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*Official* Bangladesh Tour of Pakistan- Test Series

Apex Predator

State Vice-Captain
Yeah but Pakistan is also a super poor country which is not really getting richer so they can't really utilize the full 250 million.

India and Bangladesh have become better relative to what they were simply cause they are richer countries now with better systems comaped to earlier.

If some other first world country picks up cricket, they can slide further. Maybe USA where desis are like 1-2% of the population (and rising)? US desis along with some Caribbean diaspora and some mercenaries can become a decent force.

Pak were a top team in field hockey but kept falling further as other countries kept coming up and now they don't even play World Cups/Olympics etc.
Astro turfs kinda killed Asian Hockey & both India and Pak were affected.
India have recovered very well & now are among Top 3-4 field hockey sides as for Pakistan it is has been steep unending decline
 

PaulLennon

U19 Debutant
Astro turfs kinda killed Asian Hockey & both India and Pak were affected.
India have recovered very well & now are among Top 3-4 field hockey sides as for Pakistan it is has been steep unending decline
Pakistan do well when a sport is semi-professional but once it becomes a professional sport with match ups, analytics, fitness regimens etc they fall behind cause at that point it's a money game.
 

ashley bach

Cricketer Of The Year
Pakistan will be back, it might be a number of years away, but they'll be back. Their history and passion for the game can't be ignored.
If administration can be sorted out and a couple of super stars come through it'll be a totally new ball game again.
 

PaulLennon

U19 Debutant
Pakistan will be back, it might be a number of years away, but they'll be back. Their history and passion for the game can't be ignored.
If administration can be sorted out and a couple of super stars come through it'll be a totally new ball game again.
Being back is relative to other countries.

Their entire country is collapsing economically and politically.

Back during their glory days in the 80s SA did not play, India were poor and sucked, SL/Bang were minnows.

I don't see them overtaking Ind, Eng, Aus, Ban, SA etc anytime soon. Maybe can be better than SL, NZ etc as these countries have lower populations and rely on golden generations. Their upper limit is a mid-tier team.
 

Silver Silva

International Debutant
Ridiculous. The claim that we are witnessing the end of pak as a major cricketing force would have been timely in late 90s to early 2000s. Limiting the discussion to tests, Pakistan have hardly been a major force since then. Probably sit at number 6 or 7 in W/L ratio. But they are also not likely to go further below - their 250 million population with cricket as practically the only sport would ensure this. If anything, they could do much better if their admin gets relatively efficient OR if they discover some out-of-syllabus talent from the streets.
Bangladesh is rising , and Nepal will also be a major force soon , and Afghanistan has made rapid progress in cricket.
Pakistan can no longer assume they are second best in Asia
 

PaulLennon

U19 Debutant
Bangladesh is rising , and Nepal will also be a major force soon , and Afghanistan has made rapid progress in cricket.
Pakistan can no longer assume they are second best in Asia
Yeah.

And especially in T20 where they are locked out of IPL and its riches.

In 15-20 years IPL will become the main form of cricket and if Pak players still aren't in it, their downfall will be more.
 

Silver Silva

International Debutant
Yeah.

And especially in T20 where they are locked out of IPL and its riches.

In 15-20 years IPL will become the main form of cricket and if Pak players still aren't in it, their downfall will be more.
Feel like Pakistan need to swallow the pride and realise the isolation from India in terms of cricketing relations is hurting Pakistan cricket more than anything, that fearsome rivalry used to be motivation in itself to be the best ..

Now it's just a fixed group match.
 

PaulLennon

U19 Debutant
Feel like Pakistan need to swallow the pride and realise the isolation from India in terms of cricketing relations is hurting Pakistan cricket more than anything, that fearsome rivalry used to be motivation in itself to be the best ..

Now it's just a fixed group match.
For that to happen the Pakistani establishment has to realize that they can't "compete" with India. It is impossible to compete against an economy 12x your size.

Accept a deal on the LOC - make it an international border and then decrease military budget and enjoy access to India. Their actors/musicians can work in Bollywood (same language), they can access Indian educational institutes/hospitals/jobs, cricket etc.

No shame in having a hegemony. Canadians are okay with that relationship with the US.

Justin Bieber, Drake, The Weeknd etc - Imagine their careers without access to the American market.

Other South Asian countries might have issues with India (which will obviously arise because of how big India is) but they are still relatively friendly and benefit from Indian largess.
 

andruid

Cricketer Of The Year
Feel like Pakistan need to swallow the pride and realise the isolation from India in terms of cricketing relations is hurting Pakistan cricket more than anything, that fearsome rivalry used to be motivation in itself to be the best ..

Now it's just a fixed group match.
Indeed the world is crying out for a full on India v. Pakistan test match series.
 

