Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi should bat higher in the order – Shoaib Mohammad

Shoaib Mohammad, the former Pakistan cricketer, is extremely disappointed with the performance of the national team in the first One Day International (ODI) of the five-match series against South Africa at Bloemfontein and has urged the team management to promote Shoaib Malik in the batting line-up.

Having failed to deliver the goods in the Test matches, Pakistan won the only T20 played in the tour at Centurion by a comprehensive margin of 95 runs. The sporting analysts expected the visitors to carry forward the momentum in the ODI series but that was not the case in the opening fixture, with Misbah-ul-Haq and company being thrashed by a massive margin of 125 runs.

Chasing a huge target of 315 runs, Pakistan was off to a good start through its openers but they failed to convert their cameos into big knocks, which were desperately needed. The whole team was dismissed for just 190 runs in the 37^th over of the innings.

Shoaib, while talking to a sports channel in Pakistan, feels that Malik, the former captain, has the ability to construct match-winning knocks; hence, advocating his promotion in the batting-order. The cricketer from Sialkot batted at number 6 in the first ODI and scored 19 runs off 21 balls.

He mentioned, “I am not satisfied with the position of Shoaib Malik. He should also bat up the order. He (Shoaib Malik) is a very useful player and his defense is pretty solid. Pakistan should look to play a bit aggressively and the captain should take the initiative.”

Another former captain, Afridi, who has been miserably out of form over the last 12 months, played a little cameo at the end and looked in good touch for his 34. Shoaib thinks that the all-rounder can be promoted higher up the order when the Green Shirts are chasing big scores.

“I don’t know why Shahid Afridi was sent in at No.8, when it was almost impossible for him to make amends,” the former cricketer expressed. “Had Shahid Afridi been sent up the order and had he played a blistering knock, the match would have been interesting.”

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Posted by Yasir Hashmi on Mar 12 2013. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.