This is the question to those who are watching the game…
If a match is being played on flat tracks of Sharjah one woudl expect a cracking start by every team in first 15 overs.But so far that didnot happened in 4 inning. What is wrong here?
1.Is wicket different
2.All Bowlers have suddenly started bowling fine.( Hard to believe).
3.Since teams are new so batsmen are extra cautious to cement theri place in team…( but its not true for Sri lanka).
???
I think it may be a combination of new/inexperienced openers, good straight bowling, and slow wickets.
Yes the wickets are definitely slow, but the bowling has definitely been a factor. For Zimbabwe, Streak and Blignaut put in decent spells, while in both matches so far, Sami and Gul have been right on the spot, bowling straight and disciplined.
Under the lights today, Buddikha was getting good away swing, and Dilhara Fernado also didn't give much away. On these wickets, if you bowl accurately it's not easy to score because the ball doesn't come onto the bat.
If slowness of eicket is an issue still I would think scoring to be fast during first 15 overs as compared to next 35 overs simply because ball is harder which negates the slowness effect.
But we see opposite pattern here!!!
by the way why they have slow wicket.... today scores were in 220s which is 30-40 run short of Sharjah standard.
depends on if the bowler can bowl accurately with the new ball. Anything off-line was still getting punished. Normally Pakistani bowlers give away a load of extras. today, we were into the 15th over before we gave away the first wide. That hasn't happened in a long time :)
Yeah, I kinda agree here. First the fast bowlers would have given atleast 25 more extras and the senior fielders generosity in the field would have added another 30-35 runs making the total score look like 270+ adding extra pressure on the batsmen.
I think so far this slow run rate in first 15 overs have been due to many reasons.
** PAKISTAN **
It seems like both are openers dont like to take chances. As a matter of fact they actually play slow which might be one of the weak spots we have to work on. Yesterdya Taufeeq took around 50 odd balls to score 16 runs and today Hafeez took 103 balls to score 50. Now yesterday we were playing a weaker opposition and today we didnt really have a huge target to chase but agaisnt quality oppositions like Australia, South Africa even India I dont think we can afford players consuming so many dot balls. Anyway I think as far as Pakistan is concerned they didnt really try to take advantage of the restrictions in the first 15 overs.
** Srilanka **
Coming fresh from a not so memorable world cup Srilankan's are cautious. They did make it to the semi finals but bowlers and luck payed a big part in it. With Vaas at his best and Murali as cruel as always plus South Africa scoring one run less to eliminate Srilanka .... so all in all their batsmen have not been in a great touch and I think they are under pressure. Attapatu normally takes a little time to settle down anyways and today Jaysuria got out very cheaply that put more presuure on the other batsmen. But in the coming matches I expect brisk starts from Srilanka if Jaysuria gets going.
** Zimbabwe **
A fairly inexperienced team, not the strongest of test playing countrues missing the servies of Cambell and Andy flower.. I think they would just concentrate on not getting out too quickly. Plus Sami and Gul bowled well and got early breakthroughs so you cant really blame them for being cautiousl. I think they probably will get mediocre starts in the remaining matches.
** Kenya **
Yet to play. Lets see how the play in the first 15 overs.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by LahoriMunda: *
I think so far this slow run rate in first 15 overs have been due to many reasons.
** PAKISTAN **
It seems like both are openers dont like to take chances. As a matter of fact they actually play slow which might be one of the weak spots we have to work on. Yesterdya Taufeeq took around 50 odd balls to score 16 runs and today Hafeez took 103 balls to score 50. Now yesterday we were playing a weaker opposition and today we didnt really have a huge target to chase but agaisnt quality oppositions like Australia, South Africa even India I dont think we can afford players consuming so many dot balls. Anyway I think as far as Pakistan is concerned they didnt really try to take advantage of the restrictions in the first 15 overs.
** Srilanka **
Coming fresh from a not so memorable world cup Srilankan's are cautious. They did make it to the semi finals but bowlers and luck payed a big part in it. With Vaas at his best and Murali as cruel as always plus South Africa scoring one run less to eliminate Srilanka .... so all in all their batsmen have not been in a great touch and I think they are under pressure. Attapatu normally takes a little time to settle down anyways and today Jaysuria got out very cheaply that put more presuure on the other batsmen. But in the coming matches I expect brisk starts from Srilanka if Jaysuria gets going.
** Zimbabwe **
A fairly inexperienced team, not the strongest of test playing countrues missing the servies of Cambell and Andy flower.. I think they would just concentrate on not getting out too quickly. Plus Sami and Gul bowled well and got early breakthroughs so you cant really blame them for being cautiousl. I think they probably will get mediocre starts in the remaining matches.
** Kenya **
Yet to play. Lets see how the play in the first 15 overs.
[/QUOTE]
Kinda Agree here.lets wait for other matches.
This Sharjah is very different from the ones in the past. It doesn't provide any unusual moment for the fast bowlers but its not really getting onto the bat as it should be. And plus most teams have lost early wickets.
For Pakistan, its simply have been the experience of the 2 openers. They looked to be nervous, Taufeeq a little more than Hafeez.
For Sri Lanka its clearly because they don't have the services of any top class quality batsman in the middle order so the openers have to be very sensible. Before they had the likes of Jayawardne, De Sivle and and Arnold, who would take care of the middle while Jayasuriya would blast away in the begining. Same reason for Zimbabwe, they are missing Andy Flower, so the openers have to play sensibly but yesterday was a different issue since they had to chase a huge score.
But who cares how many runs have been given in the first 15 overs as long as your whole 50 overs score is good, for Pakistan in both matches, its been brilliant, thanks to Razzaq yesterday and Youhana and Younis Khan today.