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We should just focus on becoming HTBs. Not even the “Number 1 ranked” teams win away from home these days
Me thinks the young team will do better than the old teams overseas but Asia mai we will struggle a bit due to not having a world class player of spin like Younis.
We should just focus on becoming HTBs. Not even the “Number 1 ranked” teams win away from home these days
Yes we need to be dominate in UAE. It's disappointing we haven't even won against the big sides in the UAE consistently in LO.
Probably true. But still don’t think we will be able to beat sides like Australia and South Africa in their homes for the time being.
We should definitely be able to beat England, NZ, Australia, SA at home though.
So 2 wins out of their last 11 Test matches, is that really Pakistan's level nowadays?
What's gone wrong?
Is the focus too much on limited-overs cricket?
Are the players not too bothered about Test cricket?
We are simply not good enough to win. There's not a single bowler or batsman in the side that could get into the World XI. Or the captain/WK. Include Warner and Smith, and I doubt even Azhar could get into a 16 member squad for a World XI.
With most of those Tests played abroad, which team could win more matches?
We should just focus on becoming HTBs. Not even the “Number 1 ranked” teams win away from home these days
And yet in 2016 Azhar, Sarfaraz and Yasir were in the ICC xi if I am not wrong
Going forward I’d be very surprised if we didn’t win consistently against top teams in UAE LOIs.
Players prefer Limited overs these days, far more LO talent than test. Not really strong in any aspect in test. Mickey's a pretty poor coach too, lots of tactical mistakes e.g. not picking a second spinner, promoting Azhar to open etc.
I think we've let the champions trophy go to our head. We still aren't getting consistent results. The main difference that's changed has been Sarfraz as captain who is much better tactically than Azhar. Mickey couldn't do anything with Azhar either. There's a reason why he keeps failing with Karachi Kings yet Sarfraz gets his average quetta side far every time.
Mickey isn't getting the best out of the guys either. The guys performing are guys who are new to international cricket who started the ground running. A mark of a good coach is when you can see improvements in the regular players/after they get worked out. Which I don't see.
And yet in 2016 Azhar, Sarfaraz and Yasir were in the ICC xi if I am not wrong
this covered most of the bases well i think. mickey is a rather poor Test coach one senses also from his selection preferences. i cant but help think that if rahat is in the team yet again, it is in some part because mickey has an inexplicable soft spot for him.
Our Test team is in the dumps at the moment. The batting is inexperienced and shaky, and the fact that someone like Azhar is the leading batsman says it all. The bowling is largely dependent on a 33 year old unfit leg-spinner who gets hammered when the conditions don't suit him, and a bunch of toothless fast bowlers who don't seem capable of buying a wicket.
Considering our tough schedule over the next year or so, we are going to flogged, especially in England and South Africa. A Smith-less Australia is beatable in the UAE though, especially because Yasir would be in his comfort-zone.
It has been clear for around two years now that the priority of Mickey and the management is to improve our LOI teams. Test cricket has taken a backseat, and the main objective at this point is the World Cup next year. In addition, the Champions Trophy fluke has reinforced our dedication to ODI cricket.
Which is not a bad thing.
The Pakistani public would much rather have a CT or WC victory than a #1 Test ranking for a continuous period.
We don't really do succession-planning very well do we.
It seems that every year we are rebuilding the Test team and as soon as senior players leave we don't have replacements ready to take over.
Spot onMickey likes players with previous international experience. He called up umar akmal and Irfan before realising they weren't fit enough and booted them out. People also forget Mickey stuck with Shehzad for a long time before playing Fakhar. He had the option to play Fakhar at the start of the CT but he chose not to. Shehzad had to fail yet again so spectacularly to force his hand. Then Mickey getting credit for Fakhar playing lol, when everyone else would have played him games before. Same way as he didn't want to play a 2nd spinner against SL, no one was seasoned and he knew very little about them. Did the same thing with Haris, took him ages to get in the side, reluctant to replace the more experienced middle order players. Wanted Azhar to play 3 as looking at his history he's a no.3 player. I could go on, he always makes the "safe choice". I remember when people were complaining about team selection Inzi replied that's why there are others in the squad. Mickey was just slow to try out replacements.
Personally it really feels Mickey knows nothing of past Pakistani cricket or domestic. Every Pak fan could have told you that Irfan struggled to bowl 10 overs, but somehow was a surprise to Mickey when he actually tested him out.
Mickey makes crucial team selection mistakes (I still can't get over he didn't play a 2nd spinner in those conditions, madness), doesn't identify talent, knows nothing about domestic, players fitness is degrading with him in charge (Imad, Sarfraz), classless comments against players in the media (even if Riaz wasn't performing well, he was trying, Mickey had no right to make comments like that against a player especially when he doesn't do it to the more seasoned seniors e.g. Hafeez, Malik) . I do wonder what he actually does, or what people give him credit for.
Funny how this has happened since Mickey took over.
In Waqars stint, pak won 8, lost 4 and drew 3. Wonder whats happened lol
Misbah and YK should have been phased out one at a time really with new players been integrated into the side in an ideal world. Also playing three tough away series in a row was always going to mean results would change.
The losing at "home" to SL is the one series which is hard to stomach. I think the team will struggle to beat sides in UAE as well as away from home now until the side starts to form a solid batting unit again.
It is pretty obvious that Younis retired as a retaliation to the captaincy snub. He had eyes on leading the team for a couple of years after Misbah, and the PCB side-stepping him clearly did not go down well with him.
How is that pretty obvious btw
He expressed his desire to lead the team after Misbah in multiple interviews, and Shahryar Khan himself stated in an interview that Younis was expecting to be handed over the captaincy in Tests.
http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/s...an-retired-as-he-wasn-t-offered-the-captaincy
I do think he would have played for another couple of years if he would have been offered the captaincy.
He expressed his desire to lead the team after Misbah in multiple interviews, and Shahryar Khan himself stated in an interview that Younis was expecting to be handed over the captaincy in Tests.
http://www.pakpassion.net/ppforum/s...an-retired-as-he-wasn-t-offered-the-captaincy
I do think he would have played for another couple of years if he would have been offered the captaincy.
mickey likes players with previous international experience. He called up umar akmal and irfan before realising they weren't fit enough and booted them out. People also forget mickey stuck with shehzad for a long time before playing fakhar. He had the option to play fakhar at the start of the ct but he chose not to. Shehzad had to fail yet again so spectacularly to force his hand. Then mickey getting credit for fakhar playing lol, when everyone else would have played him games before. Same way as he didn't want to play a 2nd spinner against sl, no one was seasoned and he knew very little about them. Did the same thing with haris, took him ages to get in the side, reluctant to replace the more experienced middle order players. Wanted azhar to play 3 as looking at his history he's a no.3 player. I could go on, he always makes the "safe choice". I remember when people were complaining about team selection inzi replied that's why there are others in the squad. Mickey was just slow to try out replacements.
Personally it really feels mickey knows nothing of past pakistani cricket or domestic. Every pak fan could have told you that irfan struggled to bowl 10 overs, but somehow was a surprise to mickey when he actually tested him out.
Mickey makes crucial team selection mistakes (i still can't get over he didn't play a 2nd spinner in those conditions, madness), doesn't identify talent, knows nothing about domestic, players fitness is degrading with him in charge (imad, sarfraz), classless comments against players in the media (even if riaz wasn't performing well, he was trying, mickey had no right to make comments like that against a player especially when he doesn't do it to the more seasoned seniors e.g. Hafeez, malik) . I do wonder what he actually does, or what people give him credit for.
So 2 wins out of their last 11 Test matches, is that really Pakistan's level nowadays?
What's gone wrong?
Is the focus too much on limited-overs cricket?
Are the players not too bothered about Test cricket?