Rashid Latif: “In the past, our batters didn’t play for their batting averages. Saeed Anwar averaged 45 with the bat, he would have been averaging 60 in today’s cricket. These days, our players are playing for their averages”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif believes legendary opening batsman Saeed Anwar “would have been averaging 60” if he were playing cricket today.
Anwar is one of the best openers Pakistan has ever produced and has repeatedly been praised for his class and run-scoring ability.
The 56-year-old represented his country in 55 Tests and scored 4,052 runs, which included 11 hundreds and 25 fifties, at an average of 45.52.
He also played 247 ODIs and amassed 8,824 runs, which included 20 centuries and 43 half-centuries, at an average of 39.21.
Latif noted that Anwar always put the team first whenever he played instead of focusing on his own statistics.
“In the past, our batters didn’t play for their batting averages. Saeed Anwar averaged 45 with the bat, he would have been averaging 60 in today’s cricket. These days, our players are playing for their averages,” he was quoted as saying by journalist Farid Khan on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Pakistan recently featured in the 2025 Champions Trophy and were dumped out in the group stage after going winless.
They are now taking on New Zealand in a white-ball series and were thumped 4-1 in the T20Is.
The two teams are now involved in a three-match ODI series, which the Black Caps lead 1-0 after winning the 1st ODI in Napier by 73 runs.
The 2nd ODI will be played on April 2 in Hamilton.
Pakistan Squad for T20I Series against New Zealand: Hasan Nawaz, Omair Yousuf, Mohammad Haris, Abdul Samad, Salman Ali Agha (captain), Irfan Khan Niazi, Khushdil Shah, Shadab Khan, Abbas Afridi, Jahandad Khan, Mohammad Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Sufiyan Muqeem, Abrar Ahmed, Usman Khan
Pakistan Squad for ODI Series against New Zealand: Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Salman Ali Agha, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Akif Javed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Irfan Khan Niazi, Naseem Shah, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir
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