Re: Pak V SL - 2nd test
^ ya, but there is no chance of series win now 
Re: Pak V SL - 2nd test
Only Pakistan can do this. 3 collapses in 4 innings. How the hell did they miss one? I'm pissed.
Re: Pak V SL - 2nd test
This is all because the lack of test practice. We only play ODIs and T20s.
Think about Aamir and Fawad two future stars we discovered from this series. :)
Re: Pak V SL - 2nd test
I have news from my collegue that Srilankans' mixed jamal gota in the food served to Pakistani team, and this is the reason none of the batsman could stay at crease and bowlers just tried hard to finish the match asap...
Post-match presentation:
*Younis Khan: *"It's not the first time that we collapsed, it's the third time. I think it's because we are not playing even Test cricket. I think we fell short by about 100 runs."
"Alam has played all his cricket in the middle order, but I asked him whether he would open for the team, his response was fantastic."
Younis Khan makes a valid point there and though he made a decent 82, I can't help blaming him because he started the rot by attempting an outrageous shot at the stroke of lunch. As skipper (and given two previous collapses of epic proportions) he should have realised the importance of staying at the wicket and not leaving it to the other pathetic batters. There was no need for that. Pakistan were going along nicely and in control of things then
Paranavitana into the attack
78.1
Paranavitana to Younis Khan, OUT, outrageous shot to get out, Paranavitana gets rid of Younis first ball, a full toss way down the leg side, Younis goes for the reverse-sweep, top-edges on to the batsman's shoulder, Dilshan snaps up the rebound
*Younis Khan c †Dilshan b Paranavitana 82 (234m 152b 7x4 0x6) SR: 53.94 *
Re: Pak V SL - 2nd test
Well played Sri Lanka :k: They displayed some great test cricket to win this test & the series.
Pak team needs to come out of the T20 mode, and adjust to playing test cricket.
Re: Pak V SL - 2nd test
Re: Pak V SL - 2nd test
it's time now people see the writing on the wall and stop hiding the inability of pakistani batsman behind buzzwords llike " unpredictability"..
They have no technique to play new ball even in slightly bowling favourable pitch.
The way Fawad Alam keeps shuffling across he should cherish this knock because he is not going to last long with that kind of utterly awful technique..
I would repeat again hearlding new dawn on back of two 20-20 match does lull one into thinking of themselves which they are not.
It was nothign unexpected fact is pakistan team in last ten test macthes has won zero and lost five..
Re: Pak V SL - 2nd test
Sar kyon peet rahe ho, Cadet bhai ? Maine kuch galat to nahin kaha 
You’ve got to take the brickbats along with the bouquet 
it's time now people see the writing on the wall and stop hiding the inability of pakistani batsman behind buzzwords llike " unpredictability".. They have no technique to play new ball even in slightly bowling favourable pitch.
The way Fawad Alam keeps shuffling across he should cherish this knock because he is not going to last long with that kind of utterly awful technique..
I would repeat again hearlding new dawn on back of two 20-20 match does lull one into thinking of themselves which they are not. It was nothign unexpected fact is pakistan team in last ten test macthes has won zero and lost five..
I havent seen fawad Alam play, but there were and are very good batsmen who had a pronounced shuffle.
1) David Boon.
2) Brian Lara
3) ChanderPaul
4)Ricky Ponting
Re: Pak V SL - 2nd test
I agree with Younis’ assessment about not having test match practice to an extent, but here are some other thoughts I’ve been having today – purely opinion based:
Together with the scheduling problems that dogged them in not having enough test match practice, complacency has played the spoil sport for them.
If you look at their collapses, they all came at times when we/they thought they’d be fine – i.e. at the start of those sessions, the situation wasn’t too challenging – everyone thought they were cruising ahead just fine, and the team ended up being complacent and were caught off-guard.
It’s almost as if they need to be mentally primed to go out there and play well, and they do so well if they’ve had the opportunity to undergo that psychological preparation for some extended time period… e.g. in T20 series… being down and out… they had a few days after their successive losses and they came back strongly for the next matches… similarly in this test match, based on their poor performance on one day, the next day, they came back strongly – but whenever there’s a sudden change in situation from comfortable to not-so-comfortable e.g. a crunch situation during the course of a day’s play due to sudden loss of couple of wickets, it seems like they don’t know what to do now. They don’t have that opportunity for extended mental preparation anymore, and they’re clueless of how to adapt to this new situation. This is exactly what happened to Pakistan’s batting in the last innings of the 1st test and again in their last innings in this match.
I dare say that I’ve figured out the Pak team… but these are patterns that may have some substance in them to be pursued further to identify where the problem lies. To me, it most certainly seems like a psychological problem.
