*Official* Pakistan v New Zealand in the UAE 2018

[Burgey]

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

4 runs

Sounded like a cracker of a 4th innings

 

[straw man]

I know how infuriating that would have been for a Pakistan fan. Bilal and Hasan Ali

That said, the highest score for a batsman in position 7 or lower in the match (16 wickets total) was Ish Sodhi's 18, which comprised a couple of healthy slogs across the line, and the second highest was 12. So in one sense I can understand why the tail-enders would take the slog approach. The thing they seemed to miss was that Azhar Ali was at the other end to do the run scoring.

 

[CricAddict]

I know how infuriating that would have been for a Pakistan fan. Bilal and Hasan Ali

That said, the highest score for a batsman in position 7 or lower in the match (16 wickets total) was Ish Sodhi's 18, which comprised a couple of healthy slogs across the line, and the second highest was 12. So in one sense I can understand why the tail-enders would take the slog approach. The thing they seemed to miss was that Azhar Ali was at the other end to do the run scoring.

But the issue was, he was not doing the run scoring at all. He just blocked out balls or took singles at the start of the over to expose tailenders. It was very Chanderpaulesque by him.

 

[hendrix]

But the issue was, he was not doing the run scoring at all. He just blocked out balls or took singles at the start of the over to expose tailenders. It was very Chanderpaulesque by him.

nah he was taking singles off the 4th/5th ball. At least by the time I was watching

 

[The Hutt Rec]

Fourth ball almost every over ... don’t remember any on the first, second or third at all. I know it was a tough batting wicket, but I’m a bit surprised he didn’t try to finish it a bit sooner ... under ten you’d think he’d maybe up the ante a bit. But I guess NZ were bowling very well and had a lot of players on the boundary. I feel for him, he put in a big effort to try and get there with zero support post lunch.

 

[straw man]

But the issue was, he was not doing the run scoring at all. He just blocked out balls or took singles at the start of the over to expose tailenders. It was very Chanderpaulesque by him.

Partly agree - NZ would have been happy that the established batsman was Azhar Ali who has had real problems with scoring rate for a while, and has been in poor form, rather than another top order batsman. He didn't look like he'd just suddenly take three boundaries and win the game. NZ were able to tightly restrict the flow of runs and apply pressure in the first innings when he was in too.

He still should have been able to trust his number 8, 9, 10 partners though, despite the slow scoring rate (and his second innings had an eventual SR of 48, which isn't slow at all).

 

[Moss]

nah he was taking singles off the 4th/5th ball. At least by the time I was watching

He only started doing this (properly) when Abbas came out to bat, before that he was more than happy to give Hasan and Yasir 3-4 balls to face every over. But as others have said it didn't look like the sort of surface(and situation) where one could produce runs on demand.

 

[artvandalay]

Great match but it has to be said when you are the experienced batsman and on a half century you need to do more than just score a single off the utimate/penultimate ball to make it over the line in 10 overs when you only have 1 wicket in hand and 10 runs to get. more often than not this strategy will backfire.It just made KW's job easier knowing how disinteredted/incapable in scoring those runs quickly AA was as the deeper these games go the better the chance the fielding side has of winning it and letting nerves get the better of the opposition. Pakistan had no business losing this one tbf though i had a feeling they would make hard work of it despite their brisk start and being like 130/3. both lower orders in this game were abysmal.

 

[nzfan]

Partly agree - NZ would have been happy that the established batsman was Azhar Ali who has had real problems with scoring rate for a while, and has been in poor form, rather than another top order batsman. He didn't look like he'd just suddenly take three boundaries and win the game. NZ were able to tightly restrict the flow of runs and apply pressure in the first innings when he was in too.

He still should have been able to trust his number 8, 9, 10 partners though, despite the slow scoring rate (and his second innings had an eventual SR of 48, which isn't slow at all).

