I think it will be good, because we wont repeat our mistakes again. If we bat well which we can, and we field good which we can, and if we make our running between wickets better, then obviously we are on the stronger side. I am not so much impressed by the Indian team today, RR was below 5 i think so they took it nice and easy, didnt send their hitters out, and played nicely and smoothly to chase the target. They didnt do anything special.
The bodylanguage wasnt that gr8 today of Pak Players, so i believe all the elements that were lacking today will be covered in the next game, and i believe we will win then , Inshallah.
Afridi is goot to push the run rate up, openers need to be specalists. You have to survive the first 10 overs in one days, afridi isnt the best choice, so his position in the mid order is very well, he comes and makes some proper hitting and pushes the RR up.
Bob Woolmer's interview just came on TV, he said they still not sure about Shoiab Yet.
Pakistan are in a selection dilemma. Gul and Rana haven't learned from their mistakes and really ought to be dropped. But since Shoaib is unfit and Sami isn't in the squad, they can't do much. I think Arafat should be given a chance. Even Kaneria could have been handy, can't do much worse than our pacers! I have a feeling Shoaib's injury is a bit more serious than Pakistan is letting on, I doubt we will see him this series. It's important for him to recover for England.
I say Afridi for opener. Akmal is being wasted and we are not making use of the power plays. Also Afridi isn't exactly being successful down the order. (Just for this series.)
For supersub, I say go for an extra batsman. Seven bowlers is overkill and instead we should have an extra batsman (Farhat/Iqbal) to insure against a collapse (like today) or as cushion for chasing.
Inzi if he isn't fit should be dropped. No point in playing if you're hobbling around. Pressure is on Pakistan for sure.
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LAHORE, Feb 10: **Thousands of cricket fans returned disappointed after failing to get tickets for the third One-day between Pakistan and India to be played at Qadhafi Stadium on Monday.
The sale of tickets started on Friday at all four branches of the designated bank but it lasted only four hours, before the buyers were told all available stock had been finished.
Eight thousands tickets of main enclosures — Fazal Mahmood and Imran Khan — were sold out through inter-net.
The remaining stock was to be sold out through bank till the day of the match.
In fact, the number of tickets are far less to the demand of the city which has a population of 6.5million.
Some spectators also reached at the Qadhafi Stadium with a hope to get the tickets but they were again disappointed as the PCB had not set up any booth.
The ticket seekers were of the view that a booth should also be set up at the stadium instead of only at the bank. They expressed the apprehension that the bank sold out fewer tickets.
A good number of policemen were deployed to control any untoward incident during the sale of tickets.
Get rid of Malik, Younis, Yousaf, Arshad, maybe Razzaq and Butt also. Get decent replacements for these guys, and let Afridi open the innings. That's all.
The key here is the loss of early wkts for few runs. We need to make hay in the first 15-20 overs, that means let Afridi chance his arm. Inzi needs to bat up the order.
The main worry is bowling. For years 265 was highly defendable by Pakistan, but with Akhtar's absence and Rana's poor run, we are really struggling. Asif was decent again today, this will be a great learning curve for him.
Maybe draft Sami in, if only for his undeniable speed of the wkt-which in these conditions would be a welcome change from the mundane 80-83 mph stuff.
I would consider them to be three of the best fielders in our current given side. When these guys have a field day, combined they usually restrict the opposition to roughly 20-30 runs in a given match. Granted, at times there shot selection and running between the wickets (Yousuf is horrible, to say the least) call for their replacements, as of right now, I would look at our fielding strength, and try to improve it in any way I could (by retaining the above mentioned).
Malik and Afridi are good fielders, Yousaf is not. Beside's I didn't call for Afridi's exclusion, only Malik and Yousaf's. Yousaf because of his horrible running, Malik because of lack of fluency in his batting... and the fact that he hardly bowls. Razzaq has been neither here nor there in both batting and bowling, but has the capacity to be explosive in batting.
Pakistan has been playing with 7 bowlers (three pure bowlers: Asif, Gul, and Arshad, three allrounders: Afridi, Malik, Razzaq, and one sorta allrounder: Rana).. We probably don't need that many parttimers: but only 5 good bowlers who can all bowl their quota of 10 overs. We do need more batsmen who can keep the scoreboard ticking. Butt, Malik, and Younis have the capacity to make runs, but get bogged down and do not know the art of stealing the singles to keep the opposition under pressure. Only Yousaf, Inzimam, and perhaps Akmal are good in that respect.
