2015 World Cup : Pakistan suffer a demoralizing 76 run defeat against India

[aukhan]

India won by 76 runs : India 300/7, 50 Overs (Virat Kohli 107, S Raina 74) , Pakistan 224 (Misbah-ul-Haq 76, Ahmed Shehzad 47)

Toss: India won toss and elected to bat

Teams:

Pakistan:

Ahmed Shehzad, Younis Khan, Haris Sohail, Misbah-ul-Haq*, Sohaib Maqsood, Umar Akmal†, Shahid Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah, Sohail Khan, Mohammad Irfan


India:

Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, AM Rahane, SK Raina, MS Dhoni*†, RA Jadeja, R Ashwin, UT Yadav, MM Sharma, Mohammed Shami

Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma opened the innings against Mohammad Irfan and Sohail Khan. India started cautiously in the first 5 overs. Irfan troubled the openers with some bounce were as Sohail was very disciplined with his line and length. Dhawan looked troubled early but with the passage of time started to get more comfortable. Rohit on the other hand looked good from the first ball and hit couple of beautifully executed boundaries before he became the first victim to fall in the 7th over when Sohail got him out for 15 when he attempted to play an aerial shot off him.

Score was 34/1 when Virat Kohli arrived. Afridi and Wahab were introduced into the attack but they could not contain the two and leaked runs upfront. Runs started coming off easily for the Indians now as they scored boundaries on bad deliveries and rotated the strike beautifully. Yasir was quickly introduced but he was getting milked for runs too by the two batsman. Meanwhile, both the batsman brought their half centuries. Partnership was building very nicely and India were now looking very well set for a big score.
The two contributed a 100 runs partnership in 20 overs and looked all set towards their individual hundreds as they scored boundaries freely and easily on Pakistani bowlers. A misunderstanding between the two batsmen in the middle brought Pakistan their second breakthrough as Dhawan was dismissed after being run out by Shehzad on 73.

India were 163/2 when Suresh Raina arrived at no. 4 but the flow of runs didn't stop for India after the fall of wicket. Raina joined the party and score boundaries and sixes too. Meanwhile Umar Akmal dropped an all-important catch of Kohli who later went on to make a hundred off 119 deliveries. In the meanwhile, Raina also reached his half century in 40 deliveries. The score was now showing 245/2 after 43 overs with India eyeing the total in excess of 300.

Virat Kohli was then dismissed for 107 by Sohail Khan when he edged one to the keeper. India were 273/3 when Dhoni arrived but Raina fell quickly in the next over off Sohail when he tried to pull him for a maximum and got out on the score of 74. India were 292/4 when Jadeja arrived and faced up to the charged up Riaz and couldn't last long against him as Riaz was bowling over 150+ kphs and bowled him for 3 runs on the last ball of the over. Dhoni was dismissed right on the first ball of the next over of Sohail when he top-edged a pull shot which was caught by Haris. Rahane walked in next and got bowled on the first delivery by Sohail Khan. India just about making it to 300/7, which at one stage looked very easy to reach.

Pakistan started the chase with Ahmed Shehzad and Younis Khan. Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami were the opening bowling pair for India. The start was not very fruitful as Pakistan scored only 1 boundary before the fall of their first wicket Younis who fell early when he was bounced out on a beautiful delivery by Shami. He went after scoring 6. The score was 11/1 when Haris Sohail walked in at no.3. Haris started his innings in a dramatic fashion with 3 cracking boundaries on Yadav.

Run rate started to decrease with the passage of time with Indian bowlers bowling few maiden overs here and there. Pressure was on Shehzad in a big way as he wasted couple of boundary hitting deliveries and was batting at a low SR but the wickets in hand was the most encouraging thing for Pakistan team at that point. The partnership was continuing to build and was starting to pick up pace before Haris edged one delivery of Ashwin to first slip. Haris was dismissed for the score of 36.

Pakistan were 79/2 when Misbah-ul-Haq arrived, Shehzad started to score some quick runs now and hit back to back boundaries on Ashwin and Pakistan later brought their 100 after 22 overs. Shehzad fell next as he slashed a wide delivery of Yadav to the gully fielder for the score of 47. Pakistan were 102/3 when Maqsood arrived, he faced one delivery only before playing a poor shot and getting dismissed for 0 on Yadav's bowling.