Psychological problems have always been there but it is also a fact that our batsmen don't play the new ball as well as they should as highlighted already by coolbreeze and fishcurry
285/1 ==> new ball ==> 320 all out says it all
Younis rues his moment of madness
The flawed reverse-sweep will not stop replaying in Younis Khan’s head for a while. It will haunt
Eat your heart out KP. Fret not, Misbah, you have company. For years to come, Younis Khan’s reverse-sweep will be discussed, debated, derided, and blamed for the final collapse that cost Pakistan the match and the series. By the time you read this, that shot would have played thousands of times on the loop, reminding everyone of what could have been.
Consider the circumstance: Pakistan staged a comeback in true original style. After getting bowled out for 90 on the first morning, they bowled incredibly well to keep the deficit down to 150 following which the debutant Fawad Alam, opening for the first time in first-class cricket, scored a big century. Along with Fawad, Younis had added 200 for the second wicket to stretch the lead to 135. The bowling seemed at their mercy, a big target was on the cards, and the momentum was theirs.
Then the rush of blood to the head. Perhaps over-confidence against the spinners. It was the first ball of a part-time spinner’s spell, and Younis inverted his stance. Out came a full toss outside leg, which he chased and connected. On many occasions it would have lobbed behind the wicketkeeper but today it ricocheted off his right shoulder and went straight to the wicketkeeper, much like Pietersen’s sweep off Nathan Hauritz in Cardiff last week. Pakistan duly collapsed, losing nine wickets for 35 runs.
“Yes [it’s replaying in my head]. I am still thinking if I hadn’t played that shot, we would have been in a completely different situation,” Younis said after Pakistan squandered all the hard work over the last two days.
It didn’t answer the questions. Was he not thinking when he played the shot? Was he thinking too much? Did he feel he needed to dominate? Did he not know his undercooked team was prone to collapsing? The truth perhaps is that when you are batting in full flow these thoughts don’t cross your mind. This was after all the same shot that he had so effectively employed repeatedly against the same team during his triple-hundred in Karachi earlier this year. Only against a much better spinner - Muttiah Muralitharan.
Still, Younis cannot hide. This shot will not stop replaying in his head and, for a while, it will haunt him. It will also probably hide the other factors responsible for the defeat. What, for example, of the rest of the batsmen, experienced campaigners most of them? For the third time in a row, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Misbah-ul-Haq and Kamran Akmal were part of a collapse. That somehow will be forgotten when we look back at this Test two years from now. **“I have been saying for the last four-five years that if one person commits a mistake, the others shouldn’t,” Younis said. “If we hadn’t added 200, then what would have happened? I don’t point fingers at anybody - I never blamed Salman Butt [for throwing his wicket away in Galle]. This is a team game.” **
Or what of Daryl Harper’s umpiring errors, which could make a case for hurrying in the era of umpire review system? Or, for that matter, carrying reserve umpires on tours to replace a man in poor form. He didn’t have a special Test in Galle, and today two of his four lbw calls looked decidedly wrong, and two appeared to have enough doubt.
It’s also worth noting that the pitch didn’t have monsters in it, which would mean that a set batsman didn’t need to take risks and could think of playing out the game. The other argument would be that the pressure had already been lifted and put on the opposition. Logic will also suggest that for once the other batsmen should have fought the momentum swing. Allowance will be made for the way Malik got out - many stronger blows to the stumps than this flying kiss have failed to dislodge the bails. In the end, though, we will come back to the shot Younis played.
We remember Sachin Tendulkar’s attempt at an inside-out shot off Saqlain Mushtaq at Chennai in 1999, not the last three wickets falling for four runs. Pietersen’s shot is still being talked about in greater length than England’s toothless bowling. It’s a cruel sport, and Younis will be reminded time and again of a task that he started so well but left unfinished because of a cute shot. One shot. No retake.
http://www.cricinfo.com/slvpak2009/content/current/story/414444.html
I havent seen fawad Alam play, but there were and are very good batsmen who had a pronounced shuffle. 1) David Boon. 2) Brian Lara 3) ChanderPaul 4)Ricky Ponting
You have not seen him play then.. watch him play he is walking wicket with that kind of shuffle.. those guys who you mention had measured shuffle also know as footwark
Give this team time before you judge us - Younis
*Younis Khan makes some very fair observations here. *
Younis Khan has responded to Pakistan’s first Test series defeat in Sri Lanka by pleading for more time to rebuild the team after “very little cricket over the last 18 months”. Speaking after a game in which Pakistan’s batting collapses tilted the balance towards Sri Lanka, Younis said he didn’t want to put blame on any individual - the team was lacking by just 20%, failing to stay focused throughout the games and while facing pressure situations.
“It’s very easy right now to write this team off,” he said, "But how many Tests have we played in the last 14 months? For one full year we didn’t play at all. As and when we start playing more regularly, we will learn to adapt. I think it’s not about the technique, not about the bowling, not about the weather.
