Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan

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Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells PakistanAGENCIES — UPDATED 5 minutes ago

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“If there was one venue where Pakistan can beat Australia, it is Adelaide,” says Imran Khan. — Online/File

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former legendary all-rounder Imran Khan said “nobody can stop Pakistan from winning the World Cup” if they manage to qualify and beat Australia in the quarter-finals.
Imran said if there was one venue where the Greenshirts could beat Australia, it was Adelaide. “Adelaide is a slow pitch and Pakistan’s best chance of beating Australia is in Adelaide,” he said, while talking to a private news channel.
Advising Misbah-ul-Haq to drop a fast bowler and give a chance to Yasir Shah, Imran said: “Previously Yasir was playing against India who are excellent spin players…Yasir should be playing against Ireland.”
“If there is a wicket in Australia that helps spinners, it is Adelaide,” he added.
Pakistan will play against Ireland in their last group match on March 15 (Sunday) at the Adelaide Oval.
The former World Cup winning captain said he was aware that Australians are experts at playing pace bowlers, adding that had he been in Misbah’s place, he would have played a spinner.
“I was the first one to play a leg-spinner — Abdul Qadir — in World Cup,” he said.
Imran rated seven-footer Mohammad Irfan as the “most dangerous” bowler of the tournament. “Play Irfan to take wickets and not to save runs,” he said, recalling that Wasim Akram used to give extra runs by bowling no-balls and wides but regularly provided breakthroughs.
He did not hesitate to appreciate the brave batting-style of wicketkeeper batsman Sarfraz Ahmed. “Sarfraz should have played in earlier matches as well … He is a specialist wicketkeeper and a brave batsman too,” he said.
Analysing Pakistan’s earlier defeats in the tournament, Imran said Misbah’s team put up a weak performance against the West Indies, adding that it was a defensive team selection.
“A defensive mindset looks to win games by saving runs, while an attacking mindset looks to win games by taking wickets,” he said. “Misbah now understands what he needs to do — which is to have his best four batsmen upfront.”

Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan - Sport - DAWN.COM

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Re: Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan

Easier said than done!

Batsmen need to step up

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Re: Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan

No offense but Imran is still living in 1992. Ireland were struggling against India's off spinners's not leg spinners. Infact Imran Tahir went wicketless against them in the earlier group match.

Imran doesn't realize in 1992 you could ball a no ball and all you had to do was bowl another delivery in the over. Now the batsmen get a free hit on the next ball. So two extremely different scenarios. There is absolutely zero room to be bowling no balls in cricket these days.

I would only make one change for the upcoming game, get Haris Sohail back in the playing eleven instead of Younus Khan. I think Pakistan's best chance to win is by sticking with this pace attack. Plus they had a week's break between games, should have been enough time to recover from any minor muscle strains Irfan/Sohail were suffering with.

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Re: Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan

Khan sahib used to think the same about his dharna.........................................

anyway, Allah unn kee zaban mubarak karay but batting needs to step up big time...every team including bangladesh, ireland and zim is scoring 290+........

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Re: Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan

you have a valid point....good argument

i was also thinking that yasir shah shd play against south africa and zimb but in retrospect waqar and misbah were spot on. Both South africa and Zimn had no problem playing afridi at all but they struggled against our 4 pacers.

but to imran khan is right that Adelaide is a spin wicket .... and aussies are not good against spin

tough choice!

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Re: Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan

No I actually agree with Imran. If Pakistan somehow manage to beat Australia, then they WILL be one of the favourites but the problem is billi ki gardan mein ghanti koun bandhey ga

Although the no ball rule has changed since 1992, 4 or 5 no-balls in the whole game won't hurt you much as long as you then compensate for it by taking wickets at regular intervals. wickets is what will bring the RR down eventually.

Let's not compare Australia (far more professional side) to South Africa or NZ

Re. Yasir Shah, it would add variety to our attack which has a sameness about it (3 left arm seamers). Commonsense says do not tinker with a (seemingly) settled pace attack but leg spin would provide an attacking option on the Adelaide wicket. Aussies are better players of pace than spin. Just because Imran Tahir failed against Ireland, doesn't mean all of a sudden they have become good players of leg spin. Playing Shah against Ireland might not be such a bad idea but then who should be dropped to accommodate him in the XI. However it could also backfire as Yasir Shah is not match fit. Bottomline is Afridi needs to come good with the ball. He has been disappointing with both bat and ball. His irresponsible, mindless slogging (esp. knowing that last three cannot bat) cost us a good 30 runs against SA in the last game.

