Re: Is Yousuf's batting appraoch good for Pakistan?
^Another analogy - Lets say Harbhajan Singh became a commentator and accuses Shoaib Akhtar of chucking....would you keep quiet or say "look who is talking".
Re: Is Yousuf's batting appraoch good for Pakistan?
^ I knew somebody will come back and give me that sermon...so I clarified my view in my above post...guess you did not read it.
look at the timings when you edited your post/ and submitted the next one and then look at the timings of mine. It will tell you why I couldn't read yours :)
Yar I am talking in general. People often tend to bash commentators and say look who is talking. I am sure sometimes I do it as well myself because exceptions will always be there like Srikanth and Harbhajan. Just kidding.
What I mean to say is that it is atleast unfair to bash well informed people who we know have a stable head on their shoulders. Ramiz, Sanjay, Shastri, Nasir etc all will criticize players from time to time. However being informed fans our job is to differentiate who is doing analytical criticism and who is accusing just for the sake of it.
Re: Is Yousuf's batting appraoch good for Pakistan?
Yousuf is fine. It's Younis who needs to stop throwing away starts and bat through the innings.
Re: Is Yousuf's batting appraoch good for Pakistan?
I can only smile at people who think i want Yousuf to bat like Afridi or something, maybe they just read the title instead of my post. I didn't say that he should start slogging from ball 1 , he just needs to take more calculated risks in last few overs and that doesn't mean SLOGGING only. We will see how he performs in upcoming matches.
Re: Is Yousuf's batting appraoch good for Pakistan?
Dont follow Ramiz, Leave poor Yousuf alone and just think for a moment that what could have happened had he tried to increase the rate and got out in early stages of inning, we would have set target of 150 (or less) for India and same guppies would have cursing Yousuf "sala aaram sai nahi khail sakta ...yee nahi k 50 overs porey khaileen" :)
I agree, I don't know why Ramiz said that, probably he is in India thats why he is saying that Yousuf is playing for himself.
Re: Is Yousuf's batting appraoch good for Pakistan?
Slightly off topic however I would like to discuss something which I have often noticed. Fans often criticize ex-players (specially mediocre ones) for bashing current players.
I think ex-players when they criticize they often do it on the basis of cricket expertise and knowledge, something which they achieved as a result of being part of cricket as a player and later as a commentator/expert/analysyt or whatever.
When they give reviews, they can be wrong or right. However I feel it is unfair to say that why a certain person is reviewing or passing verdicts when he himself was not good enough in his days. I am sure the expert also knows that he can't compare himself with the current players. Had that been the case, we would only see very few commentators/experts in cricket today. Only those who were better than Lara, Ponting, Warne, Akram, Waqar, Dravid, Tendi etc would have been sitting in the commentary boxes.
Good discussion, I agree on this point. However I feel that at times the Pakistani commentators especially Aamir Sohail does cross limits.
Only criticsm for a player you don't prefer to be in the team is one of the things he loves to do. But then there is Rameez and he does a great job in my eyes. Although he himself was a average player, a bad runner, one of the worse Captains of Pak and a horrible fielder. He provides a very balanced view on players, the game and given situation.
As far as Yousuf is concerned. I might be the only one here, considering him as a slow player (slow strike rate) for ODI's. We need to change our team attitude. Look at a classic Australian League game. Batsmen enter do their 45-50s in just 44-50 balls. Same goes for the Australian National Team. Our players (and even Younus at times) need a heck of time to settle down. Ok, I agree every player needs time to settle down, but as the thread owner said what about the last 5-10 overs (and yet you made 50-60 runs already. Go for a small risk yaar)? If you fail to do so. Let it be the next batsman to enter and try. If he fails then you might think of slowing down your game. But please not with 5-6 wickets in hand and that in the last overs.
I have the feeling, Yousuf these days is playing under mental pressure.
Matlab: At least 50 score naih kya aur phele hi out ho gaya, to team se bhi out!
Maybe this has to do with mental fitness or mindset, which definately needs to be changed.
I'd really like to see is a new wicket keeper. Where are all our domestic giants? Is there no more wicket keeper left in Pak besides Kamran?
Re: Is Yousuf's batting appraoch good for Pakistan?
With idiots like Afridi, nervous wrecks like Misbah and orthodox tailenders down the order (remember how 6 wickets fell for 20 runs), can you really blame Yousuf for "playing slowly"? I think he is doing his job perfectly; are the others doing so is the real question.
Re: Is Yousuf's batting appraoch good for Pakistan?
With idiots like Afridi, nervous wrecks like Misbah and orthodox tailenders down the order (remember how 6 wickets fell for 20 runs), can you really blame Yousuf for "playing slowly"? I think he is doing his job perfectly; are the others doing so is the real question.
*Game, I didn't blame him for loosing matches. Cricket is a team game and If only one person makes the difference, then why play cricket? Let's have gulli dandha. *
*I'm just trying to project my opinion here. I for myself feel he is a bit to slow in making runs in a ODI and uses far too many balls, so that the run rate remains low. He is a very stylish batsman, he is a great player, he is the back bone of Pak Team. No doubts, but does this justify his slow performance in a game? *
*If I make 239 runs and the pitch allows me to score like 260 and yet you have thi s target set in your mind to achieve. To phir darna kaisa? Coz you know if you dont achieve the target, the match is virtually over for your team. Since your team is neither good in fielding and you can't hope & relay always on your bowlers. *
Thats where I back Rameez's statement. This time Yousuf was playing for himself and not for the team. I think the statement is clear enough.
We have a big problem with our openers I agree. But one with style and talent and so much experience could improve his strike rate and this (and I'm pretty convinced) even without taking extreme risks at the beginning.
Re: Is Yousuf's batting appraoch good for Pakistan?
With idiots like Afridi, **nervous wrecks like Misbah* and orthodox tailenders down the order (remember how 6 wickets fell for 20 runs), can you really blame Yousuf for "playing slowly"? I think he is doing his job perfectly; are the others doing so is the real question.*
Nervous wreck Misbah ? Are you sure ?
In those end overs of the WC Twenty20 games, he was cool as ice. The guy seemed to have nerves of steel.
Re: Is Yousuf's batting appraoch good for Pakistan?
Nervous wreck Misbah ? Are you sure ?
In those end overs of the WC Twenty20 games, he was cool as ice. The guy seemed to have nerves of steel.
He is referring to the S.A Series. I think it was the last game of the 5 ODI's. He was definately feeling the pressure on this occasion. No wonder, 3 Wickets in quick succession means a lot!!
Re: Is Yousuf's batting appraoch good for Pakistan?
Game is probably talking about his inability to finish the two games against India in T20. Please correct me if I am wrong.
I don't agree with the misconception about Misbah not being a finisher mainly because he brought Pakistan close to victory in those two ganes but failed to finish the job. Mind you he did finish the job against Aussies where he made classy 60+. It was just his bad luck on those two occasions that he couldn't finish the game in Pakistan favour otherwise I completely agree with Shastri when he said that Misbah's brain works like a computer and he has nerves of steel.
Having said that Misbah still needs to prove himself in Test and ODI cricket. I was just talking about his T20 skills :p
Re: Is Yousuf's batting appraoch good for Pakistan?
Misbah is a mystery, we have to wait for another 5-10 matches to see if he has nerves of steel or he struggles under pressure.
Coming back to Yousuf, he is a class batsman and that's why he should play according to the situation. Younis did fail last time but he came back well in 2nd ODI, can we expect more attacking inning from Yousuf in 3rd game?? I really doubt it.
Re: Is Yousuf's batting appraoch good for Pakistan?
Misbah is a mystery, we have to wait for another 5-10 matches to see if he has nerves of steel or he struggles under pressure.
It seems like Misbah is imputed and should have had played football rather than Cricket. He did a great job at 20-20 WC. Average performance against S.A. Then why be so harsh on him?
Re: Is Yousuf's batting appraoch good for Pakistan?
Nobody is being harsh on Misbah. His demeanor is so inconsistent on the field; he seems like a nervous wreck in one match, and then looks completely at ease in the next (The Mohali match, for example). He needs to show more confidence and he should believe that he is good enough for this level, regardless of the situation of the match.