Re: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe , 1st Test, Harare
Taufeeq Umar was doing a decent job, so why was he dropped by the selectors in the first place? Taufeeq and Nasir Jamshed should open in tests. Khurram Manzoor, a tried and tested failure, should never have been recalled.
Khurram and Hafeez should be nowhere near the test team
I have similar feelings for Khurram Manzoor at the moment. replace Iftikhar with Khurram Manzoor
Re: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe , 1st Test, Harare
Tail is just too long with Adnan batting at #7
Re: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe , 1st Test, Harare
The tail has to bat very well... :D
Re: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe , 1st Test, Harare
Pakistan effectively 90/4 .... YK-Shafiq partnership is the key for Pakistan.
This game could be over tomorrow
Re: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe , 1st Test, Harare
Taufeeq Umar was doing a decent job, so why was he dropped by the selectors in the first place? Taufeeq and Nasir Jamshed should open in tests. Khurram Manzoor, a tried and tested failure, should never have been recalled.
Khurram and Hafeez should be nowhere near the test team
I have similar feelings for Khurram Manzoor at the moment. replace Iftikhar with Khurram Manzoor
If Khurram Manzoor has performed in domestic then he probably earned his call, Hafeez has been tested mulitple times and has proved to be decent in ODI/T20I. I'd say Taufeeq Umar + Khurram Manzoor for sometime.
Re: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe , 1st Test, Harare
SA has one Dale Styen...but it looks like that Zimbabwe has 3-4 Dale Styens... :D
Pakistan should try to accelerate the RR instead of constantly blocking and leaving the balls...
Re: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe , 1st Test, Harare
Long way to go for Younis and Asad, can they do it? I hope they can, we have six specialist batsmen (Hafeez can't be considered all rounder for Tests unless he is actually utilized that way) if that is not enough to get big scores then no matter how many "all rounders" you throw in to stretch your batting line we will continue to post mediocre scores.
Re: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe , 1st Test, Harare
It is Zimbabwe's game to lose
YK-Shafiq partnership is the last real hope for us. Need another 100-150 runs from these two to make the game safe.
Re: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe , 1st Test, Harare
If Khurram Manzoor has performed in domestic then he probably earned his call, Hafeez has been tested mulitple times and has proved to be decent in ODI/T20I. I'd say Taufeeq Umar + Khurram Manzoor for sometime.
OK Khurram probably deserves a longer run at the top (if I remember correctly, he made 77 against Australia in his last test innings before this test) but we do need to shore up the batting by playing another batsman. Ideally this should be the team
Taufeeq Umar
Khurram Manzoor (though Nasir Jamshed would be my preferred choice)
Azhar Ali
Younis Khan
Misbah-ul-Haq (c)
Asad Shafiq
A GENUINE TEST ALL-ROUNDER (Hafeez is not the answer in tests). As we presently don't have one, I would rather play Abdur Rehman against RSA in UAE
Adnan Akmal (wk)
Saeed Ajmal
Rahat Ali (or a better pacer than him, ? Irfan)
Junaid Khan
Re: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe , 1st Test, Harare
:yk: is our saviour
Re: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe , 1st Test, Harare
This game is still a long way from being safe
All hopes rest on YK and Shafiq
Re: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe , 1st Test, Harare
YK will score a century as I predicted yesterday!
Re: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe , 1st Test, Harare
OK Khurram probably deserves a longer run at the top (if I remember correctly, he made 77 against Australia in his last test innings before this test) but we do need to shore up the batting by playing another batsman. Ideally this should be the team
Taufeeq Umar Khurram Manzoor (though Nasir Jamshed would be my preferred choice) Azhar Ali Younis Khan Misbah-ul-Haq (c) Asad Shafiq A GENUINE TEST ALL-ROUNDER (Hafeez is not the answer in tests). As we presently don't have one, I would rather play Abdur Rehman against RSA in UAE Adnan Akmal (wk) Saeed Ajmal Rahat Ali (or a better pacer than him, ? Irfan) Junaid Khan
Actually I would have Umar Akmal (if he's passed fit by the doctors) in the test team for Adnan. Drop Hafeez and play Abdur Rehman against RSA
Following is a much stronger test team
Taufeeq Umar
Nasir Jamshed
Azhar Ali
Younis Khan
Misbah-ul-Haq (c)
Asad Shafiq
Umar Akmal (wk)
Abdur Rehman
Saeed Ajmal
Rahat Ali (or a better pacer than him, ? Irfan)
Junaid Khan
Re: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe , 1st Test, Harare
Rahat Ali 
Umar Akmal should be there in the squad
Re: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe , 1st Test, Harare
Aray bhai Harare main tau haray hi haray.
Jinbaba way bhai agla test be Harare main hay, wahan na hum ko hara re!
Re: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe , 1st Test, Harare
‘text in brackets’ pe bhi nazar dal lo. I mentioned it for a reason. Irfan is definitely a better bowler than Rahat but there is probably a Q mark over his stamina and fitness levels, whether he can last the full 5 days of a test!
Re: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe , 1st Test, Harare
'text in brackets' pe bhi nazar dal lo. I mentioned it for reason. Irfan is definitely a better bowler than Rahat but there is probably a Q mark over his stamina and fitness levels, whether he can last the 5 days of a test!
Rahat sucked in SA how can he be good on dead Abu Dhabi wickets he is not test material at all
Re: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe , 1st Test, Harare
Agreed Rahat is not test material but the cupboard is empty!
Re: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe , 1st Test, Harare
This game is still a long way from being safe
All hopes rest on YK and Shafiq
Ok I agree, however if Shafiq can't score a decent big 50 such as 70-80 runs in test cricket on in a second innings then he needs to be dropped along with Hafeez. What good is he if he can't score against Zim?
Asad and Azhar, atleast one always needs to score for this batting line to rely on them as well.
So we need YK to 100-125 and AS to get to 75.
Re: Pakistan Vs Zimbabwe , 1st Test, Harare
Asad Shafiq is the future in tests. I won’t drop him even if he fails here. One could argue that he should not have been in this position (having to bat under pressure) in the first place esp. against a team like Zimbabwe. The test team selection esp. the opening pair is all wrong
Besides he’s averaging 40.48 in tests. Shafiq can only improve from here
http://www.espncricinfo.com/zimbabwe-v-pakistan-2013/content/player/316397.html
