produced a couple of openers with more than 20 test hundreds. And at least 1 opener with 30 test hundreds, I was quite surprised.

But then, Pakistan hasn't really had that many stable openers. We are never patient enough with our openers and a couple of bad matches or 1 bad series and the selectors move on to the next one.

I wonder why that is.

In the middle order, batsmen seem more safe. They can go through more failures than openers can.

Case in point, Mohammad Hafeez, who was kept away from Pakistan's test side for two years despite scores of 224, 197, 151, 101*, 98, 96, 51, 42*, 42, 40 in his last 10 tests! He really only failed in one test in England (0 and 2) and he was dropped.

Doesn't seem right for a batsman who has arguably been Pakistan's second best opener in tests ever!


He has the third highest runs tally, the second highest number of test hundreds, and the third best average among all test openers produced by Pakistan.

Hafeez has been a world class opener for Pakistan, more so since November 2010 when he made his return to the Pakistan test team under Misbah.

Since that time, Hafeez is among the best openers in the world!


His average of 42.2 in this period is behind only that of Alastair Cook's, David Warner's, and Dean Elgar's.

It really makes me wonder why he was dropped from the team.

What further strengthens Hafeez' case as the first choice test opener for Pakistan is the fact that he has been involved in 7 out of the 13 century opening stands and 11 out of 15 fifty opening stands for Pakistan since 2010.


Hafeez has easily been Pakistan's best test opener since 2010 and I really cannot understand what resulted in him being dropped.

Please save me all the bull crap about his runs coming on flat decks and his centuries against weaker opposition. Hafeez has test hundreds against all test countries that he has played against, barring South Africa, and the only country he hasn't played test cricket against India.

For each one of his 10 test hundreds, there was another opener in the team also, playing the same opposition in the same conditions as Hafeez.

Mohammad Hafeez' comeback was so strong that he put on 205 runs for the opening wicket with Imam-Ul-Haq, which was Pakistan's 5th opening wicket stand of 200 runs or more, and the 6th highest test partnership ever against Australia.

I wonder how long Hafeez will last this time, but if he maintains the form that he displayed in Dubai yesterday, he will be on top of the list of Pakistan's test openers by the end of the Test series against New Zealand.

The popular view when Azhar Ali was announced as Misbah's successor to lead the ODI team was that the PCB had taken a step backwards. Public opinion, and that of some experts, was that the PCB had not learnt from its past mistakes. Having seen the ODI team crumble under the defensive tactics of Misbah, the predominant view was that Pakistan required an aggressive captain and the modern day approach to ODI cricket.

I was also skeptical about Azhar Ali as the ODI captain. I never doubted his ability as an ODI batsman and also called for his inclusion in the team in the past, but as captain I had my doubts. We ran a poll on Boys in Green, and also wrote a letter to the PCB Chairman about it including our poll results, which showed that Azhar Ali was the least popular choice among fans.

With such a negative reaction prior to even taking the field as captain, Azhar Ali must have felt the world's burden on his shoulders. He must have felt that he needed to prove the fans wrong, the experts wrong, and above all he needed to prove to himself and his team that he belonged.

With such pressure, any lesser batsman / person would have crumbled.

Not Azhar Ali though.

Azhar Ali stood up to the challenge, took it head on by opening the batting, and slogged each one of his critics out of the park.

As an opener, Azhar Ali has been a revelation!

Azhar Ali stands above and beyond all openers Pakistan has ever had in its entire ODI history. His average of 63.84 as an opener is almost 18 runs more than the next best average of a Pakistan opener.

The most pleasantly surprising fact is that Azhar has the best strike rate among all Pakistan openers; even better than the legendary Saeed Anwar's.

Unlike Misbah the ODI captain, Azhar Ali decided to take charge of the ODI team and lead from the front by moving out of his comfort zone and adopting an attacking style of play at the top of the order. He showed everyone that it could be done and naturally demanded the same of his players, which has resulted in the consistently high ODI scores that Pakistan has been posting; a welcome change from the struggle to 220-230 over the past 4 years.

Sure it is still early days for Azhar Ali, but at the moment he is at the top of the pile in terms of average among all openers ever to play ODI cricket (with a minimum of 10 innings as an opener). Azhar is among the only 3 openers in ODI cricket who average above 50.

He recently created a Pakistan record when he completed 1,000 runs in ODI cricket in his 23rd inning. He equaled the great Gordon Greenidge, and got there in 2 innings fewer than Sir Viv Richards and Kevin Pietersen.

Azhar Ali reached 1,000 ODI runs faster than modern ODI greats like Virat Kohli, Hashim Amla, and AB De Villiers, and faster than the all time great ODI batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, and Inzamam Ul Haq.

At the moment, Azhar Ali is among the only 8 ODI batsmen in the history of ODI cricket who average over 50 (minimum: 1,000 ODI runs). The other names on that list include Hashim Amla, AB De Villiers, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Michael Bevan.

Talk about being a part of elite company.

He is also among the few ODI batsmen who average over 50 as captain. The top of that list reads Virat Kohli (70.8), AB De Villiers (69.8), and Azhar Ali (65.0).

Azhar Ali has not only shone alone as an opener in ODIs; he has always ensured that Pakistan get off to a good solid start by building a strong opening stand. In the 14 ODIs that he has has opened in, he has had 4 different opening partners, and he has been able to forge a strong partnership with each one of them.

