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Pakistan Thread

smash84

The Tiger King
no, Younis is not a must pick in this ODI side. Younis is just plain awful in ODIs and has been for some time now. Fawad Alam should be there
 

Niall

International Coach
Younis will probably smack Binny all about in the first game guaranteeing his spot for the next five years.

WA wretched player in this format really, he may come good, but wouldn't put money on it.

Masqood is a straky player, but he is a match winner to be fair. Get him in.
 

Nauq

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
7 is too high for Afridi, especially with those 2 blokes ahead of him. As much as everyone hates Younis as an ODI player he is a must pick in this side.
But Pakistan need 5 bowlers to even have a chance of restricting sides to a bit lower total which their batsmen can't chase anyway :P .
Its a bad time to be a Pakistan fan.
 

Nauq

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
Afridi can't play against swinging ball (You can say none of them does) But I guess they will have to play 5 genuine bowlers.
 

faheemaltaf

Cricket Spectator
I think, this can be a good combination.

1. Nasir Jamshed
2. Ahmed Shahzad
3. Sohaib Maqsood
4. Umer Akmal
5. Misbah ul Haq
6. Sarfraz Ahmed
7. Afridi
8. Wahab Riaz
9. Muhammed Irfan
10. Rahat Ali
11. Yasir Shah
 

Niall

International Coach
Sadly don't think Umar can be trusted to bat at four, it has been tried before and he has not shown the application needed.

Yasir is a good call, but he would have to bat where Irfan is batting, as he isn't to bad with the bat. Irfan should always bat at 11, never any higher.

I think its a good team you suggested, but sadly as I keep saying you have to select Younis as he will play the whole competition, no matter how bad he does against the top side, one good innings against the minnows or India and he will be untouchable.
 
The fault(s) in Pakistan's 11

You know the nation is skeptical when the loss of an opening batsman through an unfortunate injury is met by overwhelming cheers across the social media.

While I do feel sorry for Mohammad Hafeez, let’s be honest, with an illegal bowling action, the otherwise useful all-rounder from Sargodha isn’t skilled enough to justify his place as a specialist batsman.

His replacement, the 25-year-old Nasir Jamshed, is an opener whose 45-match ODI record isn’t significantly better, yet his best innings have shown more potential. While Nasir needs to iron out some technical flaws, his defenses are stronger than those of the man he replaces, and he carries the ability to both graft and attack.

Nasir Jamshed’s entry should please Misbah-ul-Haq, who reportedly fought for the young specialist opener to be part of the original squad.

On the other hand, news that Saeed Ajmal has been cleared by the ICC has been understandably met with caution by the team’s management, including the captain, vice captain, and the PCB chairperson.

While a possible injury to Sohail Khan opens a window, the management would be reluctant to replace a fast bowler with a slow bowler. What’s more, at the age of 37, with an untried and untested remodeled action, Ajmal could result in some dangerous friendly fire on the battlefield.

Regardless, Ajmal’s loss is a big blow to Pakistan.

A more precarious situation than 1992
Some have argued that Pakistan’s current misfortunes, where we have lost our best all-rounder (who happened to be our opener and most economical spinner), as well as our best spinner and our steadiest seam bowler, are similar to the adversities we faced before the victorious 1992 World Cup campaign.

This may be an overly romantic notion.

To compare our situation now to that of Imran Khan’s eventual triumph would be like comparing a tsunami to a wind storm. Although Pakistan had lost Waqar Younis before the tournament began, they boasted legends such as Imran Khan and Javed Miandad.

Another false belief of certain experts is that Wasim Akram and Aaqib Javed only established themselves in the 1992 World Cup. As a matter of fact, the two were already proven match-winners. Who can forget Wasim’s rapid-fire 123 against the Aussies in 1989, and his deadly spells of 6 for 62 and 5 for 98? In total, before 1992 he carried nine impressive 5-wicket hauls.

Meanwhile, Aaqib Javed had delivered some lethal spells of swing bowling of his own before 1992; his 7/37 against India, which included a wonderful hat-trick of LBWs, had been earned a year earlier.

Coming to the batsmen, Ramiz Raja and Aamir Sohail had enough experience under their belt as openers. Similarly, Moin Khan had been part of the team for some time. Even with such proven talent, Pakistan did not win without good fortune.