Umar Akmal walked in at no. 6 at got out immediately in the next over as Jadeja's sharp turning delivery took his edge for a duck. Pakistan were 103/5 when Afridi arrived, He looked composed and patient today with his approach. Afridi and Misbah built a little partnership of 46 with Afridi contributing a six and a four during the stand before he hit Shami's delivery in air for the cover fielder with his score on 22.
Pakistan were 149/6 when Wahab Riaz arrived and hit a boundary before falling to Shami too for 4. Yasir Shah was the next man in and with Misbah, he put on a 49 run stand. Whilst the Pakistan captain scored majority of the runs in that partnership, Yasir was on 13 runs before he played a loose shot straight into the fielder’s hand. Score was 203/8 when Sohail Khan walked in. There were 3 more boundaries by Misbah before the captain departed on the score of 76 when he was caught at mid-on on Shami's bowling leaving Pakistan at 220/9. Mohammad Irfan was the last man out as Pakistan innings folded on 227.


Summary:

Yet another World Cup loss for Pakistan at the hands of the arch-rivals but if Pakistan are to keep their dreams alive in the 2015 World Cup, they have look ahead and work on fixing their deficiencies. Apart from Misbah-ul-Haq and Haris Sohail, none of the other batsmen ever looked in control which is a worry. Pakistan’s next game is against West Indies on 21st February and one can only hope that lessons learnt from this batting failure will be put to good use if Pakistan are to avoid the ignominy of missing a quarter final place.

 

[MenInG]

The only real change needed is YK's exclusion but the Pakistan fielding and Irfan's form is also a concern

 

[Hamza_]

The only real change needed is YK's exclusion but the Pakistan fielding and Irfan's form is also a concern

Rahat Ali could come in for Yasir. Younis Khan out and Sarfraz in, Jamshed in for Akmal. Line up for WI match:
Jamshed
Shehzad
Sarfraz
Haris
Maqsood
Misbah
Afridi
Rahat
Sohail
Irfan
Wahab

 

[Effy]

i hope this Pak side gets eliminated in the first round

 

[Abdullah719]

i hope this Pak side gets eliminated in the first round

Way to support the team bro.

 

[PakHammer]

No surprise really.

Our ODI form for the last year has been awful and facing a mental issue of doing something where much more talented Pakistan teams failed to do in the past was always going to be too much to handle for this particular set of players.

 

[EarthBoltX]

At the end of the day, this was the obvious, predictable result. I think everyone realizes that though.

And if anyone doesn't, c'mon guys, we have a whole tournament ahead of us.

 

[asadee]

where is Younis Khan now?? why isn't he giving emotional press conferences now!!!?

 

[ares1000]

Those calling for 'support' are being silly. This is the game that matters most to the fans and players. Only a cup win could ease the indignity of another loss and we are not winning this WC. WC in, WC out they disappoint.

 

[Ottoman]

Rahat Ali could come in for Yasir. Younis Khan out and Sarfraz in, Jamshed in for Akmal. Line up for WI match:
Jamshed
Shehzad
Sarfraz
Haris
Maqsood
Misbah
Afridi
Rahat
Sohail
Irfan
Wahab

You want to drop the 1 guy who is in some kind of form along with Misbah. Mr. Sarfraz will not have a clue on these pitches.

 

[Hamza_]

You want to drop the 1 guy who is in some kind of form along with Misbah. Mr. Sarfraz will not have a clue on these pitches.

I don't rate Akmal.

 

[AZ]

once again the brilliant work of the bowlers unraveled by an insipid batting performance.

absolutely criminal of Shehzad to throw it away, Sohaib with a pathetic shot and Ukmal unlucky.

Younis Khan should have some shame and quit already, beyond disgraceful now.

 

[Markhor]

Honestly, the writing was on the wall as soon as India crossed 250. We appear incapable of chasing a half decent target in ODIs.

Our ODI form has been terrible for the last 18 months so expectations were to at least show some fight. Barring Misbah, nobody did that. That batting collapse when Shehzad, Akmal and Maqsood all fell in quick succession was sickening. Abject surrender from these overhyped players who should apologise to the Pakistan fans who paid their hard earned money to watch that rubbish.

We'll probably beat the minnows and maybe West Indies, but apart from that don't rate us against any decent opposition. A bit of pressure and we fold like a pack of cards.

Thanks Waqar for presiding over yet another World Cup disaster, and for running the players into the ground with your foolish fitness regime leading to all these injuries.

 

[Markhor]

Final quick point - death bowling was very good today but spinners were ineffectual.

Ashwin and Jadeja bowled well but for god's sake, they should be Pakistan's bread and butter. Our batsmen will have faced umpteen spinners in domestic cricket so there was no reason for that shambles we saw in the middle overs.

 

[Ottoman]

I don't rate Akmal.

SO you don't know Modren Cricket at all.

If u compare with all the batsmen in this team.

Younis: Good test batsman but absolutely rubbish ODI batsmen.
Shahzad: Selfish only plays for himself have no sense about ODI cricket, need counseling how to rotate strike.
Misbah: No problem with him.
Haris: Can give you a brisk start but gets stuk in the middle especially against quality spin.
Sohaib: Agressive player can hit big but cann't rotate strike at will.

Umar: 1st of all, the guy is a selfish player, if he can't score, he will try to score by playing big shots, can hit big can rotate strike at will and a good fielder not a keeper.

Time for you to realize that the one player who can win a match, you want to get rid of him. WOW

 

[Effy]

How selfish is this Yunis Khan ?

 

[Shafi]

With this loss it will be hard for us to qualify for QF. We will loose to SA for sure and it will be tough battle with WI, Zim and Ireland. Hopefully we will have better new players after this World cup.

 

[Sadevdesai]

I just could not understand the fact that we were lavishly praising Sohail Khan for getting Kohli ..... WHHHAAAATTTT ??? As if he had backed up his pre-match MOUTHING OFF. Kohli had just scored a CENTURY and was throwing his bat around, when he got out. Are we this STUPID ..... that we can't even see that Kohli had put the Indians in a strong position with his century. Our fans on this forum were acting as if Sohail got Kohli .....FIRST BALL !!!!!!

 

[Hamza_]

SO you don't know Modren Cricket at all.

If u compare with all the batsmen in this team.

Younis: Good test batsman but absolutely rubbish ODI batsmen.
Shahzad: Selfish only plays for himself have no sense about ODI cricket, need counseling how to rotate strike.
Misbah: No problem with him.
Haris: Can give you a brisk start but gets stuk in the middle especially against quality spin.
Sohaib: Agressive player can hit big but cann't rotate strike at will.

Umar: 1st of all, the guy is a selfish player, if he can't score, he will try to score by playing big shots, can hit big can rotate strike at will and a good fielder not a keeper.

Time for you to realize that the one player who can win a match, you want to get rid of him. WOW

Akmal is only good for SL or Afghanistan. Can't score under pressure nor has any brain cells, You need a brain to survive in international cricket, Look up at Kohli, With shots he has the brain which is actually helpful for cause of the team. Akmal gets bogged down as well, stuck at times and is poor against spin.

 

[Hamza_]

With this loss it will be hard for us to qualify for QF. We will loose to SA for sure and it will be tough battle with WI, Zim and Ireland. Hopefully we will have better new players after this World cup.

Even if he was out first ball, It does not make up a case to label him as next big thing because performance only should be judged over a consistent period of time, One off performance as an indication of player has been a tragedy for us. Either be it our fans or selectors, A player should be rated because of performances over a period of time, Selectors for instance picked up Nasir Jamshed only because of his 158 in recent List A tournament, However selecting someone like Babar Azam would've been a better option who has surely performed better in domestic circuit over time and to make the case further, We are going with players who have barely played one or two matches in whole career, So I guess selecting a debutant won't be a problem either.

 

[desi_launda]

Akmal's average below 35 now.Needs to be dropped

 

[BlackThunder]

An expected victory as I had called it months ago. Pakistan needs to drop YK and play Sarfaraz if they want to get anywhere in this WC.

 

[MenInG]

I just could not understand the fact that we were lavishly praising Sohail Khan for getting Kohli ..... WHHHAAAATTTT ??? As if he had backed up his pre-match MOUTHING OFF. Kohli had just scored a CENTURY and was throwing his bat around, when he got out. Are we this STUPID ..... that we can't even see that Kohli had put the Indians in a strong position with his century. Our fans on this forum were acting as if Sohail got Kohli .....FIRST BALL !!!!!!

He picked up 5 wickets. Think that does deserve praise in any match situation.

 

[Kianig89]

after India scored 300

i was interested in that for how many overs will we be in the game and shamefully after 22 overs we were out of it

 

[Thivagar]

Pakistan was 90 something for 1 when I went to bed. Woke up in the morning and wasn't surprised at all. Typical Misbah doing his thing, Shehzad scoring 40s as usual and the usual collapse.

 

[Ottoman]

Akmal is only good for SL or Afghanistan. Can't score under pressure nor has any brain cells, You need a brain to survive in international cricket, Look up at Kohli, With shots he has the brain which is actually helpful for cause of the team. Akmal gets bogged down as well, stuck at times and is poor against spin.

So who think has a brain in this lineup.

Don't say Sarfraz, sweeping everything. Is it Cricket

 

[DHONI183]

Suresh Raina´s innings was the turning point and one that assured India of getting to a big total. Although the Pakistan seamers bowled really well to restrict India to 300 from otherwise which looked like well above 320, but for the batting line-up that they have it was already a huge task once the opposition got past 260.

Ahmed Shehzad is a good batsman, but he really needs to work on his inability to rotate the strike. He takes too long to settle in and by the time he steps on the accelerator, the required run-rate already goes well beyond Pakistan´s reach. Players like Dhoni etc. are famously successful for adapting this approach, but wouldn´t they look foolish if he had never ever succeeded with this approach? My point in short is, when has this strategy ever worked for Shehzad?

 

[HappyFan]

I would like to congratulate Moin Khan for another great defeat. Dont know who made that decision but playing with two leg spinners against India was a clever move, after all Indian batsman has no clue how to play spin bowling, I would like to congratulate team management for that.

I would like to congratulate Pakistani batsmans for scoring another 230, too bad Wasim was sitting in the commentary box and Waqar was in the dressing room but didnt want to bowl (Dont know why!). Imagine if these two were in the field Indian would have all out in somewhere 220 or 230. so the team management's calculation was correct too bad they didn't realize that Wasim and Waqar were in no mode to bowl that day. Just a little miscommunication.

Umar Akmal is the asset of Pakistan cricket. One of the greatest wicket keeper batsman. I would like to see him scoring 30 or 40 in the next game or so. Its necessary for him in order to stay in the team. As long as he score in every 8th or 9th games, his fans (including myself) will be able to justify his position in the team. As far as his drop catches we can always say that he is not a full time wicket keeper so obviously he may miss a catch or two every once in a while. What other choice do we have? we only have one wicket keeper left in the whole country. His name is Kamran Akmal. You dont want him back in the team? Dont you? I am still looking forward to see the big game, yes Pakistan v Ireland.

Pakistan has never beaten India in the world cup may be they will make another record by not beating Ireland in the world cup!

 

[AlCapone]

Suresh Raina´s innings was the turning point and one that assured India of getting to a big total. Although the Pakistan seamers bowled really well to restrict India to 300 from otherwise which looked like well above 320, but for the batting line-up that they have it was already a huge task once the opposition got past 260.

Ahmed Shehzad is a good batsman, but he really needs to work on his inability to rotate the strike. He takes too long to settle in and by the time he steps on the accelerator, the required run-rate already goes well beyond Pakistan´s reach. Players like Dhoni etc. are famously successful for adapting this approach, but wouldn´t they look foolish if he had never ever succeeded with this approach? My point in short is, when has this strategy ever worked for Shehzad?

300 is the lowest score so far by a team batting first in the 4 world cup games played so far, even in the warm up games, Oz scored 370 against India and India made over 330 on the same pitch.

The Pakistani bowlers did a fine job, it's the batters who let us down.

 

[Hamza_]

So who think has a brain in this lineup.

Don't say Sarfraz, sweeping everything. Is it Cricket

Actually Sarfraz can do well to nudge it around.

 

[Ottoman]

Actually Sarfraz can do well to nudge it around.

On these bouncy tracks. He is not Moin Khan with bat.

 

[Hamza_]

On these bouncy tracks. He is not Moin Khan with bat.

It was a flat phatta wicket and Sarfraz would have at least put Indian trundler Mohit Sharma and their spinners to their place.

 

[zabalestmsm]

Younus must be dropped and Sarfaraz brought back as an opener!

 

[AZulfi]

A comfortable win for India in the end. To be honest Pakistan were never really in the contest

Although Pak bowlers managed to pull things back a bit in the last 4 or 5 overs (at one stage it looked as though India would make somewhere between 330 and 350) but by then the damage had already been done. 301 under lights in a pressure game was always going to take some doing and once India got past 270 it was game set and match.

In ODIs runs are more important than wickets and India were always favourites because of their superior batting.

And it is not just talent (in batting) which separates the two teams, our problem is more psychological. We could not beat India in 92, 96, 99 and 2003 when we had great players and clear superiority in bowling so expecting this team with a weak bowling attack and comprising mostly of batsmen averaging in low 30s and SR in low 70s to beat a team that has numerous players averaging above 40 (infact Dhoni and Kohli average 52 +/-) and SR in 80s and 90s was plain wishful thinking.If someone had told you in 1990 that for the next 25 years, india will beat Pak in every single World Cup match, you would have have simply laughed off the suggestion. I mean this hardly seems plausible, even statistically...but it happened. And now we need 25 years just to balance the record.

Universal Truth:

- Sun rises in the East

- Pakistan cannot beat India in World Cups

We should be so grateful that the World Cup is only held every 4 years otherwise India would have made a serious dent into our overall lead and even overtaken us by now.

Pak should still make the QFs but I do not think we will go any further than that in this World Cup

 

[prakash]

Singles won the match for India

I was mad when Kohli, Dhawan and Raina were taking singles and not going for boundaries. Now I realize how much the 1s contributed to the victory.

India: 1x131 = 131/300 = 44%
Pakistan: 1x69 = 69/224 = 31%

I hope they continue to rotate strike and take singles in the upcoming matches.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

I was mad when Kohli, Dhawan and Raina were taking singles and not going for boundaries

I see.

I was relaxed they were doing that.

 

[Atif]

I see.

I was relaxed they were doing that.

Misbah was relaxed too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Savak]

Singles have lost matches for Pakistan against all oppositions.

 

[in_cutter]

They milked the life out of our bowlers. Class batting.

 

[Saj]

I repeat what I wrote in another thread.

169 dot balls in the Pakistan innings.

169 = 28.1 overs !

 

[Boi]

A stat that be shown to Misbah and the management. We were way too relaxed in the field and gave away too many easy singles. It's always been a problem with Misbah's captaincy and I'm not sure he is aware of it. The way Raina was given a free reign to knock the ball around for ones and twos when he came in was pretty stupid. It allowed him to settle in and play yet another game changing innings against us.

 

[Savak]

A stat that be shown to Misbah and the management. We were way too relaxed in the field and gave away too many easy singles. It's always been a problem with Misbah's captaincy and I'm not sure he is aware of it. The way Raina was given a free reign to knock the ball around for ones and twos when he came in was pretty stupid. It allowed him to settle in and play yet another game changing innings against us.

Nothing has changed in the last 5 years, nothing will change today either.

 

[Major]

Pakistan got the chances but they never bothered to react to those chances. Umar AKmal dropped one, then there was a drop near the boundary. If Kohli was not dropped and the other batsmen was also gone out, pressure could had been created at that point as two new batsmen would had come in.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Bowlers did a decent job put once again the batting was clueless, YK as opener? pathetic move and seems management are intent of having him in side no matter what. Also the lack of strike rotation early in inns once again found pakistan wanting, wont be shocked if we go out in 1st round in this world cup.

 

[yadunoe]

hey i thought we would lose by more so i guess thats good

 

[yadunoe]

same wont be shocked at all and it will be deserved we have been lackluster to say the least

 

[indian_sap]

Spot on - singles & doubles guys, the basic still holds good

 

[Back Foot Drive]

I repeat what I wrote in another thread.

169 dot balls in the Pakistan innings.

169 = 28.1 overs !

On the bright side, they made 224 runs in 21.5 overs.

 

[The Yorker]

Playing associate level cricket ensures a first round knockout

 

[prakash]

Dot balls:
India: 0x121 out of 50 overs = 40%
Pakistan: 0x168 out of 47 overs = 60%

Singles
India: 1x131 = 131/300 = 44%
Pakistan: 1x69 = 69/224 = 31%

 

[akamaka]

I repeat what I wrote in another thread.

169 dot balls in the Pakistan innings.

169 = 28.1 overs !

Reading this makes me mad.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Indian batting was class as expected. They didn't get an easy time against a Pak bowling attack that did okay despite the 300 scorecard, but they rotated the strike beautifully when they could.

 

[Savak]

I would like Grant Flower to be asked this question. I am pretty sure the coaching staff and the players have mentioned these things to the players so many times. The Pakistani batsmen have been making these same errors for the last 5 years. How they have not been able to address these things and work on them is beyond me?

In a more professional country like England and Australia, players with strike rotation and strike rate problems would be disposed off, dumped and be told to improve if they wanted to come back into the team.

 

[Savak]

If anything the Pakistani batsmen need to learn from Rahul Dravid. Early on in his career he used to get bogged down and he struggled to rotate the strike but through sheer hard work he learnt to play with soft hands, drop the ball to the onside and just take off for that quick single.

 

[Laparwah]

Two days back I said that due to our poor ability to chase we will lose if we bat second. The decision was taken out of our hands when Dhoni won the toss then decided to bat first, he of course knew the very same thing. There was no way our batsmen were gonna chase such a big score despite the good start we had. Second thing was the very stupid decision of playing a make shift keeper like Umer Akmal who is always fumbling the ball behind the stumps, I have no faith in him at all. Again I insisted that Sarfraz our specialist keeper had to play even if it meant opening the innings or dropping Younis who so many here seem to hate.

I can't emphasise enough how important the wicket keeping position is. Kholi went on to make around 40 more after being dropped by our crappy keeper, had he been taken we would have been chasing around 250 making it a very different game.

 

[mnoman15]

Problem is these players specially Shahzad are not wristy so its hard to find singles ... He needs to work on his wrist .. Kohli wrists were amazing yesterday, he was milking for singles ....

 

[mnoman15]

You cant find spaces continuously unless you can use your wrists continuosuly

 

[Sadevdesai]

Sohail Khan's 5 for 55 looks good on the Score Card. But 3 of his 5 wickets were at the end, when the Indians were swinging at everything and didn't mind throwing their wickets away. Do you think Rahane would have played that shot if he had come down after the fall of 2nd wicket with some 30 overs to go ???? NO NO .... I don't think so.

 

[Dr_Bassim]

I would like Grant Flower to be asked this question. I am pretty sure the coaching staff and the players have mentioned these things to the players so many times. The Pakistani batsmen have been making these same errors for the last 5 years. How they have not been able to address these things and work on them is beyond me?

In a more professional country like England and Australia, players with strike rotation and strike rate problems would be disposed off, dumped and be told to improve if they wanted to come back into the team.

Unfortunately Grant Flower can't go out and bat for them, much as he would like to.

 

[OUTSPOKEN]

rahat ali could come in for yasir. Younis khan out and sarfraz in, jamshed in for akmal. Line up for wi match:
Jamshed
shehzad
sarfraz
haris
maqsood
misbah
afridi
rahat
sohail
irfan
wahab

what else can you expect from a ragtag team like this. And then you are expecting this team to emulate the feat of the 1992 team. We forget that the 1992 team had many players who were already superstars or stars of international cricket e.g. Imran khan,javed miandad,wasim akram,salim malik,ijaz ahmad etc. And what we have in the present team? Yunus khan who is presently out of form,misbah who is the lone fighter, the most misunderstood and unjustly disliked player,shahid afridi-who is what he has always been.

The 2 players who could do some thing e.g. Abdul hafeez and saeed ajmal are out because of known reasons.selectors are hell bent on keeping umar akmal who is nothing but an afridi copycat in batting. Atleast afridi can bowl.umar's performance with the gloves and bat were just dismal and miserable. Sarfaraz would definitely have been a better selection. Selectors are not selecting fawad alam for inexplicable secret reasons.

So, this is what you get. Nothing unexpected.

 

[OUTSPOKEN]

suresh raina´s innings was the turning point and one that assured india of getting to a big total. Although the pakistan seamers bowled really well to restrict india to 300 from otherwise which looked like well above 320, but for the batting line-up that they have it was already a huge task once the opposition got past 260.

Ahmed shehzad is a good batsman, but he really needs to work on his inability to rotate the strike. He takes too long to settle in and by the time he steps on the accelerator, the required run-rate already goes well beyond pakistan´s reach. Players like dhoni etc. Are famously successful for adapting this approach, but wouldn´t they look foolish if he had never ever succeeded with this approach? My point in short is, when has this strategy ever worked for shehzad?

if we go through the recent stats of ahmed shehzad's innings we will come to know that he just plays for himself,not for the team. Taking nearly twice the number of balls for what he scores e.g. 70 ball for 40 runs. Thus putting pressure on co-players

 

[OUTSPOKEN]

You want to drop the 1 guy who is in some kind of form along with Misbah. Mr. Sarfraz will not have a clue on these pitches.

are you talking of umar akmal?! He is not an inform batsman,just a gillidunda batsman like Afridi. But atleast Afridi can bowl. Umar can neither bat nor keep. His simple caught behind miss yesterday cost Pakistan dearly.

 

[Ottoman]

are you talking of umar akmal?! He is not an inform batsman,just a gillidunda batsman like Afridi. But atleast Afridi can bowl. Umar can neither bat nor keep. His simple caught behind miss yesterday cost Pakistan dearly.

If he can't bat then give me a player name who can bat in this team. Don't be delusional bro, you need impact players in your team.
You want to fill the team with 1 dimension players who either play dot dot dot and then a big hit like Ahmed Shahzad.

 

[imshally81]

Not a surprise ... but we need to learn our mistakes x 1000
Anyways... Good thing is that the match was not a crucial one or decider .... Now Pak can choose the right combination

 

[karthikc]

If anything the Pakistani batsmen need to learn from Rahul Dravid. Early on in his career he used to get bogged down and he struggled to rotate the strike but through sheer hard work he learnt to play with soft hands, drop the ball to the onside and just take off for that quick single.

This!!

Very good example..

 

[DHONI183]

300 is the lowest score so far by a team batting first in the 4 world cup games played so far, even in the warm up games, Oz scored 370 against India and India made over 330 on the same pitch.

The Pakistani bowlers did a fine job, it's the batters who let us down.

I fully agree. When I point out the Pakistan batsmen´s inability to chase down anything above 260, that nowhere means that the bowler´s are to be blamed for conceding anything over 260.

It´s 2015 and anything around 300 is not the hardest target to chase anymore, as Ireland showed just hours ago.

if we go through the recent stats of ahmed shehzad's innings we will come to know that he just plays for himself,not for the team. Taking nearly twice the number of balls for what he scores e.g. 70 ball for 40 runs. Thus putting pressure on co-players

Leaving aside the point about being selfish, I would just say that he greatly over-rates his ability to strike late in the innings after settling in, a so-called ability that I am yet to see being implemented out there.

I disagree with this even when players like Marlon Samuels and Chris Gayle take this approach, but still they would still have a few innings to show where they might have succeeded with this idea, but Ahmed Shehzad sadly doesn´t.

 

[filosofee]

I suspect if you're young you might feel demoralised - thankfully recovered from utter and abject cricket depression after the truly pathetic Pakistan performance at Lord's in the CWC '99 final against Australia - the humiliation made easier because I lived just minutes from the ground in St John's Wood at the time.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Poor performance all round.

It's early days, India were well prepared. Pakistan will improve in this tournament.