Pakistan cricket team is struggling to find regular openers after the retirement of their star opening pair, Saeed Anwar and Aamer Sohail. In all, they have tried about 20 to 25 combinations, but none has worked for them on a consistent basis. For a start, openers are the most important members of a side, as they can provide their team with a solid start. In addition, they can also rough up the new ball and then, it is much easier to score for rest of the batsmen.
As we say that bowlers hunt in partnerships, so do the batsmen. A left and right handed opening combination can easily break the rhythm of opposition’s bowlers. If there is a compact and solid batsman, then he should be supported by attacking batsmen to unsettle the bowlers.The necessary ingredients required to be an opening batsman in the modern era are, players ability to dominate the new ball attack and his mental strength to assess the conditions and situations.
Shahzaib Hasan has all the potential in the world to become a successful modern day opener. In his couple of domestic and international games, the dashing opener has shown signs of brutality and devastation with the willow in his hand.
Shahzaib Hasan was inducted into the Pakistani cricket team at a young age of 19, just like his many other illustrious countrymen. The Karachi opener’s selection in the national outfit was a result of his scintillating domestic performances. In 2009, Hasan boasted on a great domestic season with Karachi blues. In seven One day domestic games, he scored 250 runs at a breathtaking strike rate of 96. Later on, he was selected for the national side to feature in the 2009’s ICC World cup in England
Furthermore, in Pakistan’s triumph at the twenty over world cup on English soil, Shahzaib did play his crucial part. In doing so, he only piled up mid-size scores, but him with his opening partner Kamran Akmal provided Pakistan with solid starts.
Shahzaib was picked for the Asia cup 2010 in June to make his ODI debut. To everyone’s surprise, he didn’t look comfortable at all in the first match against Sri Lanka, adding just 11 runs to the total. Add to this, he got his 2nd chance against Bangladesh on a flat track, where he scored a fifty in his blatant style.
As expected, he was picked for the England tour to play limited overs game, but only featured in game’s shortest version. In 8 matches, he scored 101 runs at an average of 12 with a best of 35.
As everyone expected of him, in the current Faysal bank T20 cup, the basher has been the top run-getter in the tournament. Overall, he has played 2 games, striking a massive tally of 177 runs at an average of 177 with a breathtaking strike rate of almost 179. In his pursuit for big runs, he has smashed a brutal century.
Moreover, in Karachi Dolphin’s first match against Hyderabad Hawks, the Dolphin’s opener shifted the momentum in favour of his team by hammering a magnificent 76 runs of 38 balls. His energetic performance with the bat helped his team to mountain a score of 195 runs on a flat track, which in the end proved to be a match winning total as they beat the Hawks by 20 runs. Resultantly, his blaze with the bat earned him the man-of-the-match award
Furthermore, the dashing Karachi opener carried his form to the 2nd match. This time around, Lahore Eagles were at the receiving end as Hassan bludgeoned the white cherry all-around the park. In doing so, he recorded the first century of the ongoing trophy. As a result, his hundred guided his team to the highest team score of 243 runs in the history of the Faysal bank T20 matches.
In the recently concluded Semi-final match against Rawalpindi Rams, the Karachi basher scored a match winning 71 runs of 51 balls, while aiming a target of 210 runs, sailing his team’s ship to the shore of final against Lahore Lions.
