Re: "I consider Pakistan serious contenders for next year’s World Cup" - Rameez Raja
The Best team always wins a cricket match. The best team in the world is still Australia. Yes they lost to Bangladesh but then look at the next game Bangladesh had England on the ropes as Ashraful had them 200-2 after 29 overs. Bangladesh aren't minnows anymore they are starting to hold their own. You guys are so bias. Pakistan is not gonna do any damage in the world cup. They had a better team last time and they bummed out.
I can't see a team with Ponting in it getting beaten now or anytime soon with the form he is in. Plus then u got gilly. hussey,martyn symonds, the list never ends. and to say the least warne will play as he is planning to come out of retirement for the odi's for the world cup.
Aussies are huge favourites.
2 India (Sachin is the key but a good strength lineup, watch out for mh s dhoni)
3 England (Flintoff and Pieterson remain the key)
4 South Africa (Key lies in Kallis but good depth and several strong hitters)
5 New Zealand (several big hitters and capable of chasing down a big score as seen in the recent series against aussis)
6 Pakistan (need akhtar bowling well and afridi batting higher, then they are a real chance. but for now they aren't)
7 West Indies (revolves around Lara, and bravo, have massive ability)
8 Bangladesh (will do some damage and shock some teams)
Re: "I consider Pakistan serious contenders for next year’s World Cup" - Rameez Raja
I can't see a team with Ponting in it getting beaten now or anytime soon with the form he is in. Plus then u got gilly. hussey,martyn symonds, the list never ends. and to say the least warne will play as he is planning to come out of retirement for the odi's for the world cup.
What was that, refresh my memory, 436 and still lost. Only a really really great team can achieve that. Tsk, Tsk,
Also what was that England was going to thrash Pakistan 3/0.
Re: "I consider Pakistan serious contenders for next year’s World Cup" - Rameez Raja
I can't see a team with Ponting in it getting beaten now or anytime soon with the form he is in. Plus then u got gilly. hussey,martyn symonds, the list never ends. and to say the least warne will play as he is planning to come out of retirement for the odi's for the world cup.
Aussies are huge favourites.
2 India (Sachin is the key but a good strength lineup, watch out for mh s dhoni)
3 England (Flintoff and Pieterson remain the key)
4 South Africa (Key lies in Kallis but good depth and several strong hitters)
5 New Zealand (several big hitters and capable of chasing down a big score as seen in the recent series against aussis)
6 Pakistan (need akhtar bowling well and afridi batting higher, then they are a real chance. but for now they aren't)
7 West Indies (revolves around Lara, and bravo, have massive ability)
8 Bangladesh (will do some damage and shock some teams)
I have said earlier as well that you should have posted all this 2 years ago. Australia is not the same side anymore.
They have lost 7 ODI's from their last 20, in comparison to Pakistan who have lost 6 from their last 20.
They were almost beaten by NZ in the 3 match ODI series where they could manage to win a match merely by 2 runs after scoring 322 and than they lost the next match to NZ after scoring 331.
In the VB series in their own backyard, they were threatened by a team which has failed to qualify for ICC champions trophy. After 8 years of undefeated record in VB series/World series best of 3 finals, Srilanka beat them in one of the finals and took the competition to the 3rd final, for the first time in 8 years.
They managed to lose the ODI series against Saffies in grand style. After breaking the 10 year old record of highest socre in an ODI innings, they couldn't hold it for 5 hours.
Obviously that doesn't mean that they are not the best team. Its just that they are not the invincibles anymore and can be beaten by Bangladesh, can by bullied by Srilanka, NZ, South Africa and most importantly they can lose the Ashes.
By the way did they manage to win the second biggest tournament after World Cup i.e. ICC , last time?
So don't get dishearten if you dont see Ponting holdng the WC 07 trophy next year.
P.S. what happened to your prediction of England beating Pakistan 3-0. Was it painful to see them losing to Pakistan after they beat the crap out of Australia in Ashes.
Re: "I consider Pakistan serious contenders for next year’s World Cup" - Rameez Raja
I never said that. England vs Pakistan?? where did u get that from.
Last Vb series im quite sure we whitewashed Pakistan in the finals 2-0. Also last time we toured im quite sure that was another whitewash. We lost the ashes because we didn't have Glenn Mcgrath and Brett Lee bowled poorly although England did play out of their skin. Adleast Australia is able to post such a high score. Even if they got ran down. We are still able to post a huge score unlike your boring Pakistan who struggle with too many boring batsmen.
Australia is the same side as they were 2 years ago. In fact in their last tour to South Africa they lost a few odi's thanks to Klusener. But won the test series like they will do this series. Except they are doing it more easily this series.
You guys can say anything you want. But i know when Mcgrath Warne and Lee are bowling u guys out cheaply. And then Ponting will clean you guys up alone. Even without needing gilly symonds hussey or martyn.
Face it. Stop putting unrealistic expectations on this Pakistani team for next years world cup. Odds on they will fail like last time. Reasons:stupid boring batting lineup and **** captain who is to defensive and poor fielding. You guys can't mix it with the worlds best. Australia are the same team they were 2 years ago its just that England are catching up. But wait until you guys play in England i guarantee it will be another whitewash. Because Pakistan are terrible. God that test series last year against Australia was bad to watch we were embarassed that they had actually come over here they were so bad.
Re: "I consider Pakistan serious contenders for next year’s World Cup" - Rameez Raja
oright oright lol.... I was wrong with that. Does anyone agree with this line up i have suggested?
Malik
Butt
Y Khan
S Afridi
Inzamam
Razzaq
M Yousuf
Akmal
i have only listed the specialist batsmen and all rounders. But to be honest, if Pakistan use this lineup i think they are a good chance to win the world cup...
But if they don't i dont think they will
anyone agree?
Re: "I consider Pakistan serious contenders for next year’s World Cup" - Rameez Raja
I think now you should know that your posts have no credibility and they are not serviing any purpose except for wasting your time. So next time kindly come up with some thing which you can justify and which makes some sense.
Re: "I consider Pakistan serious contenders for next year’s World Cup" - Rameez Raja
Wow Aussie Cricketer,
You bash Pakistan and it's batting line up like Gibbs bashing McLewis.
An excellent article by Waheed Khan presented by Dhobi_bhai. Thanks for it Dhobi jee...
I'm quoting Pakap here(if you don't mind): I think Pakistani cricket has come a long way from its slums of late 90s period but it still isnt enough to grab the world title. Thats becuase of the inconsistency of their performance and due to a diminshing fighting spirit as they approach their goal.
Pakap; I agree with you that Pak has definitely come out of shambles of the late 90s and still remain below par concerning "consistency." However, I disagree with your thought that Pak's fighting spirit is dwindling. You mentioned recent Pak-SL game and I thought the only thing that took Pak to victory was the fighting spirit of Abdur Razzaq and Akmal. Had they been nuts, we would have had a different result. To say the least, I think Pak's fighting spirit is ascending day by day as we have seen so far in the tenure of Mr. Woolmer and Inzi.
Fkhan; going to quote you: They have lost 7 ODI's from their last 20, in comparison to Pakistan who have lost 6 from their last 20.
Great stat. As said by fellow Guppies, Aus is not the invincible side they used to be. Let's say 2 years ago. Aus has lost the service of McGrath and Warne in the ODIs atleast for now. No doubt, their batting line up is as strong as it can get, but for a team, you need all 11 players playing their part. If you think Aus is still the gem of the time, just go back to March 5th @ Johannesburg and stats would show the rest.
As some1 mentioned, tukkeybazzy is as important in one day game so you never know what can happen on a given day. But to say the least, Pak got a very formidable side with dismal fielding. They have a very good chance along with Aus, SA and India. If Pak can sort out the fielding "mishaps" and Salman Butt's "batting ifs and buts", boy we got a good chance. Hopefully, Shoaib Akhtar would be in full fledge along with Asif and Rana and the stage would be set in Caribbean for the green flags. Nevertheless, it's a world cup and going to be a fist fight for every game....
Guys, on a side note, I read in Jang newspaper that Rana Naved's wife had a miscarriage and Rana flew to Pak from SL in the midst of happenings. May Allah make it easy going for his family. Ameen..
Umer
Re: "I consider Pakistan serious contenders for next year’s World Cup" - Rameez Raja
Aussies are huge favourites.
2 India (Sachin is the key but a good strength lineup, watch out for mh s dhoni)
3 England (Flintoff and Pieterson remain the key)
4 South Africa (Key lies in Kallis but good depth and several strong hitters)
5 New Zealand (several big hitters and capable of chasing down a big score as seen in the recent series against aussis)
6 Pakistan (need akhtar bowling well and afridi batting higher, then they are a real chance. but for now they aren't)
7 West Indies (revolves around Lara, and bravo, have massive ability)
8 Bangladesh (will do some damage and shock some teams)
are you suggesting that newzealand and england have a better chance of winning the world cup than Pakistan?.Newzealand sucks their batting is poor...just look at their batting avgs in one day cricket..they have won a tournament involving 3 sides only once.As for England again I think that their top order needs improvement..even in the ashes their top order was collapsing , and flintoff and pieterson were saving their butt.And we all know what happened to England against Pakistan..they were thrashed.So to suggest that England and Newzealand are better than Pakistan in one day cricket is ridiclous
Re: "I consider Pakistan serious contenders for next year’s World Cup" - Rameez Raja
here how the bookies would look at I think:
1. Australia (favorite)
2.India
3. South Africa
4.Pakistan
5. England
6.West Indies(home advantage)
7.Srilanka
8.Newzealand
9.Zimbabwe
10.Bengladesh
