Inzamam-ul-Haq, the head of the national men’s selection committee, named an 18-man squad for the ACC Men’s Asia Cup 2023 and the series against Afghanistan. There are a few questions that have arisen about his selection. Many people are shocked by the selection of Faheem Ashraf, which is still questionable. The performance of his recent matches does not meet the standards that make him a strong candidate for selection for Pakistan in ODIs.
Faheem returns to the Pakistan side after a long gap of two years, his last outing in the ODI format was during the Men in Green three-match away series against England in July 2021.
Chief Selector about the selection of Faheem Ashraf
National team selector, Inzamam-ul-Haq, who announced the squads for the Asia Cup and Afghanistan ODIs, justified Faheem Ashraf’s inclusion by claiming him to be the only pace-bowling all-rounder in the circuit.
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“We lacked pace-bowling all-rounders, as all the all-rounders we currently have are spinners,” he said.
“We are looking towards the ICC Cricket World Cup later this year, and Faheem Ashraf will come in handy in India,” he added
In addition, he rated Faheem as Pakistan’s best pace bowler all-rounder.
“Faheem Ashraf is number one among all the pace-bowling all-rounders in the domestic.”
Faheem Ashraf’s performances in ODIs
Ashraf’s ODI performance is not good enough to get him into the squad. The overall numbers for an all-rounder in that format indicate he has not lived up to his expectations. Look at his batting and bowling performances.
Batting Stats
| Innings | 22 |
| Runs | 218 |
| Average | 11.47 |
| Strike Rate | 83.85 |
| 50/100 | 0/0 |
Bowling Stats
| Innings | 30 |
| Wickets | 23 |
| Average | 46.09 |
| Economy | 5.11 |
| 5W | 1 |
As the chief selector defends the performances of an all-rounder, his numbers are not justified his place in the squad. These above stats don’t look good and said that the selection of Faheem Ashraf in the team is unnecessary.
Is the selection of Faheem Ashraf make sense in Pakistan Squad?
Now we analyse the selection of Faheem Ashraf from different angles and try to find the justification for his place in the Pakistan squad.
Faheem as a Fast Bowler
Pakistan team already has three front-line fast bowlers in the form of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, and Naseem Shah. Mohammad Wasim jnr is a backup fast bowler in the squad. If we consider Faheem as a fast bowler then his bowling stats clearly reflects his performances that it is not enough to gain a place in the team. Furthermore, his speed is not too much which will support his selection as a fast bowler.
Faheem as an All-Rounder
If we consider Faheem as an all-rounder then Pakistan has many options in this department. Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha. So, the Pakistan team do not need too many all-rounders in the squad.
Faheem as a Fast bowling All-Rounder
If we consider Faheem as a fast-bowling all-rounder then it makes no sense. Because the Afghanistan series, Asia Cup and world cup 2023 will be played in Asian conditions which will not help much for a medium pace all-rounder who is not much expressive. In these conditions, Pakistan needs a spin-bowling all-rounder and Pakistan already has many options in the squad.
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