Re: Post-Series Discussions (Merged)
From Pakistan's perspective, I think the loss of 4 tosses in a row also did not help matters.
Having said that, India did win a couple of One-Dayers in their last Pak visit even after batting first (most notably the first ONE DAYER in Karachi)...so it is not exaclty impossible to defend scores on these pitches.
Re: Post-Series Discussions (Merged)
^^we got 2 wins in hockey too aejaz bhai :D
but watever!
india really deserved to win this series coz they really learnt from their mistake n had the heart to fight till the end,unlike pakistani team dropping catches throughout the series,misfields throughout n batting failure consistently too.i hav noticed this disturbing fact abt pakistani team "the never learn from their mistakes"
i just hope they realise its abt time they wake up cuz WC is just 1 yr away!!!
Re: Post-Series Discussions (Merged)
Pakistan's batting has always been unreliable and now bowling department is also getting there. It has more to do with mental toughness than talent.
PCB needs to stick with talented cricketers like Butt, Asif. Kami et all or else future will only produce nervous cricketers who are more worried about their job security than performance.
At present, the only two world class players in the team are Inzi and Shoaib. Both of them don't have many years left. So what's the plan for the future? Who are they passing the torch to?
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in all terms it was a great series and season for Team Pak. They won the major cup-the test series-and unearthed a gem in mohammed asif. we should acknowledge the the quality of india's odi play this series but not panic.
pakistan has won a lot of odi series in last 18 months, this loss is rather a blip, and perhaps a welcome one. better to solve problems now rather then nearer the world cup.
roll on sri lanka.
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india won that KHI ODI cuz they made 349 not 286.if pak wud even manage 320+ there were gud chances for them to win.another thing,pakistan need a bowling coach!!!
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so true.. WInning 4 tosses made huge difference for India. I think Its time Inzi starts practicing toss again. Batting practice isnt paying anyway.
Re: Post-Series Discussions (Merged)
Was the Paki fielding so bad…Cricinfo has spared nothing in lambasting the Paki fielding..
http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/pakvind/content/current/story/237886.html
Re: Post-Series Discussions (Merged)
^ Consider this, words can't even begin to describe the fielding......
Re: Post-Series Discussions (Merged)
Well, at least we know that Inzamam has proven to be very friendly in terms of passing his torch to Faisal Iqbal......
And throughout the series, they have confirmed it with their antics that even after a thrashing defeat in the second and third ODI, when it was really the time to look into the problems and solve them right there and then, one never improvised from the previous 'age-old' methods and mindset, never learnt to listen to others and accept criticism, and overall, turning over a blind eye of what are the items that need to be worked upon, for the future. The behavior, the body language, the tactics established in the field, from Day 1 till last night, are eminent proofs that the first thing that needs to be looked upon in a serious manner is the psychological psyche of a captain. The nucleus of a main chunk of problems starts at that corner.
The "out of form" and "outclassed/outplayed" excuses doesn't carry much weight. This is the same team that whooped India in the test series and the first ODI. Then in a space of just a few days all the batsmen lose their form. Our fielding was brilliant in the first ODI and we can see how it ended in this game. Even Asif lost his bite after the first couple of ODI's.
The injuries are no excuse. If this is how dependent we are on Akhtar, then I don't see a bright future for Pakistan once Akhtar retires in a couple of years. After all, India was playing without Sehwag, and their most comprehensive 5th ODI victory was without Tendu and Pathan. I hope Inzi/Woolmer can swallow their pride and finally change our batting order. Malik and Butt as openers, Younis one down, Inzi and Moyo follow, with Akmal, Razzaq, Afridi as the power hitters.
For me the main reason for this series loss, is the poor strategy by Pakistan. We won the toss twice, and both times made the wrong decision. Got away with it once but not the second time. Mentally, we were never aggressive enough, and I agree with Imran's comments on this.
But the first step in improvement is first realizing and admitting the mistakes you have made. The shrugging off criticsm and brushing everything under the carpet and hoping things will get better is not good enough.
Lovely post!
Re: Post-Series Discussions (Merged)
Wrong strategy, yes but I don't think it was so much the bat first strategy. From the beginning I felt Pak had one strategy playing India and that is "Let's get Shoab and company rattle the batting line up, everything else will fall in place". And that's actually a winning strategy except it comes with the risk that Shoab got injured. Everyone else in Pak bowling shine on Shoab's reflected pressure and are otherwise mostly harmless, particularly to those batsmen who have eyes and shots.
Without Shoab, the Pak attack became like the mediocre Indian attack in calibre but with pretensions of a pace attack. And they were bowling to India.
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** Inzy hits out at ex-players for criticizing team**
*By a Correspondent*
Karachi, February 19, 2006
Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq has hit out at former players, who have been critical of his side's one-day series loss against the visiting Indian team, accusing them of unleashing an unwarranted tirade against his side to serve their own nefarious purposes.
“I am deeply hurt by the criticism, which has been downright malicious. Pakistan’s former Test cricketers never let go of any opportunity to unleash criticism at the national side. As in the past, these gentlemen have once again drawn out their daggers for us”, he wrote in his column.
The Pakistan captain, who felt these critics conveniently overlook the good performances of his team but are always ready with their verbal assault whenever the squad loses, said “Whenever Pakistan team ends up on the losing side, former cricketers start their campaign to degrade the players instead of boosting their confidence or giving them sound advice”.
“Everyone appears to be making full use of the chance to hurt the sentiments of the national cricket players. This was the same side that defeated India in the Test series”, he added.
Inzamam asked them to take a trip down memory lane and recall instances where they too have faced debacles but have some how managed to get away without being held responsible for the failures.
“They too have gone through similar situations in the past, but today they clamor for accountability. The same cricketers of the past tend to forget that they were let off without any accountability when they had under-performed or suffered one defeat after another”, Inzy wrote.
The burly Multan player known for his calm persona on-field said he had been infuriated by the snide remarks passed by these former players and has asked his teammates to completely ignore their statements and move ahead.
“The current Pakistan team, instead of listening to the barrage of criticism, has in fact turned a deaf ear towards it and is focused solely on its own performance a critical assessment of the team’s performance was always welcome but it had to be balanced without any personal bias”, Inzy said.
“I believe that one should measure one’s thoughts before saying anything. This same team has been winning in the recent past. And by the Grace of Allah, it will soon get back to its winning ways”, he added.
Inzamam vs. Imran - the battle continues…
Re: Post-Series Discussions (Merged)
Quite wrong. Pakistan stopped relying on Shoaib in one day arena some two three years ago and they achieved most of their recent one day success without him. Rana spearheaded our attack and it was his performances that let us down the most in this series.
Re: Post-Series Discussions (Merged)
Besides other things, one advantage for Pak in ODIs is their aggressive approach. With the loss of Akhter and then Afridi, Pak lost that edge. On the other hand India had that "trio of Singhs" (RP, MS and Youvraj) who reversed Pak's advantage. All of them played aggressively, and won the games for India. At least to me, this trio made the real difference.
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Inzamam praises Dravid’s leadership
February 20, 2006 18:16 IST
The vanquished Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq was on Monday generous in his praise for his Indian counterpart Rahul Dravid’s leadership qualities but also reminded him about fickleness of success.
Captaincy is tagged to the team’s success, the burly Pakistani batsman said in an interview to PTI a day after India demolished his team 4-1 in the one-day international series.
Inzamam has seen it all in the past one year. He led Pakistan to an unexpected series win in one-dayers in India last year, then defeated Ashes winners England both in Tests and ODIs a few weeks back in Pakistan and beat India 1-0 in the Test series this month before the 4-1 ODI drubbing at the hands of the Indians.
“Rahul has leadership qualities that should take him to new heights. But I must stress here that captaincy is tagged to the team’s success. Therefore his team needs to win on more regular basis and in both forms of the game”, the Pakistan captain said.
The only “disadvantage” Dravid has “is that he will always be compared with his predecessor Sourav Ganguly who is India’s most successful captain”, he observed.
In Inzamam’s view, the tour of Pakistan has been a great learning curve for Dravid. “He tasted defeat in the Test series and consequently faced a barrage of criticism. He then won the one-day series for which he is appreciated.”
“I believe like cricketers, captains also gain experience and confidence when they lead their teams in series against traditional rivals because the pressure and tension out there is too much and only (those with) steel nerves can survive”, said Inzamam who finds himself under attack for the loss to India.
He had always been a great admirer of Dravid’s batting and “I am sure he will get better on the captaincy front also”, according to Inzamam.
Asked about India’s prospects in the 2007 World Cup, the Pakistan skipper replied that at the moment India is heading in the “right direction”.
“The World Cup is still 12 months away and a lot of cricket is to be played until then. But yes, every victory in the lead up to the World Cup counts and matters a lot. So, in that context India are heading in the right direction. Let us see how they perform in the events that follow”, he said.
About the spirit in which the just-concluded Indo-Pak series was played, the Pakistan captain acknowledged the intense rivalry between the two teams on the field.
“But what happens on the ground does not affect the relationships outside. Both teams try to win on the ground but friendships outside it remain”, he said.
Despite some controversies surrounding the bowling action of Shoaib Akhtar, Inzamam maintained that there was no acrimony or bitterness between the two teams.
There was, he pointed out, no official Indian complaint against Akhtar’s action although certain things appeared in the media. “So many things appear in newspapers of which we cannot take notice. If the umpires or the Match Referee complain, then it is a different situation. That did not happen in relation to Shoaib”, he added.
Defending the bowling action of ‘Rawalpindi Express’, Inzamam said that his action was clean. “He is a totally different fast bowler, a genuine fast bowler, a strike bowler.”
The Pakistan captain also sought to put behind the controversy surrounding the Indian team’s appeal against him at a crucial stage in the first one-dayer at Peshawar when he was declared out ‘obstructing the field’.
“The Indians had a right to appeal as per the laws of the game. This should not be the subject of any controversy. India needed wickets considering the situation in the match. It’s not an issue at all”, he said.
Agreed. Nice post. 
Re: Post-Series Discussions (Merged)
the high points of this series---karachi test pathan hattrick, akmal inning and asif taking the stumps out of ground of the top 3 indian batsman.
and the lahore one dayer indian innings first 15 overs!!!
cheers
Re: Post-Series Discussions (Merged)
Agreed :k: