Mohammad Haris Dropped? Changes Pakistan Could Make For UAE Tri-Series Final

Anurag Dasgupta

Changes in tri nation final for Pakistan [source: AFP Photo] Changes in tri nation final for Pakistan [source: AFP Photo]

Pakistan defeated the UAE to enter the finals of the tri-nation series on Thursday evening. The team outplayed the hosts in a one-sided battle and reached the finale after winning three out of four matches. The star of the show was Abrar Ahmed, who picked up four wickets for just nine runs in 4 overs.

However, the team also had quite a few underperformers as the UAE failed to exploit the weakness. But Afghanistan, their final opponent, won’t give Pakistan a second chance, and the Men in Green could make key changes for the series finale.

Here a possible tactical changes the team could make to win tri-series

1) Time to drop Mohammad Haris

Criterion
Data
Matches4
Runs31
Average7.75
Strike rate86.11

(Haris stats in UAE tri series)

  • Just 4 matches, and 31 runs in the tri-series as pressure mounts on Mohammad Haris to deliver the goods. He urged Babar Azam to increase his T20I strike rate, but the same batter scored runs at a strike rate of 86 in the tri-series.
  • The wicket-keeping duties could be taken over by Sahibzada Farhan, and Pakistan could bring in Hussain Talat in place of Haris. It won’t be feasible for the team to have a player who has only averaged 7.75 in the ongoing tournament.

2) Sufiyan to replace a pacer

Throughout the ongoing tri-series, it has been observed that spinners have dominated the proceedings, and in the second innings, batting becomes difficult as spinners tend to wreak havoc. In the clash vs the UAE, Pakistan went in with Abrar Ahmed as their main spinner, and had three other part-time spinners.

Hence, the Men in Green could make a tactical tweak by including Sufiyan Muqeem in the playing XI in place of Salman Mirza.

With Abrar and Muqeem dominating from both ends, Pakistan could have an edge over the Afghan batters. Hence, they might just go in with Shaheen Afridi as the lone pacer.

Pakistan probable XI for UAE Tri-Series final

Sahibzada Farhan (wk), Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Agha (c), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Abrar Ahmed