“Give this team some time, don’t point fingers too early. It will be very easy for me too to blame particular players, even myself. But the reality is, we haven’t been playing any Test cricket. It’s very easy for me to give up, to say I can’t captain this team. But somebody will have to stand up and fix the situation.” **
Before the start of the series, Younis had said that being undercooked should not be an excuse for international teams. But three heart-breaking collapses later, Younis said it was time to analyse the situation, and that he concluded thus not as Pakistan captain but as an analyst. “Out of the four matches we have played, one was stopped midway, one we drew, and lost two,”** he said. "And that too it felt like we were not beaten, we lost them ourselves. So I am not looking for excuses but for reasons. And this is one of the major reasons."
The irony of the situation, though, is that it was not the youngsters, the debutants, who let the team down. It was the experienced pros who failed all three times to arrest the collapses. Younis saw that as one of the positives from the series. “This team is in a rebuilding phase,” he said. “We had three debutants in the last match, and one in this. But if Saeed Ajmal is putting up a fight, if Abdur Rauf is putting up a fight, if Fawad Alam is putting up a fight, if Mohammad Aamer is putting up a fight, that gives me some solace. I will have to give them some time. So too the media and the fans.”
Younis reiterated that the problem came from not finishing matches. “There is only 20% that we are lacking. If we play to our potential - everybody knows about us - we will start winning. It is all about concentration and how to adapt to conditions.”
Over six and a bit days, Pakistan have had three disastrous sessions, while the other sessions have been full of heartening performances from their youngsters. Their bowling attack looks in good health, especially with an impending comeback of Mohammad Asif, and Ajmal and Danish Kaneria fighting for the spinner’s slot. Yet they have lost the series, which can be a very demoralising experience.
Younis, though, wants to look ahead immediately, to the next Test. “What can I do? I can only ask them to focus for longer durations. After Tests we have to play one-dayers too. It will be every difficult if we go 2-0 down or 3-0 down. If we push more, keep pushing, we can win the last Test, which should give us a lot of motivation before the one-dayers. And if we can win both, we will get some satisfaction at least.”
http://www.cricinfo.com/slvpak2009/content/current/story/414430.html
I havent seen fawad Alam play, but there were and are very good batsmen who had a pronounced shuffle. 1) David Boon. 2) Brian Lara 3) ChanderPaul 4)Ricky Ponting
If these guys has pronounced shuffle. then Fawad was like dancing here and there with some Thumkaa's as well.. if you know what I mean..
Yes, he indeed played a remarkable innings, but he is yet to be tested against a very good fast bowling attack on a very good wicket... If you would have seen start of the game today, he was struck on the head by a very slow bouncer, cause he had came so much forward to the bowl which was way too short..The next ball, he was standing more than two stumps of the leg stumps... So this is not a very good batting technique.
On the other hand,, I am just really confused on how suddenly Pakistani batsmen became so pathetic in their technique. They have just played pretty well in the T20 WC, mind you the ball remains new till the end of the 20th over of a T20., and now Malik, Misbah, Akmal, all are getting out very cheaply against the new ball against a not so very good attack. ( yeah they were good, but werent of highest standard).. No technique what so ever.. giving wickets so sheepishly.
I went to sleep in the night after seeing like 250 on the board, only thinking that when I wake up, Pakistan would have made some good progress some 500 odd runs and then SL will come into play, and when I woke up, had to face a horror.
Aray bhai GA:
At the end there is a lot of learning that should be an outcome of this…right…
Also, pakis will be pakis…thora sa meetha thora sa khatta thora sa namkeen, just like life..otherwise karachi kee dil pasand chat ka mazah naheen…
same is for our flavor of cricket.
bachay kee jaan logay kia.
What else you want from a kid, he played a superb innings where all of our seniors failed. If Pakistan team bundled up for 90 and 117 means there was something in bowling and pitch.
If these guys has pronounced shuffle. then Fawad was like dancing here and there with some Thumkaa's as well.. if you know what I mean..
Yes, he indeed played a remarkable innings, but he is yet to be tested against a very good fast bowling attack on a very good wicket... If you would have seen start of the game today, he was struck on the head by a very slow bouncer, cause he had came so much forward to the bowl which was way too short..The next ball, he was standing more than two stumps of the leg stumps... So this is not a very good batting technique.
On the other hand,, I am just really confused on how suddenly Pakistani batsmen became so pathetic in their technique. They have just played pretty well in the T20 WC, mind you the ball remains new till the end of the 20th over of a T20., and now Malik, Misbah, Akmal, all are getting out very cheaply against the new ball against a not so very good attack. ( yeah they were good, but werent of highest standard).. No technique what so ever.. giving wickets so sheepishly.
I went to sleep in the night after seeing like 250 on the board, only thinking that when I wake up, Pakistan would have made some good progress some 500 odd runs and then SL will come into play, and when I woke up, had to face a horror.
I agree :k:
People were quick to hail this team as the next big thing after a one off victory in T20 WC and are quick to pull it down after the 2 test losses
I say give them more time to prove how good or bad they are…
Sorry to burst the bubble, but T20 is just “tullebaazi”. No real technique involved there. Did you not watch IPL ??
Test cricket is where a player’s class comes out :k: