In search of: The next saeed anwar

[Antumul_alona]

Re: In search of: The next saeed anwar

I suggest woolmer and Mushtaq as new openers... :D

[umer.ashraf]

Re: In search of: The next saeed anwar

^^ I m not insisting on Razzaq and Afridi. That is a combination we have not tested yet.

It can be Afridi + Akmal, Afridi +Malik, Akmal + Malik,..Younis + Yousuf, .........
It can be a new combination.
But y give yet another go to players who have failed and dropped whenever they were called..

[Antumul_alona]

Re: In search of: The next saeed anwar

ho ho ...kisee kee moonch main tinka...

[Raindance]

Re: In search of: The next saeed anwar

@Sir Dig A Lot

I don’t think people on this board will like me for saying this, but here it goes anyway. I don’t think we should be looking for a Saeed Anwer. He was a flashy opener who could thrive in the presence of another settled opening partner, but wasn’t a consolidator himself. Such players are of great value when you have at least ONE established opener, something we haven’t enjoyed in ages.

All the people you have listed above, were picked becuase of their ‘aggressive’ batting style, and I still believe that each one of them could have succeeded had we had AT LEAST one solid batsman at the other end.

Before we can find another Saeed Anwar, we need to find another Shoaib Mohammed, Mudassar Nazr, or even better a Rahul Dravid. People who don’t give their wickets away easily. Once we have that opener, we can afford to have a flashy, aggressive opener at the other end, and THEN it could even be Afridi.

This is where Woolmer and Inzi have made one mistake. You need to combine young players with experienced ones at the other end. We have been trying inexperienced flashy players at positions 1-3 which has resulted in frequent collapses. I think the decision to have Yousuf-Inzi-Younis come at 4,5,6 respectively, was purposely designed to lift the team in the event that it suffered a collapse. This approach worked for about a year. However, a better way would have been to pair young players with experienced ones UP THE ORDER, and reduce the possibility of having a collapse to begin with.

-------------cvabn----------------
I utterly thought you as an idiot and peabrain who digs a lot for his hidden nuts!
I take all that back with an appu’loo G ,
^ I not only agree with you but further would add that, Pakistan’s coach should stop scouting for more opener potential or bowlers at this point. They need to concentrate on teams physical fittness and fielding. The rest can all work out well with present ‘boyz’

[Robert]

Re: In search of: The next saeed anwar

Change of mind & change of team

Malik
Afridi
Younis
Yousuf
Inzi
Kamal
Razzaq
Akmal
Rana
Akhter
Asif
Kaneria (#12)

See a very strong batting line up, with so many bowling options

[Antumul_alona]

Re: In search of: The next saeed anwar

^^ not criticizing but pointing out to you rather, as you had earlier said "you want a safer bat on one end...." so you are now implying that Malik is the "SAFER" bat compared to Afridi ?
can you refer to atleast one innings where Malik showed he can carry the bat longer not necessarily throughout the innings (and please don't quote an innings against BD)..
??

[Antumul_alona]

Re: In search of: The next saeed anwar

@Raindance

-------------cvabn----------------
I utterly thought you as an idiot and peabrain who digs a lot for his hidden nuts!
I take all that back with an appu’loo G ,
^ I not only agree with you but further would add that, Pakistan’s coach should stop scouting for more opener potential or bowlers at this point. They need to concentrate on teams physical fittness and fielding. The rest can all work out well with present ‘boyz’

bhai barish ka nach… then who do you think should open the innings for pakistan if you feel there is no point searching for new blood, and please don’t say open with Razzaq or Rana or someone like that…

[Robert]

Re: In search of: The next saeed anwar

@Antumul alona

^^ not criticizing but pointing out to you rather, as you had earlier said “you want a safer bat on one end…” so you are now implying that Malik is the “SAFER” bat compared to Afridi ?
can you refer to atleast one innings where Malik showed he can carry the bat longer not necessarily throughout the innings (and please don’t quote an innings against BD)..
??

That is the point. We do not have a safe bat, what can u do. lets go with malik and afridi then.

[Sir_Dig_A_Lot]

Re: In search of: The next saeed anwar

^^ We wasted Younis Khan at #6, and now you have Asim Kamal at #6. At #6 you face these situations:

1) Your team has done well, you are coming in to bat in the late 40ish overs, and some hitting is required. Kamran Akmal and Razzaq are well suited to come in here than Asim Kamal. Asim Kamal is a misfit here.

2) Your team has suffered a collapse, and you are supposed to consolidate with the tail. So this means you are still allowing for a collapse by sending lesser batsmen up the order and saving Kamal for number 6. NOT GOOD. You are better off doing this consolidation EARLIER than LATER in the innings! Asim Kamal is a misfit here too.

In the ODI team, Asim Kamal is either in the top 4 or he's not in the team.

Oh and by the way, Asim Kamal is out of form these days, and you can only bring in and accomodate an out of form player in your team when you are high on confidence, not demoralized and panic stricken like we are these days.

[Cricketfan]

Re: In search of: The next saeed anwar

@Sir Dig A Lot

And for God's sake, don't pair up two left handers ever again. It worked for a brief period when Anwar and Sohail were both at their peaks, but after them, I am growing tired of our left handers giving slip-catch practice. Ideally, we want a left+right hand combination, but if not possible, the second best option would be two right handers, and only then two left handers as the last option!

