On a sticky Abu Dhabi surface Pakistan needed someone to stand still for a while, and Hussain Talat did just that. His 32 from 30 balls, allied to two tidy overs, was enough to drag the side past Sri Lanka’s 133 for 8 and keep their T20I campaign alive. Afterwards the left-hander – often the first name critics circle when things go wrong – spoke frankly about a job he believes is routinely misunderstood.
“We keep saying that if we need a middle order player they need to know how to be both aggressive and have the ability to anchor,” Talat said at the press conference after the game. “But the chances of failure with that kind of cricket are high. Unfortunately, if you don’t perform a few games or series, the media and fans immediately go after you and you’re out of the team suddenly.”
He did not stop there. “I think the middle order is the hardest place to play in T20 cricket because you’re required to play all kinds of cricket. And because it’s difficult, I think you should have more chances in that position. And players who can play in the middle order are very rare in Pakistan, perhaps four or five. And even they don’t want to play there.”
Talat has felt that heat all week. Two nights earlier, walking in at 95 for 1 against India, he scratched around for 10 from 11 balls and the innings stalled. Social-media verdicts were swift and unforgiving. “We’d lost so no one was feeling good,” Talat said. “The people wanted us to win, and we did what we could against India, too. But there was no extra pressure before today’s game. There was plenty of criticism which we were trying to avoid and which isn’t good for the team. But it was crucial to win today.”
On Tuesday the context flipped: Pakistan were wobbling at 56 for 4 when Talat joined Mohammad Nawaz. Theekshana had just removed Babar Azam and Saim Ayub in the same over, the ball still sticking in the surface. Aakash Chopra, on commentary duty, summed up what followed in one sentence: “Talat holding one end up was important.” The pair added 48 in eight overs, nudging, tapping and collecting the odd boundary until Sri Lanka’s attack ran out of overs.
“The pitch was a bit sticky, but improved in the second innings,” Talat said. “We lost a few wickets quickly and that put us under a lot of pressure. And then we were running out of batting pairs which required us to take the game deep.” By the time he holed out, Pakistan needed 17 from 15 balls; Iftikhar Ahmed finished the chase with three balls to spare.
Why, then, is the middle order still treated as disposable? Former Pakistan batter Bazid Khan points to opportunity. “Openers in our set-up play every match, even after a lean run. Middle-order players often survive one failure, maybe two, before the axe falls. You don’t learn a role that way.” He argues that strike-rate comparisons are unfair when a middle-order innings might start in the 12th over on a turning pitch rather than in the Powerplay.
The numbers support him. Since January 2024 Pakistan’s average scoring rate between overs 7 and 15 is a modest 7.4, down from 8.6 in the preceding two-year cycle. Talat’s own strike rate in that span is 123, hardly explosive yet comfortably above the squad median. Crucially, he bowls two overs of seam as well, which helped break Sri Lanka’s opening stand earlier in the evening.
Coach Gary Kirsten, never one for hyperbole, called the win “a step in the right direction” but added that the batting group “must get braver through the middle”. There is no suggestion Talat’s spot is suddenly secure; Pakistan have another must-win fixture on Friday and Usman Khan is waiting in the wings. Still, Tuesday showed why selectors keep returning to the 29-year-old even after bumps in form.
Middle-order batting may remain, in Talat’s words, “the hardest of skills”, yet Pakistan’s survival in this tournament now rests on those skills holding up for at least two more matches. Whether faith extends that far is another question, but for one night it was enough.
