Fawad Alam: like a lamb to the slaughter

KARACHI: Perhaps the bells had already tolled for Fawad Alam when the ODI squad for the New Zealand series was announced and his name, inexplicably, was not in there.

Alam continued to perform well though, first for Pakistan A against Kenya and then for Sindh Knights in the Pentangular Cup. But as had been feared by the many who had taken a liking to the slight left-hander with unorthodox batting stance and facial hair preference, it was not enough to earn him a ticket in the plane for Down Under.

Less than a year ago, Alam had been on top of the world, scoring an unbeaten 114 in the Asia Cup final against Sri Lanka in what was ultimately an incredibly impressive but futile rescue mission after Pakistan had fallen to 18-3.

Back in the Pakistan side nearly after four years in the wilderness, Alam made 74, 114* and 62 in his first three matches. It seemed that Pakistan had finally found a cure to their lower order ailments, albeit not a very conventional one.

But then Australia came to town and Alam only managed 7, 20* and 0 as Pakistan were whitewashed 3-0. As always, those in command rushed to find someone to blame, and in their desperation, they turned on Alam.

And thus one of Pakistan’s brightest lights in an otherwise dark year in coloured clothing became a scapegoat for a collective failure.

But was Alam that dismal in the Australia series? He was dismissed for seven in the first match playing a desperate cut after letting the pressure build with a slow strike rate of under 30, with Warner taking a good catch at point. In the second, Alam was left stranded at one end on an unbeaten 20 as the remaining five batsmen that came after him made 10 runs between them. In the third, Alam was dismissed on nought by an incredible piece of sharp thinking by Steven Smith who ran from slip to snare the catch at leg-slip after seeing Alam play a premeditated paddle-sweep.

So out of three matches, Alam could consider himself unlucky in at least the latter two; surely not enough to condemn him to the gallows.

One of the reservations that the selectors and the team management was that Alam is ill-equipped to play the shorter stuff, with his shuffling stance leaving him off-balance to  hook or pull. In the bouncy pitches of New Zealand and Australia, they said, Alam would struggle.

The 29-year-old has played three matches Down Under against Australia; making 117 at an average of 39. Considering that only Umar Akmal outscored him across the three matches and that Pakistan failed to cross 250 in all three, Alam’s numbers are more than acceptable. Interestingly, in the six matches that Alam has played against Australia, none of his dismissals have been against shorter-pitched deliveries; and three of the five can be attributed to incredible fielding. Hardly indicative of a chink in his armour.

In his stead, Sohaib Maqsood and Haris Sohail have been included as the lower order batsmen who may also be called upon as the fifth bowler. Neither of them have played in Australia. Maqsood has played only three matches outside the subcontinent — when Pakistan toured South Africa — and averages 29.66. Sohail’s numbers outside the subcontinent make for even grimmer reading; 45 runs in four matches against West Indies and Zimbabwe at an average of 15.

Hence Alam’s questionable record in Australia — if it can even be called that for it hardly seems so — can surely not be the reason for his exclusion, especially considering the substitutes.

More worryingly, Maqsood’s 2014 was quite poor as he averaged only 29.85; a considerably decline from his 40.33 in 2013. For Sohail it was a much more impressive 58.75, especially considering that it was 15 in 2013.

However, even Sohail’s impressive average is comfortably eclipsed by Alam’s average of 69 for 2014; by far the highest of any Pakistani player. Of the players with as many runs as Alam, Ahmed Shehzad comes in at second with an average of 39.31. The other three who made as many runs — Akmal (32.9), Muhammad Hafeez (30) and Shahid Afridi (27.23) — failed to score at even half of Alam’s average.

Barring players from the associates, only Marlon Samuels, Ab de Villiers and Kane Williamson had a better average than Alam in 2014.

What makes the omission even more surprising is that Pakistan have only selected eight specialist batsmen and will most likely play seven of them. Hence there will be only one batsman in the four backup players; a remarkable vote of confidence in players that have once too often been Pakistan’s weakest links. If any of these eight batsmen's failure lends a Pakistan exit, the raised eyebrows will surely turn into loud questions.

Alam switched off his phone after the announcing of the squad; a stark contrast to Younus Khan’s reaction after being left out of the ODI squad against Australia. Maybe it is his penchant for silence that has been taken as a sign of weakness in a batsman that has shown himself to be a fighter above anything else; belying both his lack of talent and his thin frame.

Whatever the case may be, the decision to not take Alam to the World Cup is nothing short of criminal. The numbers; they do not lie.

 

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