A 3-2 loss is a good result for Pakistan in the ODIs vs South Africa

[Nikhil_cric]

Pakistan certainly didn't boss anything but this is a damn good result in a series in RSA. Since 2015, no team with the exception of India has won a bilateral series in RSA. NZ lost 2-1 , the might of England were beaten 3-2 and Australia were whitewashed 5-0. This actually shows that Pakistan's series was atleast as good as England's and if not for rain PAK were actually better ! We can expect PAK to get even better during the CWC. So stay positive brothers!

 

[light]

WC is couple of months away and you're content with 3-2 result?

 

[TeamPak95]

Considering the abomination that was the test series, this ODI series had really good positives.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

WC is couple of months away and you're content with 3-2 result?

Even the most hyped English and NZ teams could not win a series here and PAK were considered a much lesser team prior to this series. Like I said, if it weren't for rain, this would have been 3-2 in PAKs favour.

 

[fitCricFan]

Considering our expectations from our team, yes, it is a good loss.

 

[MMHS]

Indeed a good result. I was stuck between 4-1 to 5-0, but went for 4-1, considering that this SAF isn’t ruthless enough for a 5-0; but never thought it’ll be 3-2 & that close a series (went to 5th game - Kiwis also can make it 3-2, but there is a difference). However, last 2 games were led by Malik, which helped the cause.

I think, whatever PAK achieved in this series will be wasted if they can’t beat AUS 4-1 in UAE. 5-0 doesn’t happen often and Aussies have lost 0-5 only once, but a 4-1 should be expected and a 3-2 is bare minimum for PAK. I’ll take 2-3 by Australia in UAE a better result than 2-3 by PAK is SAF.

 

[iPakistani]

It was a good result, we showed fight in every single match bar the last. Babar, Imam, Shaheen all positives with Fakhar also finding form.

People expect us to be the best team in the world, we're 5th in the ranking with a ton of young players in the team. Success will come eventually, back your team and be happy they went 3-2 away to SA which is the first SA tour for most of the players. Onwards and upwards.

 

[iPakistani]

It was a good result, we showed fight in every single match bar the last. Babar, Imam, Shaheen all positives with Fakhar also finding form.

People expect us to be the best team in the world, we're 5th in the ranking with a ton of young players in the team. Success will come eventually, back your team and be happy they went 3-2 away to SA which is the first SA tour for most of the players. Onwards and upwards.

 

[Sin Nombre]

Another subtle troll thread


This is not an average SA side and Faf was content experimenting until the final match (which he alluded to pre-match).

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Indeed a good result. I was stuck between 4-1 to 5-0, but went for 4-1, considering that this SAF isn’t ruthless enough for a 5-0; but never thought it’ll be 3-2 & that close a series (went to 5th game - Kiwis also can make it 3-2, but there is a difference). However, last 2 games were led by Malik, which helped the cause.

I think, whatever PAK achieved in this series will be wasted if they can’t beat AUS 4-1 in UAE. 5-0 doesn’t happen often and Aussies have lost 0-5 only once, but a 4-1 should be expected and a 3-2 is bare minimum for PAK. I’ll take 2-3 by Australia in UAE a better result than 2-3 by PAK is SAF.

Exactly. Considering that PAK lost 4-1 in England and OZ , 5-0 in NZ and got drubbed in the Asia Cup, this is actually an improvement. No reason to not won 4-1 against Australia now.

 

[Square Drive]

It was a good result, we showed fight in every single match bar the last. Babar, Imam, Shaheen all positives with Fakhar also finding form.

People expect us to be the best team in the world, we're 5th in the ranking with a ton of young players in the team. Success will come eventually, back your team and be happy they went 3-2 away to SA which is the first SA tour for most of the players. Onwards and upwards.

Well said.

 

[todfod 11]

To be honest I was expecting the worst.
Now for next series pakistan should make some changes to the ODI team
Fakhar
Shan Masood
Imam at 3
Babar at 4
Hafeez
Umer akmal
sarfaraz
shadab
Amir
hassan
shaheen

Shan ,Fakhar, hafeez to share some overs.

 

[light]

Even the most hyped English and NZ teams could not win a series here and PAK were considered a much lesser team prior to this series. Like I said, if it weren't for rain, this would have been 3-2 in PAKs favour.

If only cricket was played with a bunch of if's and but's. Result still reads SA - won the series. Ain't no one going to google back to see if it rained or not. How many remembers the final WC match between AUS/SL did not have a full match due to bad light and was finally won by DL method?

Set higher expectation mate.

 

[ali2220]

A very good result coz despite the narrow margin it has clearly exposed Pak weakness so if the selectors/coach work on it than Pakistan will end up gaining alot from this series.

 

[CleverSir]

Overall a good result. I'd like to have seen more fight in the field in the 5th match but, oh well. They fought all series, you win some sessions you lose some.

1,2)Imam, did well. Fakhar, needs more consistency. Overall, I think we have an opening pair we can work with.

3) Babar has made this his own.

4,5) Hafeez and Malik are not the answer. We cannot carry them both. Hafeez should win one spot because he can throw down overs. Malik time is up. Maybe time to give the re-invented Shan a shot at 4.

6,7,8) Sarfaraz remains the #1 keeper we have. So he needs to pick up his batting and make 6 his own. However, I think between these three spots we should rotate depending on conditions. Imam, Shadab, Sarfaraz.

9,10,11) Depending on conditions all three should be pacers. I'd say based on this series one spot is now permanently Afridi's. The other two depend on conditions, or someone stepping up with consistency.

 

[coy0607]

A clear moral victory. Bring on the World Cup!

 

[Mamoon]

This South African ODI team is not good enough to inflict a 5-0 whitewash. We simply won one more match than anticipated. I don’t see the big deal.

This series did not show any progression or revival. We are still good for a whitewash at the hands of India, England and New Zealand (away), and will probably lose to Bangladesh in Asia.

In summary, nothing has changed. We can only talk about progression if we beat Australia 5-0 or even 4-1, before getting blown away by England right before the World Cup.

 

[MenInG]

A few bruised egos walking around our forums I note.

Back to the topic - yes not the best result but clearly shows that there is something for Pak management to work with.

 

[BreadPakoda]

As I’ve said before, score lines don’t matter at this point. Still result is not that bad.

However, Pak missed a trick by not playing Shan who was in red hot form and a genuine spinner. This was the best opportunity.

 

[ali2220]

As I’ve said before, score lines don’t matter at this point. Still result is not that bad.

However, Pak missed a trick by not playing Shan who was in red hot form and a genuine spinner. This was the best opportunity.

Maybe had we won the series, we would have continued playing the same bit and pieces all rounders, now its very clear that Pak need to play 1-2 genuine spinner in this team if they want to do better in WC.

 

[Dr_Bassim]

All results are good for Pakistan because we see "silver lining" every time.

 

[Kohli The King of Chase]

Yes, a blessing in disguise. Pak will enter the WC as minnows and win it in style.

 

[hadi123]

Well this SA team isn't the strongest so I'm disappointed and feel this is a missed chance, but yes there are some positives from this series. This series loss stings though, really believe we could have won the 2nd ODI and maybe even the 3rd one too.

 

[barah_admi]

Pakistan certainly didn't boss anything but this is a damn good result in a series in RSA. Since 2015, no team with the exception of India has won a bilateral series in RSA. NZ lost 2-1 , the might of England were beaten 3-2 and Australia were whitewashed 5-0. This actually shows that Pakistan's series was atleast as good as England's and if not for rain PAK were actually better ! We can expect PAK to get even better during the CWC. So stay positive brothers!

Pakistan bossed it until the final game, that is the reality. WIthout rain, it would have been a hard chase for SA, in a match where Pak could have gone 3-1 up with everything but the weather in their favour.

BUUUT, having been so decisive in the final, I can not begrudge SA the series and I agree, it is not a bad result at all, especially considering Pakistan have so many young, in experienced players, 1 a teenager, the other in his second year of international cricket and so on. To be competitive and at times dominant on foreign soil shows they are a very good ODI side.

 

[Amjid Javed]

This SA ODI outfit is pretty weak and they still managed to beat us 3-2.

Would any one back this SA team right now to beat England, India or New zealand if they played them?

Now all of a sudden moral victories for pakistan are being celebrated

 

[Hitman]

Positives from the series? Definitely. The series result being good for Pakistan? No.

No loss in a series can be termed good or satisfactory for any team irrespective of close the series was. Not even against the West Indies of the 80's and the Aussies of 2000. A win is the only thing that's ever good for any team.

