Re: 2nd ODI: England v Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, Wed 15 Feb, 2012
That was a really bad performance. This match was there to be won and our batsmen could not finish it. Our team needs Razzaq in one dayers. He is an asset at number 7 or 8 because our tail is probably the worst in business. Rehman is NOT a number 8 batsman! Afridi messed it up with Misbah. but Rehman put more pressure on Misbah by scoring just one run off 12 balls to put asking rate beyond Misbah.
Umar Akmal is underused. He needs to play up there to learn to build an innings and yes he must NOT keep. Those misses would affect his performance with the bat.
Re: 2nd ODI: England v Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, Wed 15 Feb, 2012
Can someone tell me why we have AbdurRehman in the ODI team. With Afridi, Ajmal and Hafeez, I think our spin options are covered just fine. He should make way for another all-rounder or a batsman.
My ideal team composition would be something like:
Hafeez
Opener #2 (anyone but Farhat)
Younis
Umar Akmal
Misbah
Afridi
Azam (or another all-rounder)
Adnan Akmal (or another WK)
Umar Gul
Cheema (or another Pace bowler)
Saeed Ajmal
Re: 2nd ODI: England v Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, Wed 15 Feb, 2012
I think Pakistan's whole batting approach in the ODIs is ultra defensive and too stuck in the 80s and 90s. There are too many** test players (Asad, Azhar, Misbah and Younis) playing in our one-day team**, players who struggle to rotate the strike, who like to go at 3.5-4.0 RPO initially before accelerating in the latter stages of the innings. This go-slow approach keeping wickets in hand and then having a bash in the final overs worked well in the 80s and 90s and when we batted deep and had genuine all-rounders like Imran, Wasim and Razzaq but it does n't any more. Cricket has moved on a lot since then!
If you want to chase a good total especially when Pakistan are a shambles at chasing then you do not pack your side with test players. You need to attack and show intent from the word go.
4.5-5 RPO should be the approach from the start in ODIs. That's the way to go IMO
4 test players (we can probably afford to play 2 consolidators as you do need them in ODIs but certainly not 4 similar type players) + Farhat (as an opener, though he batted well today before throwing his wicket away) and it is not too difficult to see why we are struggling in the ODIs
The selectors need to pick the right players for the right format
Re: 2nd ODI: England v Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, Wed 15 Feb, 2012
Umar Akmal should NOT be batting at # 6! He is being turned into a slogger, which he is not. He has immense talent and his talent should be used at number 4 or 5. At that number he can play his natural game without added pressure.
And he should definitely not be asked to keep as well. Adnan should be keeping wickets in the one-dayers
I agree, though in this game i wont blame Misbah's strike rate, it was just fine.
Re: 2nd ODI: England v Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, Wed 15 Feb, 2012
I think Pakistan's whole batting approach in the ODIs is ultra defensive and too stuck in the 80s and 90s. There are too many** test players (Asad, Azhar, Misbah and Younis) playing in our one-day team**, players who struggle to rotate the strike, who like to go at 3.5-4.0 RPO initially before accelerating in the latter stages of the innings. This go-slow approach keeping wickets in hand and then having a bash in the final overs worked well in the 80s and 90s and when we batted deep and had genuine all-rounders like Imran, Wasim and Razzaq but it does n't any more. Cricket has moved on a lot since then!
If you want to chase a good total especially when Pakistan are a shambles at chasing then you do not pack your side with test players. You need to attack and show intent from the word go.
4.5-5 RPO should be the approach from the start in ODI. That's the way to go in ODIs IMO
4 test players (we can probably afford to play 2 consolidators but certainly not 4 of similar type players) + Farhat (as an opener, though he batted well today before throwing away his wicket) and it is not too difficult to see why we are struggling in the ODIs
We have to give credit to English seamers, they bowled very well and were way way better than ours. Finn, Broad, Anderson....there was hardly any easy scoring deleiveries available.
Re: 2nd ODI: England v Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, Wed 15 Feb, 2012
We have to give credit to English seamers, they bowled very well and were way way better than ours. Finn, Broad, Anderson....there was hardly any easy scoring deleiveries available.
Agreed. The English seamers have been excellent throughout ... bowled well in the test series as well.
I still don't think that we can afford to play 4 grafters (2 at most IMO) in the same team ... therein lies our problem. The lack of bench strength in batting does not help matters for sure
Re: 2nd ODI: England v Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, Wed 15 Feb, 2012
Rehman was the most economical bowler. There is a definite need for his bowling. You don’t need three off spinners in the team.
Wahab is definitely better than Cheema in both batting and bowling. He should have played.
I agree with Azhar in the team also as he is the inform batsman. Pak is not surviving 50 overs and you need someone who can hold one end. Strike rate wasn’t as much of a problem, it was the wickets which kept tumbling. Younas Khan has let the team down in both matches. Other than his one good innings in Tests, he wasn’t very impressive in that format either. If you are losing because of batting you look up to your most senior batsman to turn things around and Younus hasn’t done that.
Re: 2nd ODI: England v Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, Wed 15 Feb, 2012
Nasser Hussain is spot on. His following comment pretty much sums up our batting approach in ODIs and supports what I've said in post #204
**"Pakistan cannot expect the likes of Afridi & Umar Akmal to score 60+ runs every time in the last 10 overs. The top order has got to be more aggressive while middle order must learn to take singles & doubles."
**This is why we are ranked #6 in ODIs. Before it was Afridi & Razzaq, now it is Afridi & Umar Akmal. The top order & middle order have got to start scoring at a faster pace.
Re: 2nd ODI: England v Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, Wed 15 Feb, 2012
The strange thing is that we beat Sri Lanka - who are more used to UAE-type pitches plus are better players of spin - quite easily (4-1) in the one-dayers not so long ago despite the same go-slow batting approach. Against a better bowling attack (England), our tactics have been found wanting
England have totally outplayed us though they have n't been tested yet chasing a total. It might be a completely different ball game then. Even though they won quite comfortably in the end, I believe England should have got many more runs than 250 (probably 270-280). They were 200/3 after 42.1 overs which means they scored just 50 runs in their last 8 overs. With wickets in hand they should have scored 70-80 runs atleast. not that it mattered a great deal in the end
Guys like Ahmed Shehzad and Shahzaib Hasan should be in our one-day squad atleast
Re: 2nd ODI: England v Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, Wed 15 Feb, 2012
Nasser Hussain is spot on. His following comment pretty much sums up our batting approach in ODIs and supports what I've said in post #204
Pakistan cannot expect the likes of Afridi & Umar Akmal to score 60+ runs every time in the last 10 overs. The top order has got to be more aggressive while middle order must learn to take singles & doubles."
**This is why we are ranked #6 in ODIs. Before it was Afridi & Razzaq, now it is Afridi & Umar Akmal. The top order & middle order have got to start scoring at a faster pace.
Here is why top order and middle orders are not taking responsibility with following experiences behind them.
Farhat Debut: Jan 2001 International cricket experience about 11 years
Hafeez Debut: May 2003 International cricket experience about 9 years
YK Debut: Feb 2000 International cricket experience about 12 years
Misbah Debut: Feb 2001 International cricket experience about 11 years
Why are you so sure that a senior player is only option to stablize the inning?
Its because of this **fear cultures **that the seniors have developed over last few years, they have successfully made their fans believe that chances of losing is bigger when they are NOT around ...which is not 100% accurate.
But the result is that, that fear trickles down into the system so bad that we are not letting juniors (who play without any fear of defeat) get a chance to play in pressure cooker situations (on frequent basis) to get experience and improve as cricketers, because those seniors (mostly) fold under pressure situations and come out and say "See if we can fold under pressure with all or our experience in international cricket then how bad it would have been with juniors, so that why keep playing us and not them".
Above is not super complicated to understand and thats what Aussies/SA/Eng cricket teams/management and their fans have successfully understood and not Pakistani team/management and fans.
Re: 2nd ODI: England v Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, Wed 15 Feb, 2012
Asif, at the end of 40th over England were 192 for 2 and Pak were 180 for 5.
Not sure if anything needed to drastically change from runrate perspective. Chasing down 6 to 7 runs an over in the last 10 overs is expected provided you have wickets in hand. It is very rare that you bring the score down to 3 runs an over in the last 10.
Some soft dismissals at the top and a long tail didn't help. A better effort overall.
Re: 2nd ODI: England v Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, Wed 15 Feb, 2012
If your tail is comprised of bowlers with batting ability atleast of the likes of Qadir or Mohammad Aamer then 60-70 runs with 5 wickets in hand is gettable most of the time but when you have mugs like Abdur Rehman (who is not a genuine international no. 8), Ajmal (ok he can bat a bit) and Cheema making up the tail, then it sure is a big worry. Gul can slog successfully only once in a blue moon, hence cannot be relied upon with the bat
And as I mentioned above, England did not do that well in their last 10 overs either. 58 runs with 8 wickets in hand is below par by any standards. They got away with it today because Pakistan's batting is weak
Re: 2nd ODI: England v Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, Wed 15 Feb, 2012
not sure why are we so disappointed.....Pakistan batting is as pathetic as you can think of..and that is why I did not make too much noise when we beat england in the test series...it was shear brilliance of 2 bowlers that helped us win the series....but i knew that this team will lose every single test match in england, south africa and Australia...
our batting is pathetic..and no need of too much analyses because what we have on bench is simply as pathetic as what we have in the team......unfortunately malik is out of form big time...otherwise he would have been an asset in the middle order...bringing razzaq wont do any good either..he is probably already 40...freaking lying about his age forever...same problem with afiridi..he must be 36 now..he never had any technique but now his hand-eye coordination has severely hampered in last few years amid age...hence zero batting performance...so dont see much hope.....
all we have to do is to pray pak win toss every time and then score close to 240..and then pray our bowling does the trick....also i dont know how to say...but i really f...cking hate umar gul...after 10 years in the international cricket the guy is still unreliable..one good match and then 4 average games....really cant digest his ugly action as well...such a constipated action..idiot....compare him to mohammad amir and asif and you will realize where I am coming from..our fast bowling dept is really disappointing......
anyway, thinking of long term, YK shd consider retiring from ODIs....umar cannot be a keeper...promote him to no 4 with a clear message....prove or out...may be consider bringing psycho zulqurnain back....jesus...what a bunch of retards we have...we now need psychos in the team... also, if malik is gone for good, may be we have no choice but to bring razaq back for some time..he can bowl as well..
so I guess start with imran fahat... he is is not bad....stick with him and hafeez..then azhar...then umar to maintain some tempo....then misbah....then afridi...followed by razaq and zulqarnain...then gul, ajmal and may be wahab...if zulqi cannot play then we have no choice but to bring kamran akmal back...what did i just say?...cant believe i just said that!!
Re: 2nd ODI: England v Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, Wed 15 Feb, 2012
^ I am pro Razzaq but I believe we need to bring in new players so I'll prefer Hammad. I don't know what was in Misbah's mind when he 'requested' for Shoaib Malik but he is not needed, his bowling is nothing to write about, his batting skills are past usable date. I liked Zulqarnain but what he did in his last stint with the team was disgusting. If we are going to try Azhar in ODI then we don't need Younis Khan (who is not suitable for ODIs anyways) definitely.
I agree regarding fast bowling department, Gul is an occasional performer, sometimes he will shine with ball sometimes he will do good slogging. Unfortunately our "experienced" or "talented" bunch turned out to be charsi/mawali or juwwari as we didn't groom other bowlers.
Re: 2nd ODI: England v Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, Wed 15 Feb, 2012
Yah Sab Bhai Shoaib Malik Key Barkatain hain :cobra: and I"m sure Umar Akmal don’t wanna do keeping so you can’t force him.
Major Factors are
Fielding (I’m sure if other teams do fielding for Pakistan we can save 50 runs in every ODI)
Seamers - Paksitani don’t ve ability to pressurize other teams.
Batting - They should give chance to new players and this is not good to drop Asad Shafiq after one ODI, You must give him confidence. Give some batting tips to tail that they should know how to strike the ball.
BTW, Still the main difference was A.N. Cook batting. Pakistan performance against England was always pathetic so I was mentally ready for this result. let me check stats
that they should know how to strike the ball.