The extraordinary start to Hasan Nawaz’s international career might have raised some eyebrows, but he needs to be persisted with.
Over five matches and 11 days, the hitherto uncapped Nawaz set two records in bilateral men’s T20I series. One, he became the first Full Member batter to register three ducks. And two, he struck at 185, the highest for Pakistan with a five-match cut-off. Additionally, he also hit the fastest T20I hundred for Pakistan that helped his team smash myriad records to pull off a steep chase.
Indeed, 0, 0, 105 not out, 1, 0 has been an extraordinary start under any circumstances. Cricket is not used to these streaks, especially from first-timers. For fans of Pakistan, a team that has backed two cautious, conventional run-amassers in Babar Azam (average 39.83, strike rate 129) and Mohammad Rizwan (47.41 and 125) at the top for years, Nawaz might well have been from another planet.
Just as jarring were his four dismissals. Even if one ignores the final game (he got an excellent ball), the first three were quasi-predictable culminations of a hit-all approach. Of course, the same approach got him that hundred, but is it sustainable?
What changed for Nawaz
First things first: Nawaz’s T20I career – five innings, 57 balls, any parameter – is a too small a sample to draw conclusions based on. They do not reflect the rest of his T20 career, where he strikes at 131. Something, however, changed at the 2024/25 Champions T20 Cup.
Until the start of the that competition, he used to strike at 115 and hit a six every 39 balls (roughly the same as Babar’s 41). At the tournament, these numbers changed to 142 and 13. His 17 sixes were behind Haider Ali’s 18, but no one else hit more than 12.
In New Zealand, he hit seven sixes in 57 balls (all of them in the same 45-ball innings) – about one in 1.2 overs. For Pakistan, he was the only one who came remotely close to Tim Seifert (22, one every 5.5 balls) and Finn Allen (11, one every six). Nawaz has been taking more risks than before – and it's finally this approach that has helped him break down the door to national team selection.
What Nawaz changed for Pakistan
It may be argued that none of this absolves his four failures, but Nawaz did finish the series with an average of 26.50. That is in the range of the career averages of AB de Villiers (26.12), Nicholas Pooran (26.14), Ross Taylor (26.15), Tim David (26.79), Shai Hope (26.46), Daryl Mitchell (26.30), and Paul Stirling (26.88) – batters of varying approaches and scoring rates.
The reason Nawaz stands out is the lopsided distribution of scores – a 45-ball blitzkrieg sandwiched by four dismissals in 12 balls. Had the dismissals been spread evenly across his 57-ball series, four 14-ball 26s would not have drawn attention. His strike rate would have been in more focus.
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A string of low scores is an invariable part of the career of high-risk batters. Since their approach is the complete opposite of preserving wicket (the cornerstone of conventional batting), it is only fair that these strings are not considered failures. Instead, it is perhaps better to look at reasonably large samples to assess. And in Nawaz’s case, even five innings have given a reasonable collection of runs.
Nawaz’s ducks are more of a product of his role in the side than of his batting prowess. If he takes fewer risks, the ducks will become less frequent – but so will the sixes.
Between the start of 2023 and the end of 2024, Pakistan had won 13 men’s T20Is and lost 22. Of the 12 Full Members, their win-loss ratio of 0.59 was the worst – as was their first-wicket run rate of 7.53.
Something needed to change at the top. Nawaz is part of that change.