Our 2007/08 Test series in Australia still disappoints me. We competed very well, despite the very controversial Sydney Test. The series result was 2-1 in Australia's favor. But all of that doesn't matter. We lost that series, and that's what counts.

 

[Sadozai]

Honestly i was expecting 4-1 in favour of SAF.
More than series loss, I am disappointed by our performance in the last match. we didn't show any fight

 

[Markhor]

We competed better than I anticipated after the drubbing in the Tests. It's a good experience for the youngsters who'll learn more from this tour than from shellacking West Indies or Sri Lanka in UAE.

However make no mistake this was a missed opportunity to win a second series in SAF. In Centurion we threw away the advantage thanks to Sarfraz's captaincy. He kept Shadab on after the rain delay despite the leggie struggling to grip the wet ball, and allowed SAF to get ahead of the DLS par score.

The win at the Wanderers was a pleasant surprise. But no sooner was the pressure on in the decider in Cape Town, we crumbled despite being 100-2 and batting at 5+ RPO with one soft wicket after another.

There's no point asking for selection changes. Hafeez and Malik will go to the World Cup. Amir will still get a free ride while we waste time investing in Shinwari. Our infatuation with bits and pieces players like Shadab and Fahim will continue.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

This South African ODI team is not good enough to inflict a 5-0 whitewash. We simply won one more match than anticipated. I don’t see the big deal.

This series did not show any progression or revival. We are still good for a whitewash at the hands of India, England and New Zealand (away), and will probably lose to Bangladesh in Asia.

In summary, nothing has changed. We can only talk about progression if we beat Australia 5-0 or even 4-1, before getting blown away by England right before the World Cup.

Were you predicting a close series before it got underway? As one of the most critical Pakistan supporters I think 4-1 or 5-0 should have been what you were expecting.

 

[silentkiller187]

Come on guys, we won one more flukey match then expected. On a real tho, this series has not been as bad as the scoreline suggests. We were in positions to win each of the test matches at certain stages, and the ODI's were closer than expected. Few weeks ago i was reading this SA team is one of the favorites to win the world cup so based on that assumption 5-0 / 4-1 defeat was the minimum expectations. But as always if Pakistan win, how dare they, flukey etc etc. but if pakistan lose, we are rubbish overhyped etc. We can never win.

 

[mastersaan10]

So I was surprised with the final result but at the end of the day, South Africa was experimenting for the world cup and we had our would cup team there. So basically we realized that
- faheem should not play as an all-rounder
- Imad is the true all-rounder
- Amit can't take wickets
- Malik can't play pace
- hafeez can only bat against the old ball

But it doesn't really matter Mickey doesn't believe in learning. I respect Mickey for introducing imam and fakhar but alot of his other calls are really bad. I am not saying Pakistan can become a world beating team but they should at least compete

 

[Mamoon]

Were you predicting a close series before it got underway? As one of the most critical Pakistan supporters I think 4-1 or 5-0 should have been what you were expecting.

I would have backed South Africa to win 4-1. Ultimately, as I said, they have only won one more game than expected, which is not a big deal. Honestly speaking, I don't get the big talk of we have made progress and all that - I did not see any improvement whatsoever.

 

[JibranAnsari]

Reaching number 5 in the wc table will be a very good result for pakistan.

 

[JibranAnsari]

Btw pakistan should have won the series 4-1.

 

[Sunny_majoka]

nothing has changed.
we always find a way to win two matches at least against south africa

 

[slipcatch]

In what world losing a series, captain being banned for spouting out racial comments, is a good result for Pakistan?

 

[IAJ]

Btw pakistan should have won the series 4-1.

There were also chances for 5-0 bro!

 

[Pete Rose]

Cannot win consistently with malik,hafeez, and (sadly) aamir in the team.

 

[saeedhk]

I feel it is not a good idea to lie to ourselves. It is shameful that our cricket has not improved one bit in the last decade. The same problems persist- lack of strike rotation, no situational awareness and a serious lack of any mentally-strong cricketers.

The team is full of bits and pieces players. Takat, Fakhar, Faheem and Rizwan are all club-level cricketers. We should never count on them to take us home in tight situations. Bowling is pathetic too.

 

[urnotserious]

Its 2-3. And against South Africa C side, I think it was a terrible performance.