Re: Bravo Butt!
Have always maintained that he is the best opener we have in Pakistan right now; you can look up old threads to verify it. The question is, why the f** was Afridi promoted up the order? Based on a match 2 f'ing years ago? You are a genius, Malik. A real f'ing genius.*
I didn't follow the match but before going to bed I was sincerely hoping that Afridi would not be opening esp considering that he was "blaster" in a game on this pitch 2 years ago.
Re: Bravo Butt!
I do not think opening with Afridi was such a bad decision unless it was solely based on his performance here in 2005.
It was not as if Pak had a great alternative. Akmal's form with the bat has not been great. Pak had near 300 to chase on a dual-paced track. As an Indian, I was hoping Pak would not send in Afridi to open - because the guy just has to be at crease for 10 overs and damage would be done, humiliating the bowlers totally in the process.
I think the reason for Pak's defeat yesterday was again their batting in the middle overs. They had the same problem in Guwahati and Mohali.
At Mohali - hitting in the last 10 overs repaired the damage, but it was not the same here in Kanpur.
Re: Bravo Butt!
can anyone compare his performance against left armers vs right armers? my feeling is that the reason for his success against india specifically is that india have for the past few years had a predominantly left arm bowling attack.
Re: Bravo Butt!
^ All I can say is that Salman Butt is very strong through the point and covers (offside in general). Any ball with a slight width outside off, he will slash at it. No wonder then, that a major portion of his score is in boundaries.
As the commentators were saying, his slashing is almost always done with the same kind of force - so mixing up the deliveries (bowling slower ones for example) would be good idea. Indian bowlers did not seem to be doing that.
I think he remains a very good candidate for catch in slips on a livelier wicket. (In fact he had a few edges flying through the region even yesterday). Also, I was not tremendously impressed with his skills against the spinners.
Re: Bravo Butt!
He has his limitations and weaknesses. Yes, he has to be more consistent and bring a more productive approach against spinners to his game. But he is not a finished article and will learn if given a confident run in side. On livelier tracks, he is usually exposed but if you remember, he was struggling even on these flat tracks against South Africa. But in this series he looks full of confidence and form.
Frankly, despite his limitations, when was the last time one of our openers consistently reached over 30, even on these flat tracks.
Re: Bravo Butt!
^ Yes, on the confidence front....I will rate Butt 10/10.
Re: Bravo Butt!
Yeah, i wonder too. Though he did get a test century in australia once.
I agree. It was all point and cover and mostly offside. He just has that one slash and the occasional pull. And to be honest no his whole innings was not pure class. He started off being extremely lucky with quite a few edges and some beautiful gold medal performance fielding by indians. And did the runs dry up or what once the spinners came on.
He is far from being a complete batsman, though he has shown major improvement on this tourny. But then again, like Some1 said, indian (and pakistani) pitches are no place to guage a batsman’s worth.
Re: Bravo Butt!
This wasn't exactly a patta wicket though Cheegum. You had to grind for your runs here, and that's why Butt did extremely well (while our kaptaan was phuddu and got out to Yuvraj).
Re: Bravo Butt!
he played some amazing shots
i think he is by far the best person to open the account for pakistan, and i would like to see shoaib malik as his partner...afridi as second choice
Re: Bravo Butt!
its about time butt played sum proper cricket.