All those recent claims that Azhar Ali is a selfish batsman are baseless in my opinion. He has taken responsibility on his own shoulders, he has taken up a role that has traditionally given Pakistan the most problems, and he has stood above all batsmen currently playing ODI cricket. He has flourished as an opener.

I will be the first to say that these are still early days, but the glimpses that Azhar Ali has shown in this short period have demonstrated an ability that will bring Pakistan back to being a force to reckon with in ODI cricket.

Over on Dawn today, Mazher Arshad discusses the true worth of Mohammad Hafeez. He basically says that like Shahid Afridi, Hafeez should realize that he is primarily a bowler and move down the order in ODIs where his 30s and 40s will be more useful. He also talks of his batting averages against stronger teams, in difficult conditions, and during this year, all of which are in the low to mid 20s.

There is a valid point there no doubt. If it were any other opening batsman, he would have been dropped already. The fact that Mohammad Hafeez bowls and bowls well (he is currently ranked number 1 in ODIs and number 10 in T20s in the ICC bowler rankings) is what is keeping him in the side.

But does this dip in batting form really warrant a push down the order?

This same topic resulted in a long and endless debate on Twitter earlier today, where I continued to support Hafeez as the opener, while several others argued that he should not be opening for Pakistan.

Here is why I think that Mohammad Hafeez should continue opening for Pakistan.

1. Better Now than Before

Hafeez started his cricket career for Pakistan in 2003 following the retirement of Saeed Anwar. Since then, he has played 105 ODIs and averages just under 27.00 with the bat. Anyone with that kind of average should not even be in the top 6 of an ODI team, let alone open the innings.

But Hafeez's case is different.

His career can be broken down into 4 distinct phases, corresponding to the initial phase and the 3 comebacks that he has made since then after being dropped.

Here's a comparison of his performance in each of these 4 phases.



It is unfair to talk about Hafeez's average and only mention that he averages in the mid 20s. His 4th coming as an opener for Pakistan, which is his current phase, has been the best phase of his career. That is also why he has remained as Pakistan's number 1 choice for opener for 2 years now.

Compare his batting performance in his first 48 ODIs, played between 2003 and 2006 to his performance in the last 57 ODIs, played over the last two years, and you will see the drastic improvement in his batting ability / form.

Hafeez has doubled his ODI runs tally, and has scored his ODI runs at almost double the average, in the last two years.

You can't drop a Pakistani opener, or push him down the order, based on these numbers.

2. He is Better than the Rest

Almost everyone in Pakistan is ready to talk about problems, but very few people actually stop and think about the solution. The same way, many people have been calling for Hafeez to be dropped or pushed down the order, without suggesting who will open instead of him in ODIs.

Mazhar Arshad suggested Kamran Akmal or Azhar Ali, which are suitable alternatives, however those calling for Hafeez to be dropped need to think about who the replacement will be.

Here's a look at the performance of batsmen who have opened for Pakistan since 2003.



Only Salman Butt and Yasir Hameed have performed better than Hafeez has in the last two years for Pakistan, and we all know why neither of them is in the team.

Even though Kamran seems like a suitable replacement as opener, his record is also not that great at the top of the order. None of those figures are what they should be for a top quality international opener.

And just for the record, Aamer Sohail, whom many consider to be one of the best openers to play for Pakistan, averaged only 31.86 in 156 ODIs and scored a total of 5 ODI centuries in his entire career.

Mohammad Hafeez is a better opener than all the names discussed above, barring Salman Butt.

3. For the Sake of Continuity

For the last two years Mohammad Hafeez has opened for Pakistan in every single test, ODI, and T20 that they have played. Yes. Every. Single. One.

When was the last time we had that?

In a country that produces mediocre openers, and one that has had an endless opening problem since the retirement of Saeed Anwar, I doubt you can find someone who can manage to open for Pakistan on a consistent basis across all 3 formats the way Hafeez has done.

He averages 41+ in tests, 33+ in ODIs, and 22+ in T20s during this two year period.

I highly doubt that Pakistan can find someone as consistent as him at the top of the order.

Hafeez has managed to eradicate a constant opening problem that Pakistan had, and has managed to forge a healthy partnership with Taufeeq in tests and Nasir in ODIs, both of which need more continuity and support to flourish further.

Dropping him down the order will do no good.

Dropping him is out of the question. How do you drop the world's best ODI bowler?

Let Mohammad Hafeez open in peace!

There was something I noticed about Salman Butt's 3 innings in the ongoing Pentangular Trophy:

290 (318) - 50 Fours

72 (96) - 13 Fours

117 (157) - 18 Fours

In the 3 innings, he got 69%, 72%, and 61% of his runs through 4s - a collective amount of 68%.

Thats quite a high percentage. I checked his international record and this is how that looks:

ODIs - 52.9% runs from 4s

Tests - 58.5% runs from 4s

Typically in test matches one would expect that the good batsmen get majority of their runs through boundaries, however in ODIs the percentage is usually lower considering the sharp singles, 2s, and 3s. Salman Butt gets a very high percentage of runs in boundaries in ODIs as well.

I then went on to compare these percentages with other international greats. I couldn't find a database that lists the batsmen in order of highest percentage of runs from 4s, however I did find many that list the batsmen with the most number of 4s in their careers. Maybe David Barry or Charles Davis can come up with the accurate database to be used or they may have already, but here's my list: