Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
At least they are giving you something to enjoy. Which your team is not. You should appreciate them. 
Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
What a wonderful Pakistan performance to wake up to! I should go back to sleep now.
Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
we need to get a better test side. These guys has lost so poorly in their own home soil. really sad !:(
Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
My countrymen sakht mushkil aan pari hai…
Our problems start at the top. We have a captain who is neither a test quality batsman nor a test bowler. People keep bragging about his sharp cricketing brain (although I am yet to be fully convinced) and fielding but it’s all about performance at this level. Performance alone can justify captaincy (and vice-captaincy) in this day and age. That said Malik is probably the only wise choice that we have at the moment which just sums up our cricket at present.
Salman Butt is not good enough to be the vice-captain of a major test-playing nation. Ok he made 40 in the first innings which may seem a lot given his recent form but that’s hardly anything special given home conditions.
Our batting is twenty-20 material at best. Apart from a few individual performances here and there, we have been failing in that department with unbelievable consistency in both tests and ODIs for sometime now.
And just as I had predicted…
…Inzi might come to regret his decision later. It was always a gamble playing another test after such a long lay-off and with no serious match practice beforehand. 3 or 4 tests would probably have given him more time to address those areas. As it is, his test average has dropped to 49.87. He (8827) may still overtake Miandad’s aggregate (8832) in the second innings but he must ask himself now, was it really worth risking his test average before the game (50.07) just for those twenty runs? For the same reason Viv Richards (test ave: 50.23) was probably wise to retire when he did!
And I have been saying this for a while now both Asif and Gul are good support bowlers at best (Don’t overhype them or compare them with the two W’s) and will not cut it against decent batting line-ups on decent pitches on a regular basis. Akhtar was sorely missed in this series.
Kaneria is over-rated, he takes wickets but it usu. takes him 40+ overs per innings to grab 3-4 wickets!
We will slip to 7th position in ICC test rankings after the latest 2-0 humiliation and with tough series against India and Australia coming up, it’s unlikely that we will improve it in the near future. As I see it, it’s an uphill struggle for Malik and Lawson from hereon.
http://www.icc-cricket.com/icc/test/
Last but not the least our problems continue against South Africa - partly psychological, partly we are just not that good at the moment.
Feel free to edit…
Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
ye nahi sudhren ge 
Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
ab puchtavay kya hot jab chiryan chug gayeen khet but can someone tell me why these three have been constantly ignored by Pakistan?
Taufeeq Umar - Test average: 39.29
http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/43363.html
Asim Kamal - Test average: 37.73
http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/39041.html
Yasir Hameed - Test average 35.88
http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/43656.html
btw Salman Butt averages a whopping 29.10 in tests!!
Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
at this point i just wonder if i should start following formula 1 racing
Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
srilanka 178-6 (44.4 ov) ........... who the hell wanna watch Pak vs SA :@
Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
at this point i just wonder if i should start following formula 1 racing
at least there is something like suspence since hamilton managed to fly out while going for refuel
all of a sudden 3 drivers can get the championship
Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
You and me both…
Atleast with that if you don’t win you ateast crash and can blame mechanical failure or the other drives error for not winning…
Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
Bhai Jan Assalam O Alaikum…Agar aap abhee bhee khuwab dekh rahay hain then let me tell you the reason..
“Lack of Pawwa Average”
Let me give you new average after Pawa Average is applied to the above avgs..
Taufeeq Umar - Test average: 39.29 x - 1.0 Pawwa = -39.29 avg.
Asim Kamal - Test average: 37.73 x -2.0 Pawwa = - 75.46 avg.
Yasir Hameed - Test average 35.88 x - 0.5 Pawwa = - 17.94
Salman Butt averages a whopping 29.10 x + 2.0 Pawwa = + 58.2 avg.
And the selection is now clear as day!!
Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
^ Other reason is that oru selectors are visionaries…they have great foresight on who will be their champ of the future. So who cares about if we lose some matches in the present…we are rebuilding our team and we have told our players that they will get rewards to lose or win…
Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
Taufeeq Umar: This guy had a brilliant record against saffies. But the way he crumbled against India and Balaji, it was despicable and since then he has never been the same. He was recalled in last year's series against England and he was abysmal.
Asim Kamaal: He just hasnt played consistent cricket in domestic arena since he was dropped. I agree that he should not have been discarded this way but I will ask you, should we or should we not consider domestic performances or not? Misbah was recalled in his place and rightly so, after his performances. Faisal Iqbal isnt THAT horrible as he is made out to be.
Yasir Hameed: Now that I totally agree with. He is one player who should not be overlooked at all. He is a decent batsman and much better than taufeeqs and Farhats. Yes his only centuries were against Bangladesh but he hasnt played poorly lately whenever he was given chances.
Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
This series has been a cruel expose of the lack of talent in Pakistani cricket. The batting is woeful against spin, and pace alike. The bowling, even Asif and Gul, need some assistance in the wicket. On these dead tracks, by far the best pacer has been Dale Steyn-he is also by far the quickest.
The future does not look rosy.
Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
The thing is that I look at the Pakistan batting lineup and it appears to be one solid set of batsmen.
I mean you have in the middle-order :
Younis Khan
Mohd Yousuf
Inzimam-ul-haq
Misbah-ul-Haq
Shoaib Malik
Quite formidable...if you ask me.
But I really don't have answers to why even 2 out of the above 5 did not click.
All this discussion above about replacing A with B and X with Y is pretty mindless. When these big guys cannot deliver when it matters, fringe players like Hameed and Kamal cannot be expected to work wonders.
Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
YK, My and Inzi are class. Misbah is a test failure, 12 knocks, highest score 41. Well done.
Malik is decent, not great.
The seamers are a concern, when the life goes from the track, they are rendered useless. This is where we need sheer pace, and neither of them possess it. I hate to say it, but if not Akhtar, then a recall for Sami.
Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
Pakistan only problem = pace attack and pace supporting pitches.
Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
The seamers are a concern, when the life goes from the track, they are rendered useless. This is where we need sheer pace, and neither of them possess it. I hate to say it, but if not Akhtar, then a recall for Sami.
Well well well ..... let's face it : The way the wickets were prepared it spoke a very clear language namely we'll rely on Kaneria and Rahman, maybe a bit Malik or Hafeez if selected. Every Tom Dick and Harry knows that SAF has a good Pace attack and a bonus in Kallis. So deny them the advantage and prepare beneign wickets.
As the Jang puts it: Pakistan apney he jaal mai'n phans gya.
Still Seamers did enough if u considers only two of them were selected. Kaneria didn't deliver nor did Rahman the way it was expected + We lost the Toss. So it all was more or less a Lottery based calculation if u ask me.
But the Big let down for was in the 1st Test as is now in the 2nd Test: The batting. If Blokes like Younis + Yousaf + Inzi (an experience of close to 300 test matches) don't get a combined score of 50 well u can't blame Misbah for he still is the 2nd highest scorer for us in 1st Innings.
The batting was a let down in the 1st Test so is it in the 2nd Test.
On a good batting track ur bowlers manage to get saffies out for 357 (not a huge score but decent if u ask me) considering the Form of Kallis, Amla, DeVilliers etc. and Harris can eke out 41 but the above mentioned gentlemen can't get past 50 altogether.
If u ask for Bouncy tracks, green tops or dust bowls then prepare urself to see regulars scores of 100+ from the whole team.
The only part of the whole series where i saw any sort of an application from our batsmen was Malik 1st innings in Karachi and Younis 2nd Innings. No one and i mean really no one did put down his head and said ok folks u'll need to do a miracle to get me out. It was all to easy for this level. Being Positive doesn't mean u play recklessly.
Well there is the problem for me.
Not so much the poor bowlers.
Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
A big let down from our middle order. I understand Yusuf's decision was wrong but Younis, Inzi & Shoaib failed when we needed to get that big total to come close to 357...We gave them a lead of 151 runs. Now we are under pressure to save the test, forgot about winning any more...Sad!!!
Re: Pakistan Vs South Africa: 2ND TEST MATCH (Oct 8-12) @ Gadaffi Stadium, Lahore
This is an absolute and complete failure on part of management. We and many newspaper blog pundits have been discussing isolated incidents as result of failure but here once again we have seen the complete collapse. This is because our captain is not test material, don't know what difference was made since he was appointed. I don't think he can change the game single handedly like previous captains did. Moreover, the lack of thinking on part of management to send make shift openers and assemble a batting line up which is out of form. Complete opposite of what management pledged to do after WC '03.
This is truly disgraceful. Where is the preparation, thinking and strategy? Where is the difference on part of selections committee and PCB when they took more control and decision making? I wonder who will be held accountable for this? Only good thing is it is happening earlier in the season. Hopefully some body gets fired for this mishap.