Re: South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 11th-15th January @ Centurion
lets see what happens tomorrow morning ... pak did waste a stable position .... aab Allah karay if inzi and akmal can stick around for few overs tomorrow ... we definatly need 350+ ... inshallah !
Re: South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 11th-15th January @ Centurion
I have no clue why people keep talking of him as replacement of Inzi. Faisal can barely touch the Inzi's shoe sand, talk about being a future replacement. I bet Inzi can play better than Faisal (now) even when he is 50. They kept Misbah, Asim out for so long, Misbah is now out of contention for the spot, soon Asim will be too.
Re: South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 11th-15th January @ Centurion
Not bad though. 350+ still reachable.
And you can see that there is bounce and a little bit of swing. So Rana and Asif should be able to capitalize. But they need a decent score to defend. As Kallis, Prince and others will not spare bad balls (which Rana and others have a good stock of as well)
I think they should open with Asif and Rana and then keep Shahid with either one. Try Kaneria and for a few overs with one seamer. But if can't turn it, then just keep the medium pace of Shahid with Hafeez spin.
I wouldn't play 2 spinners at the same time.
But lets see.
Yes Asim should have been played...
however that would have made too much sense..
Re: South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 11th-15th January @ Centurion
Faisal is a two tippa batsmen…
Re: South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 11th-15th January @ Centurion
Re: South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 11th-15th January @ Centurion
Faisal should be given a nipple to suck on before he goes out to bat so that he concentrates solely on what he's there for......his batting
Re: South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 11th-15th January @ Centurion
Don't worry - one 50 or a decent score in this series may mean he will still feature in the future series.
Yes you are right Inzi will still be better than Faisal when he is 50 and the worst scenario is that he is likely to be taken to the World. cup.
Re: South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 11th-15th January @ Centurion
But Faisal will never play in the ODI mathces once Razzaq & Malik are fit. Yasir has given them alot of think about since he played well against West Indies ODI and now today's score of 65...Despite him being not that great of a player himself.
Re: South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 11th-15th January @ Centurion
^ yeah ..pathetic that his uncle Mr. Phit phat
is influencing his selection and not his merit.
Why aren’t the right players relatives of Musharaf or Imran Khan or Naseem Ashraf…
Ya Allah…
Tmasha laga rehta heay..
this is all I can think of that can express my feelings… 
Re: South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 11th-15th January @ Centurion
242/5 isnt bad. At 180/2 we should have lost fewer wkts. None the less 300 odd is a realistic score to aim for. 330+ would be ideal, but another c. 100 is looking odds out unless Inzi/Akmal score handsomely.
We'll realistically bat on day late day 3/day 4 next in this game, possibly the best time to have a knock?
This will be a good game. Remember though that we'll have the advanteg of runs on the board and will bowl 4th, so in many ways with 300 we'll make the plays unless Saf get A LOT more.
Re: South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 11th-15th January @ Centurion
On a serious note Faisal (along with Shoaib Malik) did save the first test in SLA last year plus he scored a hundred in the Karachi test (although there was no pressure on him when he came out to bat) against India which we won.
While he may not be quite as good as Miandad or Inzi, he's not a complete failure.
He needs to work on his mouth and esp. on his tech. against short-pitched stuff. That said I would prefer Asim Kamal to bat at no. 6 in the next two tests. Him being left-handed is another advantage
Re: South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 11th-15th January @ Centurion
We'll realistically bat on day late day 3/day 4 next in this game, possibly the best time to have a knock?
This will be a good game. Remember though that we'll have the advanteg of runs on the board and will bowl 4th, so in many ways with 300 we'll make the plays unless Saf get A LOT more.
I think 300 is below par on this surface. PAK should really aim for 400 so that they get somewhere b/w 350-400.
Re: South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 11th-15th January @ Centurion
bad decision to play iqbal.guy has no technique nothing and has a poor avg.even some of the unreliable openers have a better record than him. even afridi could have done better than him he has a better test record
Re: South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 11th-15th January @ Centurion
Its not about aimimg for 400, obviously aim as high as, but keeping things realistic here, we can expect some resistance from Rana and maaybe Nazir, but Asif and Danish are rabbits.
242 to 300 is “realistic”-maybe 320, but 400 would require a big stand between the 2 bats in.
300 is always a decent score first up, it places you firmly in a game. Saf will bat last, on a track which will assist Danish late, and that we cannot lose sight off.
Re: South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 11th-15th January @ Centurion
He needs to work on his mouth and esp. on his tech. against short-pitched stuff. That said I would prefer Asim Kamal to bat at no. 6 in the next two tests. Him being left-handed is another advantage
He has his big mouth uncle to help him sort out his technique. No doubt he has been coaching him but may be he is not good enough or has lot to learn and imrpove......
Re: South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 11th-15th January @ Centurion
He will continue to be selected regardless of his shortcomings / failures in the future .....
Re: South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 11th-15th January @ Centurion
Forget about Faisal, he is only holding the fort while Yousef is away, in the next test he will be back where he belongs, in the pavilion.
Re: South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 11th-15th January @ Centurion
Faisal needs to start talking like his uncle and he will become a better batsman
Woh to may yoohi tokka maal laha tha kay thakka lag gaya
Re: South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 11th-15th January @ Centurion
Osman Samiuddin’s take on the first day’s play
Pulling up short
http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/rsavpak/content/current/story/276139.html
To pull or not to pull? It is one of the more intriguing questions batsmen face. By choosing to take on the short ball, the intent is admirably purposeful. Never the shy, retiring type, Viv Richards said of the hook, a first cousin of the pull, “The fast bowler is testing your courage and your speed of reaction and you are trying to hit him either to, or over the boundary. You are telling the bully with the ball that you are not scared of anything he can send down at you.”
It’s a fair point, for batsmen would much rather be accused of being compulsive hookers or pullers than being known for shuffling away to square leg when confronted by a short ball. Richards also likened hooking to riding a “roller coaster of risk,” and it is that risk which was rammed home to Pakistan today.
Pakistan weren’t blown away by a short-ball barrage, as many had feared they might be. But they were hustled out by a judicious use of it. Three batsmen fell playing poor pulls, two of whom had been at the crease long enough to know better.
Yasir Hameed and Younis Khan are not the two Y’s who normally put on big third-wicket partnerships for Pakistan but they had batted serenely enough to disentangle their side from a tricky position. As always, Younis let everyone know he was there; he clapped his own partner, nodded at bowlers who beat him, cheerily acknowledged fielders who athletically cut off his strokes and acknowledged his own shots, too.
Hameed it was who appeared changed. It’s been 18 months since he last played a Test for Pakistan and longer since he was a regular. Not all of it was his own fault, for he was once dropped the match after scoring two fifties as opener in a Sydney Test. He had faults sure, chasing outside off with a relentlessness not seen since Smokey followed the Bandit. Gone was the urgency, the joie de vivre of his early years, replaced instead by an unsmiling grimness. If his shots weren’t so pretty, you’d be tempted to call him a grinder. But the timing remains, evidenced in a drive or two and a ridiculously good flicked six over square leg.
Both knocks ended badly, as did Faisal Iqbal’s short stay immediately after, the three taking Richards advice gleefully, though not perhaps balancing it with that element of risk the great man pointed out as an afterthought.
Mind you, the wickets weren’t pure freebies; they were just reward for the hosts. South Africa lacked a little fizz, perhaps understandably hungover from the monumental effort required to beat India. Nobody could blame them for that Test ended less than a week ago and by the time this one ends, it will be their fourth in a month.
Re: South Africa vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 11th-15th January @ Centurion
Funny how 3rd test England in pakistan, england was criticized for using the sweep shot poorly. Is it really fair to blame a shot style?