Khalid Latif not good enough at this level!
November 4, 2009 by Trend PK
Filed under Sports News
Khalid Latif might have scored 64 in the first ODI yesterday in Pakistan’s thumping 138-run win, but I strongly feel that the opener should be dropped and make way for the classy Shoaib Malik in the playing XI for the next match on Friday.
Having watched 112 balls played by in the first ODI, I think he is not that fit to play international cricket at this stage. A poor technique, rash shots, lack of timing and what not, nothing really seemed to be impressive about this former U19 Pakistan Captain. The 23-year-old Latif will have to spend a lot of time in the nets and fix his game with proper Coaches if he has to be a successful cricketer at the highest level.
I remember the 3rd over bowled by Shane Bond faced by Latif and the right hander played really ugly cricket which hardly had any grace. I thought that this guy was a natural hitter and looking to counter attack the Kiwis. But instead he went into a shell, was playing a Test Match rather than a One Dayer. It was no excuse at this level that Pakistan were 0 for 2 and that required Khalid Latif to forget about scoring runs and just stay onto the wicket. And his type of knock was against a toothless Kiwi attack. It was just playing off a few overs from Bond and the inexperienced Southee for a while and the rest of the attack was just wafer thin with the exception of Vettori. Latif just remained in Gear one almost throughout his 112-ball stay except for a couple of rash shots early on against Bond.
Pakistan will have to really thank Shahid Afridi to pull them off from a disastrous situation in the middle overs when the runs were trickling by. Afridi was also very generous in telling Latif to take his own time, he even told him – first get your fifty. Once Afridi brought Pakistan back into the game, the rest was left to the experienced duo of Kamran Akmal and Abdul Razzaq who certainly didn’t disappoint their fans. Pakistan smashed 287 out of nowhere and Latif’s tortoise innings was well covered up by the heroics of Afridi and Kamran Akmal.
I would be surprised to see Khalid Latif continue for a long time in international cricket if he plays the same way like he did in the 1st ODI. There will be a lot of quick bowlers to handle than what he had faced against the Kiwis which is for sure. The likes of Bond, Mills must be looking to bowl the sharp induckers to Latif in the next two games and get him out bowled or lbw. Ideally he needs to be dropped and replaced with Shoaib Malik who surprsingly was left out of the team in the first ODI. People might be looking to have Salman Butt dropped but I think he is a quality batsman and one failure or two doesn’t make him a bad cricketer. Another talented batsman is Imran Farhat and I rate both him and Butt to be miles ahead of Khalid Latif.
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was first posted on November 4, 2009 at 11:44 pm.