The margins are so little in cricket, the test match was a testimony. The paddle that Azhar tried if he got some bat would have gone for a four. The reverse sweep he tried found the gap would have been four as well. The ball was clipping the bail and it was the umpire's call. Could have gone either way. Kane was very upfront in his comments, he didn't go over the top as he understands cricket the best. With the win under belt and most with some decent form NZ is going to be a mountain for Pakistan to climb as their batting seems to be more suspect than ours. Both team's bowling options are good enough. I'd give Ish another go, I'm certain next pitch is going to be turning square from ball one. Can't take away anything from Pakistan either but they will come hard. Not to forget they also showed good fighting skills barring the second inning mishap by their lower order. It's going to be a series to watch :-)

 

[Moss]

With the win under belt and most with some decent form NZ is going to be a mountain for Pakistan to climb as their batting seems to be more suspect than ours.

Not so sure about this, can't see a lineup of Azhar, Shafiq, Babar and Sohail not firing as a unit for too long. If they decide to bring Fakhar Zaman back it could be a boost as well. While for NZ Latham and Taylor are battling to bring their ODI form into the test arena and with the state of the current lower order it just puts more pressure on the top 6. But yeah, with the Abu Dhabi 2nd innings Raval, Nicholls and Watling should have a blueprint for how to bat in these conditions.

 

[CricAddict]

He only started doing this (properly) when Abbas came out to bat, before that he was more than happy to give Hasan and Yasir 3-4 balls to face every over. But as others have said it didn't look like the sort of surface(and situation) where one could produce runs on demand.

I was following it only on cricinfo, but I got this same sense as well. NZ would have been pretty happy that the set batsman was Azhar Ali.

 

[Flem274*]

azhar batted like a man tbh. you had to be patient on that deck and he did get inventive with the ramps and the baseball swat to the fence off wagner

blaming azhar when dolts like bilal were heaving across the line is the stupidest interpretation of that chase

 

[nzfan]

Azhar was a beacon among Pakistan batting ruins. Good point by Moss, could understand how Fakhar Zaman was rested? Clearly he's a much better option to Hafeez in test cricket.

 

[NZTailender]

azhar batted like a man tbh. you had to be patient on that deck and he did get inventive with the ramps and the baseball swat to the fence off wagner

blaming azhar when dolts like bilal were heaving across the line is the stupidest interpretation of that chase

Agreed. The criticism of Azhar is a bit OTT. I think he expected the tailenders to be more like Abbas and they weren't, they played brain dead shots instead of being sensible. it was day 4 ffs. Had they not wanted to swing for the fences because #glory they could've taken a single off the 4th or 5th ball every over no problem all day. Azhar's mistake is that he thought his teammates had some sense.

 

[Starfighter]

I don't think you can blame Azhar when the guy at the other end goes for a Gabriel's Hoick.

 

[MichaelJ2000]

I might be getting ahead of myself here, but I'll ask the question anyway. Where does Ajaz Patel's debut rank in the ATG test debuts?

Certainly in terms of drama, it has got to be up there for me. Five wickets in the 4th innings to bowl your country to victory from the jaws of defeat. Have there been many better?

 

[Starfighter]

Bob Massie, Narendra Hirwani, Tip Foster, Lawrence Rowe would be better performance wise.

 

[MichaelJ2000]

Bob Massie, Narendra Hirwani, Tip Foster, Lawrence Rowe would be better performance wise.

Ah I had both Massie and Hirwani in mind. I am just a sucker for the drama of it all I guess!

 

[_Ed_]

I might be getting ahead of myself here, but I'll ask the question anyway. Where does Ajaz Patel's debut rank in the ATG test debuts?

Certainly in terms of drama, it has got to be up there for me. Five wickets in the 4th innings to bowl your country to victory from the jaws of defeat. Have there been many better?

From a NZ point of view, there have been big debuts like Vincent in Perth and Southee in Napier, but I can't think of many that were actual game-winning performances on test debut.