Simple question. Should, or should not, Pakistan go for the kill?
From the standpoint of being an aggressive ally, I would extremely desire for them to go for the kill! Stay at the crease, take your chances, one’s and two’s, at times three’s (overthrows will open further doors and windows) and in the process, passionately drink the blood of the enemy drop-by-drop, humiliate them in the process and don’t look back. Strong faith will lead them to destination, and I ultimately believe we have ‘it’ bagged in our pockets.
The sun will be on full horizon from dawn, birds will be singing melody tunes, trees will be spread out praying for forgiveness and the air will be moist and cold. August 8th, 2006, will be the day etched in the history books and in every single minds of cricket fans round the world as the day where Pakistan successfully chased down the target and beat the enemy on their own homeground.
I believe it is possible. I believe victory is a kitten’s whisker away, merely within centimeters from us. All we have to do is be able to fully extend our hands and grab it while the sun is still shining bright…
325 on last day can be difficult but it is not very difficult. This is very teasing target for last day and will keep team in double mind most of the time. Best way to approach it would be to take it session by session. Initially try to consolidate and not take too many risk. It may be diffilcut thing to do considering how top order has played so far. Target should be 80-90 by lunch and then 170-175 by tea without losing more than 4 wicket. 190 for the loss of 3-4 wicket can be ideal score to launch an assault in last session. This will mean a runrate of 5 in last 30 overs. This is the time Afridi can be utilized and in few overs it can change. It is good opportunity for Pakistan to comeback into game. They are already 0-1 down, it is must win if they want to win the series. It is going to be exciting last day of cricket. :D
afridi would nt have survived for more than 2 overs..thank god afridi is not there. u gotta look to survive in the first session and then go for the kill with wickets in hand towards the end
Even though chasing the target and levelling the series will be tempting but Pakistan being a defensive side will also be concerned about losing some wickets while chasing target and then losing few more under pressure.
Keep in mind, 347 runs were scored the first day and 370 were scored the second day. Batting was pretty easy and there were no major collapses.
3rd day, Pakistan could have scored 400 runs but a minicollapse resulted in 315 runs that day, as the scoring rate slowed down.
However today, around 340 runs were scored but England actually managed to maintain a healthy run rate eventhough they were collapsing.
Can we expect Pakistan to maintain a healthy runrate even if they lose some quick wickets tomorrow? I don't think so. Couple of quick wickets will result in a very defensive approach, i.e. save this match and try to level the series at Oval.
So just pray that Pakistan score the first 150-175 runs for the loss of not too many wickets (2-3 wkts at the most).
I am pretty sure that Pakistan will try to save all 10 wickets by lunch tomorrow and in doing so won't mind a slow run rate.
Fair & Balance Bhai, glad to have noticed your presence once again. :)
I am pretty sure that Pakistan will try to save all 10 wickets by lunch tomorrow and in doing so won't mind a slow run rate.
This is my strategy; we should not bank on returning Asif/Hafeez (and/or Akhtar) to win us the match. We can psychologically instill some fear in the opposition's heads, that I agree with, yes, but entirely relying on one man to finish off the job would be similar to standing in lion's den, and without any protection, at that.
Even though as you have mentioned that the approach and the mindset will lean towards into the defensive mode, there should at least be some efforts made in winning the test from the very first ball. Keep rotating the strike rate, one's and two's every other ball, if not a boundary, will keep the momentum in check. Every other trick in the book, plus the ones which will hopefully be discovered tomorrow, will lead us towards our destination.
I miss Imran so much. He would have attacked the enemy with his claws and would have sucked the blood right out of them, leaving their collective carcasses on the floor bare naked. He would have made sure we either win or lose. He would have went all-out, regardless of the final result. The term 'cornered tigers' holds a greater meaning in the eyes of Imran, and will forever continue to do so, coming straight from his leadership capabilities.
God, let this be the morale of the day of our camp tonight.
Here is the plan: First 10 overs: Just score around 25 runs and see off the new ball 10-20: **Increase the scoring rate and aim for 35 runs
**20-30(lunch):Another 30 runs
After lunch we will need 233 runs
30-40: Another 35 runs 40-50: 35 runs 50-60: 35 runs
After tea we will need 128 runs
Go for the kill and score around 4 runs an over to win the game :)
The best we can expect from our openers is to just score at 2-3 runs an over and play 20 overs and then play freely, i am kind of having feeling that we will inshallah win.
If we go back into this match and look at our bowling resources, look at the way we lost the previous test, look at the way umpires robbed us (didn't spare us in the 2nd inning either) and the way Younis and Yousaf fought back, i think we REALLY deserve to win this game.
Well as i said before, we can't expect much from the openers so if they can stay there for about 15 overs, that will be enough and they can score around 40-50 runs in that process. Actually our openers did pretty well in the first inning (even though they didn't score many runs) to take the shine off the ball and it helped Yousaf and Younis.
I have heard that Inzi can only come to bat at number 7, that can cause problems in our run chase but it might work out well because Akmal and Faisal like to play their shots so in case they fail, we will have Inzi to rescue us.
We cannot afford to lose more than 2 wickets at lunch, probably 4 down at tea.
yep... I think the launchpad provided by the openers will decide what the rest of the players do.
If it were upto me, I'd adopt an improvisational approach and give each player from Butt to Iqbal a mandate to score 50 runs or more. If both our openers succeed in doing so before lunch and we haven't lost any wickets or may be a wicket, then it'd be time to up the tempo in the second session and score another hundred fifty'ish. Since we have Inzimam coming in late tomorrow, Akmal and Inzi together should be given the task to save the game if all else fails.
It is a mental game. If our batsmen enter the field with confidence and aggressive approach, we will win. If you have confidence in your ability, you can do anything you want.
Pakistan should go for the chase:jhanda:, but it will all depend on how the openers perform, Can they provide the vital stand that is required for the chase, so far the openers have dissappointed us all, but we can only hope that they will set the platform for the middle order and later order to go for the chase.
Lets hope and wait for tomorrow first hour to pass by and see how things actually are :k: