Gautam Gambhir: “Pakistan’s top five batters are similar types of batters. They don’t have a batter apart from Iftikhar Ahmed who can take the game head-on”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former India opening batsman Gautam Gambhir said Pakistan big-hitter Iftikhar Ahmed is the only man in the team who takes the game “head-on.”
Ripping apart Pakistan’s batting line-up, he noted that the top five batsmen are virtually the same and play a more orthodox and defensive style of cricket.
In comparison, many other teams have more attacking players in their top order, which allows them to get off to strong starts by scoring quick runs.
Gambhir noted that this is something the men in green need to think about, especially after their dismal performance in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
“Pakistan’s top five batters are similar types of batters. They don’t have a batter apart from Iftikhar Ahmed who can take the game head-on,” he told Star Sports as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan won their first two games against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Despite fighting back to defeat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they were unable to make it to the semi-finals.
The men in green ended their campaign on a sour note as England thrashed them by 93 runs.
Pakistan’s next assignment will be a three-match Test series against Australia, which will start on December 14 in Perth.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi