A poor all round show from Pakistan with the exception og Wasim Akram. Bowling was not upto the task. Waqar, Sami and Razzaq all pitched the ball too short. Batting was always going to be the weaker link and it certainly proved top be. The toss was won and Waqar very rightly so put South Africa to bat. A lot of people have crticized that decision, though I am not a big fan of Waqar, that was probably the only right thing he did in this match. Pakistan made a lot of bad choices as far as selection of the team was concerened. Faisal Iqbal should never have been left out after everyone saw how well he played in the tour match. Afridi should have made it into the side on the expense of Saleem Elahi. Though Saleem seemed to be in good touch against Zimbabwe we have to realise Afridi also gives more variation to our bowling department. He might have been useful when the seamers were going away for a lot of runs. The best part is he goes through his overs very quickly.
The big question??? WAQAR YOUNIS. Personally I think Waqar does not justify a regular his position in the side let alone be the skipper. He is very expensive, doesnt seem to be taking a lot of wickets, and a lot of decisions that he has made captain are very questionable. Rashid is back in the side but I would really like to see Kamran Akmal get one chance in the matches. That will test his skills against tough opposition. He justified his inclusion in the last tour but there were a lot of people who looked good against Zimbabawe. He sohuld be given a chance in one of the matches to see how he takes the pressure of playing against top sides like S.A. I hope Yohana and Inzi settle down in SA quickly as they have to play a very vital role in the series. The are the most experienced and players on thier calibre should not be effected with things like extra bounce and lively pace for the whole series. We have to learn a lot from this match and learn it very quickly as the second match approaches. Inshallah Pakistan will come back in the second match and prove it to the world it not just a team of class player who like to only show their calls against weaker teams.
It would be really nice if you press enter every other time.
BTW- There is a separate thread opened on discussion about the same match.
There is only 2 explanation.
1.Pakistani batting sucks.
2.Best bowling in the world gets whacked left right and center on a wicket which was supposed to favour their style of bowling.
Exactly what is there to analyze... much less open a thread for it...
Its like Bangladesh analyzing why it lost to Australia...
Well, that may be a bit over the top but the fact is Pakistan's batting line-up is currently extremely weak (much like India's bowling)... so Pakistan's best chances are when their bowling can restrict the opposition to less than around 225 .( When I say "opposition", I don't mean Zimbabwe/Bangladesh/Kenya etc ). Anything above this score exposes Pakistan's batting . This is exactly what happened in this match. Pakistan's bowling screwed it all up in the last ten overs. And I think the result was on the cards even before the Paki innings began.
In this respect Pakistan may be better off defending targets than chasing it considering their bowling strength(and also without the pressure of a "target", there will be greater chances of Paki batsmen performing better).
I agree with you to a certain extent, Pakistan's batting is still very weak regardless of big names like Youhana, Inzi, Younis.
But there will be times in very important matches where Pakistan will have to chase a target for example say in the World Cup final, so they really need to practice and play a couple of matches where the have to chase, just to see where they can find the weakness, and prepare a game plan before the WC.
PS- Some1, lets not go over the edge by comparing the Pakistani batting with the Indian bowling. pakistani batsman maybe weak but atleast they play well against minnows like Zimbabwe and Kenya, on the otherside Indian bowlers can't even compete against Zimbabwe and Kenya resulting in 2 unsuccessful tours of Zimbabwe and 2 humiliating losses against Kenya, so lets not get carried away! :)