I agree with you on the point of right and left combination, but I totally disagree with the reasoning that Pakistan opening problem was compounded by lack of right and left combination.

Right and left combination work great at any number or level, but it is only successful if players have good understanding (like Younas and Yousaf to some extent) and have the will for sharp singles, mean to rotate the strike. If they could rotate the strike by sharp singles, even both right or both left hand batsmen could unsettle bowlers.

I think PAK horrible running between the wickets help the opposition bowlers to get on Pakistani batsmen nerves. I beleive most of the successful players and pairs of batsmen get on top of the bowlers through their good running between the wickets. Look at the careers of Dean Jones, Asif Iqbal, Javed Miandad, Basit Ali, Ricky Ponting, Justin Langer, Haynes and Golden G., Dravid, Tendulkar, Kaif, Younas, Shoaib Malik, Azhar Mehmood, Moeen, Rashid. On other hand look at the players who despite their excellent skills and talent couldn't excel to their potential, e.g. Afridi, Inzi, Ganguly, Salman Butt, I. Farhat, M. Yousaf (good runner but ill judgement of the singles), Wasim Akram, Ijaz Ahmad etc.

Bottom line is, a team can benefits from right and left combination to a great extent, and it is always nice to have lefty in the middle order too, but it is most important to have players who could judge sharp singles and can run those and thus could rotate the strike.

[the_game]

Re: In search of: The next saeed anwar

@Sir Dig A Lot

I don’t think people on this board will like me for saying this, but here it goes anyway. I don’t think we should be looking for a Saeed Anwer. He was a flashy opener who could thrive in the presence of another settled opening partner, but wasn’t a consolidator himself. Such players are of great value when you have at least ONE established opener, something we haven’t enjoyed in ages.

Nonsense. Saeed was extremely gifted; even with flashy strokeplay, I would have picked him to survive at the crease longer than any other Pakistani batsman in his era. In fact, he carried the ordinary Aamir Sohail as an opener when the two were paired up for opening (even though Aamir had been set as an opener for much longer than Saeed, which just shows how good Saeed was).

[Sir_Dig_A_Lot]

Re: In search of: The next saeed anwar

@the game

Nonsense. Saeed was extremely gifted; even with flashy strokeplay, I would have picked him to survive at the crease longer than any other Pakistani batsman in his era. In fact, he carried the ordinary Aamir Sohail as an opener when the two were paired up for opening (even though Aamir had been set as an opener for much longer than Saeed, which just shows how good Saeed was).

Well you too have misunderstood the point I was making about Saeed. My comment was not a dig at Saeed (no pun intended), he was indeed a gifted player who could play long innings despite his aggressive style. However, when we "look for Saeed Anwar," we end up picking Salman Butt, Imran Farhat and Imran Nazir for their "aggressiveness" but completely forget the "long innings" part. Anwar is one of my most favorite Pakistani players, but every player is unique, and we need to find what our team needs right now (an assured opener) instead of engaging in nostalgic romanticism.

[All_Rounder]

Re: In search of: The next saeed anwar

Saeed Anwar scored 50+ runs in 36 of his 91 test inings(39.56%). This percentage is better than any other batsman in test cricket in last 30-odd years.THIS IS CONSISTANCY FOR YOU.

[umer.ashraf]

Re: In search of: The next saeed anwar

@All Rounder

Saeed Anwar scored 50+ runs in 36 of his 91 test inings(39.56%). This percentage is better than any other batsman in test cricket in last 30-odd years.THIS IS CONSISTANCY FOR YOU.

:(
Asim Kamal scored 50+ runs in 8 of his 20 test inings(40%).

[the_game]

Re: In search of: The next saeed anwar

@Sir Dig A Lot

Well you too have misunderstood the point I was making about Saeed. My comment was not a dig at Saeed (no pun intended), he was indeed a gifted player who could play long innings despite his aggressive style. However, when we “look for Saeed Anwar,” we end up picking Salman Butt, Imran Farhat and Imran Nazir for their “aggressiveness” but completely forget the “long innings” part. Anwar is one of my most favorite Pakistani players, but every player is unique, and we need to find what our team needs right now (an assured opener) instead of engaging in nostalgic romanticism.

I concur with that post. Well said.

[Robert]

Re: In search of: The next saeed anwar

Saeed was more gifted than his records show. He could have gone neck to neck with other greats ... but he did not.
I have not seen a better timer of the ball.

[All_Rounder]

Re: In search of: The next saeed anwar

@umer.ashraf

Asim Kamal scored 50+ runs in 8 of his 20 test inings(40%).

I was talking about Players with atleast (50) Test Innings.

[Antumul_alona]

Re: In search of: The next saeed anwar

Any news on who is going to open in CT for Pakistan..?

[gravity_killz]

Re: In search of: The next saeed anwar

I can bet its Hafeez and Farhat!

[GoldenAsif]

Re: In search of: The next saeed anwar

@gravity_killz

I can bet its Hafeez and Farhat!

or Hafeez and Afridi with Malik at one-down. Afridi's greatest success in the odis in 2004 in India came as an opener. so we should bear that in mind. Pitches in India are neither pacy nor seaming so it's worth sending him up the order rather than wasting him at 5-down esp. as I mentioned before if he has to come in following a top- and middle-order collapse (say 80-5)