Criticism of Fawad Alam is unnecessary

Fawad Alam had to face the ire of the fans after providing almost little to nothing in Pakistan's last two Tests, against Australia. The left-hander did not have to do anything in the Rawalpindi Test as Pakistan lost just four wickets across their two innings.

Even when they had the chance to bowl at their opponents, Alam's slow orthodox spin was not utilized. Subsequently, he was the victim of some form of vitriol after the game.

The outrage boiled over after the end of the second Test when people started dissecting the game. Alam was out on a golden duck in the first innings and only managed to play 10 balls in the second as Pakistan attempted to save the Test.

His dismissals in both the innings underlined some flaws in his technique that, for quite a while, have been known to everybody.

While the rest of the team put up a resolute rearguard, Fawad's lack of contribution ignited anger amongst fans. Many even called him out for his technique and the manner in which he took guard while facing Pat Cummins in the second innings.

While some anger was expected due to the overall performance of the Pakistan team in the second Test, lambasting one player on the basis of a couple of Tests was rather unnecessary.

Fawad Alam's stunning record since his comeback

Interestingly, since his comeback to the Test team, the left-hander has established himself as a key part of the middle-order, along with Mohammad Rizwan and all-rounder Faheem Ashraf.

Fawad Alam was pivotal to Pakistan giving New Zealand a fight in their first Test match in Christchurch in 2020. He also enabled Pakistan to draw a Test series in the West Indies. More than that, despite being out of international cricket for a decade, he gained the record of being the fastest to five centuries in Test cricket, in terms of innings taken.

Unfortunately, for a cricket-nation like Pakistan, which always seems to be in brownian motion, no one is ever happy. A player is immediately thrown into a barrage of criticism on the basis of a couple of poor performances.

Fawad Alam has been an exceptional player so far and despite his technical deficiencies, he has already shown his capability on pitches in New Zealand, Pakistan and West Indies. For sure, he deserves to be a part of the first XI for the decider.