How good is the Pakistan Team right now? (AKA the Pakistani climate thread)

[Cevno]

What's the bet?

 

[Furball]

I'll do the avatar bet Furball.

Haha, you're a brave man when I haven't even proposed the terms.

What I was going to go for was I'll bet that England win the series, and the duration is 1 year if England win 1-0 or 2-1, 2 years if England win 2-0, and 3 years if it's 3-0 (and vice versa if Pakistan win.) I'll also give up my avatar for 6 months if the series is drawn.

 

[Fusion]

Don’t get “Turbed” Agent. You can be optimistic sure, but in reality England are firm favorites. It would be a HUGE upset for Pakistan to win. A draw, however, is not that big of a stretch.

 

[Cevno]

Yeah, not that good odds offered.

 

[Furball]

Don’t get “Turbed” Agent. You can be optimistic sure, but in reality England are firm favorites. It would be a HUGE upset for Pakistan to win. A draw, however, is not that big of a stretch.

Which I'm offering him quite good odds for, as a drawn series won't result in the forfeit of his avatar

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Make a better offer please (go easy on me).

 

[Furball]

Make a better offer please (go easy on me).

6 months if Pakistan lose the series, 1 year if it's 3-0.

I'll take 6 months if England draw the series and 1 year if we lose, 2 if we lose 3-0.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

I'll take that bet.

 

[Faisal1985]

Apart from Faisal no one else suggested that English bowlers will have trouble holding up an end rest of us have been quite respectful of the english team eventhough we still feel they have to prove themselves in these conditions.

Personally I have a lot of confidence in English bowlers doing well here.I have made positive threads for the likes of Anderson and Tremlett on this forum and have nothing but positive things to say about Swann check Swann vs Ajmal thread.

I seriously hope I was not "disrespecting" the English fast bowlers when I said it would be tough for them to keep the pressure on from one end while Swann keeps going from the other...

I do hope to be proven right though.

 

[Faisal1985]

Well our pacemen are pretty good at reverse swing too which will happen on the pitches we will play on. Won't need 2 spinners.

Reverse swing is not something which is guaranteed in Middle East either.

I would say England is probably going to bring a second spinner.

 

[Prince EWS]

I would say England is probably going to bring a second spinner.

Yeah, a second spinner will definitely tour, but I think it's unlikely one will play unless they drop a batsman and go with Prior at 6 and Bresnan at 7.

The difference between what Bresnan adds to a cricket team and what Panesar or Borthwick would add is massive; far too great for conditions to over-rule.

 

[dhillon28]

I think the Pakistan test team is a very solid outfit, capable of challenging any of the current teams. The excellent thing about the current batting line up, is that it is full of calm players who have a sound temperament for test cricket (unlike recent pakistani batsmen of the past).

Toufiq
Hafeez
Azhar Ali
Younis
Misbah

The above 5 batsmen are so calm and serene, something Pakistan probably havent had since the days of Hanif Mohammed. If you were to just add Umar Akmal to this team, you would have the one explosive player you need to take the game away from the opposition whilst the top 5 grind you down. Bowling wise, I predict Umar Gul to have a second wind in test cricket and become on of the worlds leading quicks. Abdur Rehman is a very solid spinner and a solid lower order batsmen ( i prefer him in tests over saeed ajmal as he can give that steadying influence Pakistan so often need).

 

[Faisal1985]

Yeah, a second spinner will definitely tour, but I think it's unlikely one will play unless they drop a batsman and go with Prior at 6 and Bresnan at 7.

The difference between what Bresnan adds to a cricket team and what Panesar or Borthwick would add is massive; far too great for conditions to over-rule.

To me that would be key in the results how well would England keep up pressure with fast bowlers in testing conditions...

it will be a close battle imo....Toffee and Hafiz have shown decent form, with Misbah and Younis in the middle order its not a walk in the park for England bowlers either...

 

[Furball]

To me that would be key in the results how well would England keep up pressure with fast bowlers in testing conditions...

Ashes series ffs.

I'll ask again, how much have you seen of England in the last year? The Test bowling unit's entire MO is the build up of suffocating pressure.

 

[smash84]

haha.....yeah.....if anything the English quicks can keep the pressure on one after the other

 

[Xuhaib]

To me that would be key in the results how well would England keep up pressure with fast bowlers in testing conditions...

it will be a close battle imo....Toffee and Hafiz have shown decent form, with Misbah and Younis in the middle order its not a walk in the park for England bowlers either...

Faisal,

Its not difficult to keep pressure on pakistan batting lineup even against Lanka they barely went above 2.5 rpo throughout the series how will it be different when they face a superior English bowling attack

 

[smash84]

maybe the thing is that this pak batting line up bats so slowly that they wont feel the pressure when they are not scoring quick runs

 

[Prince EWS]

Faisal,

Its not difficult to keep pressure on pakistan batting lineup even against Lanka they barely went above 2.5 rpo throughout the series how will it be different when they face a superior English bowling attack

While I see your point, I also think it shows Pakistan's ability to withstand pressure and continue to build the innings without containment forcing them into stupid shots.

 

[Faisal1985]

Ashes series ffs.

I'll ask again, how much have you seen of England in the last year? The Test bowling unit's entire MO is the build up of suffocating pressure.

England has never played a test in UAE before. England is a good bowling unit but how they have gone about there business in the recent series is not going to play a huge role.

These are different conditions in which they never played test cricket.

Even Anderson said it will be a tough series for bowlers.

 

[Jono]

While I see your point, I also think it shows Pakistan's ability to withstand pressure and continue to build the innings without containment forcing them into stupid shots.

So unPakistani