Pak's bowling remains incisive for the most part. It is obviously Pakistan's batting that has been letting them down.
I don't think its too much of exaggeration to say that Lahora Badshahs were a better T20 batting outfit than this team.
Having said that, one must commend Younis Khan for doing his best in the T20 format even though he is not really a tullaybaaz batsman. He was pacing his innings very nicely today....but did not get much support from the other end.
is pakistan out of the worldcup now?
No. But tomorrow the answer may be 'yes'. Pak play New Zealand tomorrow in a must-win game. Lose and they are out.
Pakistan just direly needs a more confident and in-form opener along with Akmal... a good initial knock by one or both the openers can take a lot of pressure off the middle order.
For me, Butt is the weakest link in the team right now, and he needs to be replaced by someone like Nazir or Farhat.
Second in line would be either Malik or Tanvir who seem to pitch in inconsistently... and Razzaq would be a good replacement for these "all-rounders".
Just these two changes will make the team a pretty formidable opponent for any other team... I think.
^ It's not just Butt, look at Afridi, Mibah, Fawad, Tanvir, all of these are out of touch. Our batsmen can't seem to control their innings. Their moral has gone down, their batting is rusty, bowlers are out of touch, well... nothing is going right for the team.
^ It's not just Butt, look at Afridi, Mibah, Fawad, Tanvir, all of these are out of touch. Our batsmen can't seem to control their innings. Their moral has gone down, their batting is rusty, bowlers are out of touch, well... nothing is going right for the team.
I disagree about the bowling bit - the bowlers esp. Afridi have done pretty well for the last few months. They've been the only ray of hope for Pakistan. Even in today's match, after Tanvir's disastrous opening spell, Afridi came to the rescue.
Afridi has his place set in the team for his bowling breakthroughs and relatively better fielding abilities. So he's a pretty strong player in the current context.
Fawad hasn't had much of a chance, so I can't say much about him.
Misbah has always come to the crease in times when Pakistan is in dire straits and he's managed to contribute 8 out of 10 times, so he's okay too in my books.
It's really only Butt, and then Malik that are problematic... and given their positions early on in the lineup, the problems they cause due to their incompetence get trickled down the order and end up costing heavily to Pakistan.
On the pace bowling front, Aamir seems to be okay... he hasn't taken wickets but at least he hasn't been expensive. Tanvir on the other hand, seems to be out of form and he needs to have a rest and make way for Razzaq.
I was talking about Afridi's batting. Spinners (Afridi, Ajmal, Malik) somehow makeup for what fast bowlers are doing early on. It's the batting that is worrisome. None of them are clicking and I agree it has a lot to do with our openers.
When you send Butt to open and go to bathroom and you come back and he's sitting in your seat, it's never a good sign.
The key stat of the day: Pakistan gave away 20 extras, and lost by 19 runs
But the main is problem is our batting which is way below par and fragile. Only Younis Khan has been consistent with the bat with useful contributions coming here and there from Akmal, Misbah and Malik
