Fakhar Zaman has gone 11 ODIs without crossing 35. Pakistan are backing him for now, but it might not be for long, writes Naman Agarwal.

“Just before the Asia Cup, Fakhar Zaman was the ICC Player of the Month,” said Mohammad Rizwan in defence of the left-handed opener when enquired about his form after Pakistan’s victory over Netherlands in their first game of the World Cup yesterday (October 6).

There were serious question marks over Fakhar’s place in the side ahead of Pakistan’s World Cup opener against Netherlands. He had gone 10 matches without a 50-plus score before the World Cup. With Abdullah Shafique breathing down his neck to take his spot, Fakhar needed to have a good start to the tournament. But he didn’t.

Looking fidgety up front, Fakhar tried to drive a good-length ball from Logan van Beek that wasn’t there to be driven, and ended up slicing a return catch to him. He was dismissed for 12, his sixth consecutive sub-30 score in ODIs.

It was only around five months back that Fakhar was absolutely bossing it. Across the two ODI series that New Zealand played in Pakistan in January and April-May 2023, Fakhar had scored three successive centuries, each one better than the previous.

The first of the three centuries came in the last match of the January series, while the next two came in the first two matches of the series in April, culminating in an epic 180 not out off just 144 balls in a run chase of 337 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan’s second-highest ever in ODI history. Consequently, he was awarded the ICC’s Player of the Month in April, the fact that Rizwan alluded to after their World Cup game against Netherlands.

The unbeaten 180 turned out to be his last 50-plus score. Since then, Fakhar has batted 11 times with a highest score of 33. Pakistan have toyed around with the idea of dropping him. In their do-or-die Asia Cup clash against Sri Lanka, Shafique was supposed to replace Fakhar before Imam-ul-Haq’s illness ruled him out, allowing Fakhar to retain his spot. Shafique scored fifty in that game while Fakhar was dismissed for four. Even in their first warm-up game against New Zealand, it was Shafique who opened the batting ahead of Fakhar. But they have started the World Cup with the seasoned pro and seem to be in no hurry to look ahead of him.

Saud Shakeel, the Player of the Match against Netherlands, was asked about the lack of form from the openers in the post-match press conference, to which he responded saying that the wicket was tough to bat on early on with the ball stopping on the pitch. Rizwan was asked the same question and he gave a more general response, explaining the reasoning behind Pakistan backing them, particularly Fakhar.

“That’s a very good question. But you should also know that in the last two years, if we became the No.1 side in the world, it was on the back of our top three,” said Rizwan. “Just before the Asia Cup (in April), Fakhar Zaman was the ICC Player of the Month. Just before that, Imam [ul-Haq] had scored centuries. Captain (Babar Azam) is already performing.”

Rizwan elaborated that a few bad games for the top order is no cause for concern for Pakistan. Instead, they are looking at this as an opportunity for the middle order to come good, which it has so far.

“If the top order is not performing for two or three innings, we believe it is an opportunity for the middle order. Our middle order was not performing till sometime back. It was our middle order that was concern, right? But now even the middle order has shown (what it can do).

“So in my opinion, it is best for Pakistan that now you would be talking about the openers right down to the No.7 batter. Good teams don’t depend on one or two specific players to perform. If the entire team performs, it produces better results. So we are happy with that,” said Rizwan.

Rizwan and Pakistan have come out in support of Fakhar, and perhaps rightly so. After all, he boasts of an ODI batting average of nearly 45 with a strike rate above 90 and has shown enough times that he can win games single-handedly. But if he doesn’t turn up soon, their patience is bound to run out. Pakistan’s next game is against Sri Lanka on October 10, followed by the big one against India on October 14. Two more low scores in these and Fakhar’s World Cup might be over well before Pakistan’s is.

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