Salman Butt: “This shows that not everyone who scores runs in domestic cricket is necessarily international material”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has given a brutal assessment of batsman Sahibzada Farhan, saying he is not good enough to play international cricket.
His comments come after Farhan failed to impress during Pakistan’s limited overs series against Australia and Zimbabwe.
Against Australia, the 28-year-old scored 22 runs in three T20Is at an average of 7.33 and a strike-rate of 104.76.
Farhan then played one T20I against Zimbabwe, but only managed to make four runs.
“He was late on the ball. After getting out once or twice, a batter realises that he’s late on a particular shot, especially here [in Australia], where there is steep bounce and the new ball is coming at pace,” Salman said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
“You either avoid such deliveries or if you can’t avoid them, you take a single towards third man on such short-pitched balls. But if you keep getting out playing the same shot in the same way, it means your shot selection is limited.
“This shows that not everyone who scores runs in domestic cricket is necessarily international material.”
Farhan’s poor performances resulted in him being dropped for Pakistan’s upcoming tour of South Africa, which will consist of three T20Is, three ODIs and two Tests.
The T20I series will begin on December 10, while the ODI and Test series will start on December 17 and December 26 respectively.
Pakistan Squad for South Africa T20I Series: Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Jahandad Khan, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Omair Bin Yousuf, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan (wicketkeeper)
Pakistan Squad for South Africa ODI Series: Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan (wicketkeeper)
Pakistan Squad for South Africa Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub and Salman Ali Agha
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