Yes, while certain players such as Mushtaq Ahmed and Inzamam-ul-Haq only hit their peak during the tournament, Imran Khan’s shrewd planning had meant that the nucleus was already in place.
But realistically speaking, for every Mushtaq and Inzamam, there was an Iqbal Sikandar and Zahid Fazal who failed to make an impact.

On the other hand, players from our current squad such as Mohmmad Irfan, Rahat Ali, Sohail Khan, Yasir Shah, Nasir Jamshed, Shoaib Maqsood, Sarfaraz Ahmed and the like, have not been a regular part of the ODI team and don’t boast great achievements.

If Mushtaq and Inzamam proved to be our miracles in 1992, we need at least three times as many miracles to be effective this time Down Under.

Misbah will have to change tactics
Misbah-ul-Haq arrives at a press conference in Sydney on February 8, 2015, ahead of the Cricket World Cup. —AFP
Misbah-ul-Haq arrives at a press conference in Sydney on February 8, 2015, ahead of the Cricket World Cup. —AFP
This may have made for some depressing reading, but in spite of these giant hurdles, Pakistan certainly has a decent chance of taking the cup home. This is due to the rather strange nature of the tournament where any top team would have to play incredibly poorly to not qualify for the knockout stage.

From each pool of seven teams, four will qualify for the quarterfinals. Here, Pakistan only has to play better than the UAE, Zimbabwe, and our most frightening foe, Ireland. Even if we fail against one of the weaker teams, we are likely to overcome West Indies, India, or South Africa in one of these three games.

From here, it is simply a matter of three knockout games where, if Pakistan carries the momentum, they can certainly challenge anyone.

For that to happen, Pakistan will need luck, the right team composition, and a change in mentality from skipper Misbah-ul-Haq.

Although the respectable Pakistani captain’s careful leadership has resulted in some unexpectedly good results in Test cricket, our ODI record has been abysmal for some time. Of course, the team should take the lion’s share of the blame, considering that even Shahid Afridi’s more aggressive captaincy has done little to yield better results.

But Misbah-ul-Haq needs to realise that his approach needs some mending.

The general feeling is that the skipper will continue with the tried-and-failed experienced players until the changes are forced upon him by a string of losses.
By that time, the backup players would have had little practice and would be too undercooked to have a real chance when staring down the barrel.

Some potential match-winners:
For Pakistan to win, Misbah-ul-Haq needs to stay ahead of the curve, and plan for the quarterfinals match right now with the safe assumption that his team will qualify. This is why it is crucial that by the time Pakistan hit the knockout stage, the right match-winners are in form. These players should be identified and given match practice instead of warming the benches.

Yasir Shah: Traditionally, leg spinners enjoy the extra bounce in Australia, and Yasir Shah shouldn’t be left out of the playing XI. He bowled some beautiful Test match spells against Australia, and could be our Mushtaq Ahmed this time around. In his first practice game against Bangladesh, he grabbed two wickets in an economical spell.

Sohaib Maqsood: He is a fine aggressive batsman who has played well against fast bowlers such as Dale Steyn. Maqsood has the ability to win his team matches single-handedly, and can emulate Inzamam-ul-Haq.

Maqsood, like Fawad Alam, has long been neglected and his fans have been calling for his inclusion. His match winning performance of 91* saved us an embarrassing loss against Bangladesh after finally earning a chance. One can only imagine how strong our middle order would have been with both Fawad and Maqsood side by side.

Wahab Riaz: A player who has infuriated fans with inconsistent performances is Wahab Riaz, but he could be our x-factor. Riaz can bowl extremely fast, is a useful bat, and was deadly against India in the World Cup semifinal four years ago.

For consistent success, Pakistan requires five solid bowling options, which means that Wahab Riaz, with his eight first-class 50s, needs to step up as a batsman, and Haris Sohail needs to step up as a bowler.


Source: The fault(s) in our 11 - Blogs - DAWN.COM
 

faheemaltaf

Cricket Spectator
ICC World Cup Warm-up Matches, England v Pakistan at Sydney

England set the target of 250 with the lose of 8 wickets and Pakistan is on his way to the victory.

Pakistan require another 110 runs with 6 wickets and 17.1 overs remaining

Current partnership 63 runs, 10.5 overs, RR: 5.81

Misbah-ul-Haq on 55 runs
Umar Akmal on 25 runs
 

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