'Nuf bashing Inzi.
'Nuf gaali bakking to Butt.
'Nuf of slandering the long-bearded Yousaf.
'Nuf about nakaara bowling.
'Nuf about ghatia fielding.
Lets start with some emotional support for our team. I absolutely Love Team Pakistan. They are unquestionably my most favorite team in the world. I am absolutely sure they are capable of beating any team in the world, and lift the World Cup in '07. Inzi is a class-act. Butt is a wonderful find with spectecular shots and pulls. Yousaf is a torch-bearer for all muslims in his dedication, and what to say of his elegant stroke play. Asif and Rana make the most potent seam bowling attack in the world with Hawaldaar (Razzaq) in there to provide a consistent stump-to-stump line. And with Afridi, Malik and Younis in the field, we have one of the most agile fielding line-up in recent memory.
Alright, so now that we have lost two games in identical situation, should we hit the panic button?
Short answer is, no.
Inzi has always been useless as a captain, and still we managed to win so many ODI’s in the last year or so. We can do it again. That our batting line-up is in shambles, can be easily fixed by some common sense thinking. We can practice pithoo during the nets to practice our fielding, and Butt just needs some psychological coaching to stop being Pathan’s bunny.
My theory is that all our team needs is a win to get their confidence back. Let Inzi win the toss at Multan and set Pakistan for a chase. One win. Thats all it will take to revive this bunch of extremely talented team.
And oh, by the way, did I mention that I love Malik. Man, what a talented player he is. Superstars falling all around him, and the dude stood there and smacked the bowling. The guy is a sher ka bacha and an absolute delight for our team. (Psshhh.. pls don’t play soccer when you are playing cricket. :-D)
Insha Allah, Pakistan will win the next two games.
Pakistan will win the next two games when we stick with the formula that has served our team so well of late.
We dont have to experiment with the batting order anymore. The biggest decision would be whether to stick with Kamran as opener and bring Afridi down the order or give Afridi another go. (which In my opinion is useless considering he has served better down the order recently).
They will bounce back and make us proud in coming matches. Remember, this young team has been at its best recently when the backs are against the wall. Sp lets hope for a repeat.
^ He sure can but I am worried about his fitness. He was looking really out of place and bothered today with his injured rib (both batting and bowling)
We dont have to experiment with the batting order anymore. The biggest decision would be whether to stick with Kamran as opener and bring Afridi down the order or give Afridi another go. (which In my opinion is useless considering he has served better down the order recently).
They will bounce back and make us proud in coming matches. Remember, this young team has been at its best recently when the backs are against the wall. Sp lets hope for a repeat.
I totally agree. Pakistan will be back . With little luck on their side.They may win next 2 games.
Regarding Afridi, The way he got out twice in the series , suggested to me that old Afridi is back. Resembles how he was getting out when he was on stupid-pinch-hitter-Afridi before truning onto great-Afridi. I thinkiing he is going back to his normal self. For the sake of Indian team, I hope I am right.
By the way, I dont see funguy on KK these days.... I miss those sachin bashing thread.
My theory is that Pak should play Kaneria in the team (in place of a seamer) and have a fast stroke player tullay-baaz (Farhat, Imran Nazir, Yasir Hameed) or even Faisal Iqbal as a super-sub. Then chase. Man, it will be fun.
Two atrociuos shots doesnt justify this theory. He looked seriuosly bothered and troubled today with his rib. It took him almost two years to shake off that insensible and stupid wicket-thrower tag off him but knowing our impatient, it will take two innings to dub him that again.
Faisal– I dont think Kaneria is the answer in crunch matches. In my opinion we should stick with Yasir Arafat instead of him. I hope Afridi is fit enough to bowl because he and Malik can make for the lack of a quality spinner. I agree with Farhat bit though. If Inzimam is not 100 percent, we need to play Farhat or Faisal Iqbal.
PLaying four seamers and two all-rounder spinners is intuitively a bad idea. The four right-arm seamers don’t bring any variety. Pakistan will need to take Indian wickets to win. Kaneria can take wickets. Yeah, he will get slammed, but then who isn’t?
If Pakistan opts to play 1st, then Pakistan should stick with age-old basics, save your B/butt(s) till 30th over and keep scoreboard ticking with singles and an occasionaly boundary, for that Salman Butt and Shoaib Malik are good enough. Any loss of wicket and we have Younis Khan to stabilise a bit. After 30th over, start accelerating and after 40th over everyone goes berserk, Afridi, Razzaq and Yousuf should be utilised here.
If Pakistan bats second, we can stick with same game plan as above as Inzi wouldn't know whether we made a different plan if playing 2nd :D
that was cricket of 90s. Welcome to 2000. if you go by that strategy you wont make 300 in any match. You got to attack from word go. Just wait first 3-4 overs to judge the pitch then all out blast. If you wana cross 300 you better be 120 at then end of 20 overs.
Inzi might be an unnatural captain, but he is an inspirational leader. We have a short-lived memory and thus can justify to have the knack of very conveniently forgetting who was in our good books a day before. I am sure we will be screaming at the top of our voice even if this team lose one match after a hundred wins. Don’t forget how unforgiving we are. That’s sad!
Yeah just one win and you will see all these lotas around to swing on their heels. But I do not think that these guys will now leave it to anything, even on toss. Prepare yourself to see a counter-atack from a tiger under siege. That’s how we have started to play of late, push us to the wall and see how do we bounce back. I stand tall and firm with my captain and my team, win or lose, I am there for you.
we need something changed in our bowling. in the absence of shoaib, we need sami, for some variation in pace. umar gul yasir arafat and rana sahab form the right hand equivalent of the indian attack. the difference in both games has been our batting, which has crumbled. if that clicks i think we can see a repeat of the first ODI where our bowling will still get schlacked but so will theirs.
Watching in pain and agony as constant missed opportunities and ocassions sail by over our heads is a lively example which translates into the fact that he is, indeed an unnatural captain (while an excellent natural motivational inspiration for all cricketers, alike).
Pakistan upper order has failed twice and it is highly likely that it would click now along with Afridi. I remember Afridi not clicking during the last series as well until the 4th ODI. Even with the failure of the upper order we managed to score in 260's and 280's. This shows that scoring 325-350 runs is very much possible for Pakistan team if batting first.
Anything can happen from here onwards. Pakistan can even lose by 4-1. But winning from here by 3-2 with odds against us will be too sweet. Pakistan have always performed in these crunch situations against India.
For the do or die match at multan, Pakistan need to score nothing less than 330 if batting first. If chasing then need to ensure that India does not exceed the 300 mark.
C'mon boys, take the series to the decider at Karachi and than repeat the performance of the last test there, Inshallah.