But as always Pakistan's biggest concern is their inconsistent and erratic batting. Pathetic 230+/- totals cannot be defended (no matter how good the pace attack) against a team like Australia in a KO game

Above discussion about bowling carries no meaning unless we put some runs on the board

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Re: Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan

Said right at start of tournament this is anyone's tournament. The form on any day will dictate the winner. Some teams may have peaked early. Aussies and NZ have Steve Davis and Gould. Tough to overcome that. And the more significant the game, these gentlemen risen to the occasion with greater skill and intent.

Any conditions on where the Sun will rise?

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Re: Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan

I don't agree with Imran Khan at all. These days cricket is played with utmost discipline. Look at all the successful teams around you and see how many wides or no balls they bowl and you will get your answer. Khan saab always seems to think he is right. His approach was OK in 1992 but it's definitely not going to work in 2015.

Also, this is a must win game for Pakistan. It does not make any sense to tinker with the winning combination at this time. Yasir Shah is a good spinner and I rate him highly, but he has only played one game at this WC so far and he was the most expensive bowler in that game. His confidence is already not going to be too high after that and now to include him in a must win game won't be the smartest thing to do. The only way I see Yasir Shah getting any game is if its a very dry pitch and it looks like it will offer a lot of turn to the spinners.

Aussies not being good players of spin is also not true in my opinion. Smith and Clarke are excellent players of spin, Watson also loves to take on the spinners and if Maxwell gets going he will prove to be destructive.

The only team so far that has bothered the Aussie batsmen was NZ, and that was with their potent pace attack.

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Re: Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan

Imran Khan may be a weak politician, but he is very strong cricketer. His analysis is making good sense. He is comparing this team with 1992 team. I think, Pakistan should not include Yasir Shah. We have Afridi. :hmmm:

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Re: Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan

Says it all. :hehe:

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Re: Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan

Its just like ammi used to say

  • bus metric ker loo phir tu studies aasan hee hain
  • phir, bus Inter ker loo...yee sub sai important saal hota hai
  • phir, bus Bachleors ki degree hi tu make or break degree hoti hai
  • phir, aray bachleors tu sub ker laitey hain, Masters actually makes your career

:(

try tu unhoon nai PHD ki taraf dhailkney ki bhi ki liken mujhey aaqal aa gaee. Pakistani team, Imran k bayan per bilkul dehan na dain :)

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Re: Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan

Aussies 'play pace better than spin' does not mean they do not play spin well. It is a relative thing

All this talk of who should play does not matter unless batsmen step up and take responsibility

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Re: Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan

Now that England is out, Gould nightmare is set to continue

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Re: Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan

What about the semis & finals ? Is Imran planning to come and play himself ?

Spoken like a true politician :k:

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Re: Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan

Samjha karein:

Pak beat Aus
NZ beats windies
BD beats India
SL beats SA

Semis

Pak beats SL

BD beats NZ

Final

Pak beats BD.

Simple. :smiley:

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Re: Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan

Ok got it. I better go buy my power ball tickets soon. Looks like its the season for miracles :D

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Re: Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan

Give the guy a break. This is just a morale-boosting statement.

If you put the same Q to IK in private, I am sure he would say something like, 'Nah, looking at the relative strengths (esp. Aussie superiority in batting) of the two teams, this Pak team doesn't stand a chance of beating them (the Aussies). A miracle is needed'

Would you guys be happy if IK had said that in public!

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Re: Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan

Lulz at Imran haters even in this thread

Imran has one of the greatest cricketing minds ever

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Re: Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan

That's not all. Even if Pak beats Aus, they still need to win two more matches to win the WC. The sheer audacity of the statement sounds stupid to me.

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Re: Beat Australia and World Cup is yours, Imran tells Pakistan

You are taking Imran's statement literally. I believe what he meant was that it will do WONDERS to Pakistsan's confidence if they are able to beat AUS, in AUS in QT and Pakistan is a team that thrives on confidence.

i am not joking but my 9yo will say exactly the same thing that I highlighted. She also take statements to its words values (jokingly though) :)