Aritro

International Regular
Bangladesh fans, is beating Pakistan a bigger deal than beating England, India or Australia (not in terms of quality, but in terms of historical significance and what it means to people)
It's bigger because it's an away series win away from home. The historical significance of it isn't really a factor in the way that you might imagine. It's been a very long time since the war and the Bangladeshi population don't hold any more enmity towards Pakistan in 2024 than Australians did towards Japan in 1998, even if the war itself dominates our history books and our sense of our past. My family personally saw some pretty horrible **** but they're not celebrating the win in those terms really.
 

ma1978

International Debutant
It's bigger because it's an away series win away from home. The historical significance of it isn't really a factor in the way that you might imagine. It's been a very long time since the war and the Bangladeshi population don't hold any more enmity towards Pakistan in 2024 than Australians did towards Japan in 1998, even if the war itself dominates our history books and our sense of our past. My family personally saw some pretty horrible **** but they're not celebrating the win in those terms really.
Totally understand what you’re saying, but as I’m sure you well know, there’s a cricketing angle to the history as well. Kimber did a podcast on it. When Bangladesh was East Pakistan, Bangla cricketers were discriminated against on an apartheid like basis. At best, there was one Bangla cricketer for Dhaka tests and a broad cultural view that West Pakistanis were the “martial races” and Bangladesh were for want of a better term, “girly men”. So leaving aside the dark and violent history of 1971 and before, it’s pretty significant in the context of cricketing history.
 

Spark

Global Moderator
It's bigger because it's an away series win away from home. The historical significance of it isn't really a factor in the way that you might imagine. It's been a very long time since the war and the Bangladeshi population don't hold any more enmity towards Pakistan in 2024 than Australians did towards Japan in 1998, even if the war itself dominates our history books and our sense of our past. My family personally saw some pretty horrible **** but they're not celebrating the win in those terms really.
People don't realise how rapidly these historical "memories" can fade, especially in fast-growing countries with young populations. It took like 30 years for Vietnam to flip from being "literally at war with America" to "in some polling, the most pro-American country on the planet".
 

GoodAreasShane

Cricketer Of The Year
Little late to the party, but I must say I have enjoyed what I have seen of Nahid Rana's work a lot. Still definitely a work in progress, but he does have a bit about him

Injuries permitting of course, bit going on in that bowling action
 

Starfighter

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
So where to now for Pakistan? Firstly, the team overall displayed the flakiness that cost them heavily in Australia, but perhaps even more so. Can anyone else here think of a mentally weaker team?

Their bowling is a concern as they don't have someone with real pace and Shaheen's being off the boil removes amount of quality. I doubt Abrar will be effective unless the pitches are dry enough that the pacers will be ineffective. I like Khurram and think he could be a useful bowler in the Siddle mould, except I have doubts about his fitness. But they have no-one with real spark who can lift the team. The batting's the biggest problem. Obviously there's a wide gap between QeA and tests - though it's silly how bad they are at playing pace when until Imran's reorganisation greentops were very common. They have guys who can score, but they seem to lack discipline and application, as was starkly apparent in Australia with collapses against spells which might have gone wicketless with even a modicum of judgement. And of course the fielding is plumbing new depths.

Despite the obvious massive structural weaknesses in Pakistan cricket more widely, I honestly don't think they're that bad on paper. But when it comes to getting on the field, eleven headless chickens would be a more resilient team (and could probably catch better). If England don't mince them in every test I will be quite surprised.

Little late to the party, but I must say I have enjoyed what I have seen of Nahid Rana's work a lot. Still definitely a work in progress, but he does have a bit about him

Injuries permitting of course, bit going on in that bowling action
Very interesting action, all arms. Must say it strikes me as being one that'll be vulnerable to injuries but until he actually gets one may as well not worry about, it's not exactly easy to completely rebuild an action.
 

AndyZaltzHair

Hall of Fame Member
It's bigger because it's an away series win away from home. The historical significance of it isn't really a factor in the way that you might imagine. It's been a very long time since the war and the Bangladeshi population don't hold any more enmity towards Pakistan in 2024 than Australians did towards Japan in 1998, even if the war itself dominates our history books and our sense of our past. My family personally saw some pretty horrible **** but they're not celebrating the win in those terms really.
I agree with this

I'd like to add that previous government would have specifically highlighted the war thing if they were in power to push their own agenda. For me its a special series win purely from cricketing sense. And for most of population in bd, its the same I'd imagine. For those who dont know, you would be surprised that Pakistan cricket team got a huge fan base in bd. I myself witnessed it in stadiums whenever they played here. Girls regularly used to bring placards written "Afridi marry me". But I also get what ma1978 said. The war was hard fought and many still living carrying that past. So if someone wants to look at it from that perspective without meaning any harm and get their happiness from a game, I don't have any issue with that.
 

honestbharani

Whatever it takes!!!
though it's silly how bad they are at playing pace when until Imran's reorganisation greentops were very common.
This is an interesting point. I remember we often used to wonder why Pak always seemed to do well in England and NZ but not so much in Aus. India were the opposite. Maybe this is the reason, they are just used to handling seam movement and swing better.

Also, I know Shaheen is ahead now but I honestly believe Naseem Shah is better and is easily their most important bowler going forward for the next 10 years.
 

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