An analysis of why Pakistan keeps losing games of cricket

[gazza619]

In a recent concluded series of Pak vs Eng - in 2nd ODI we needed 30 odd of 18 balls and the captain was batting during that period with Imad and I had absolutely no hope that Pak will chase it down. And in the end we lost by 12 runs. Any other captain in world cricket would have done the job by hitting 2 sixes max. Sarfaraz should either open or bat at 4. He is not made to bat at death.

Pak cricket and the nation itself needs a major revamp in thinking and in professionalism.

If Sarfraz continues to be in the side post WC, I might quit watching cricket.

 

[UP]

Jeez!
We're talking about cricket here...solutions to fix cricket NOT the psyche of the Pakistani nation as a whole.
Lets stick to cricketing reasons please as some people have rightly pointed at like [MENTION=90888]Itachi[/MENTION].
No need to ridicule or be little a whole nation cos we can't seem to win a few Odis.

The mentality creeps into all aspects of professions.

I was in Pak in January of 2019 and I saw no passion. The on going series of Pak vs SA at that time was hardly watched by anyone.

 

[UP]

If Sarfraz continues to be in the side post WC, I might quit watching cricket.

I absolutely detest when he panics in tight situations, seems like he is on the verge of crying and giving up. I HATE that.

Love the way Dhoni or Morgan handle their teams when life gets tough.

 

[Snatch]

See my deep scientific analysis below:


"They're just not as good as the top sides. Wake up and smell the roses."

 

[light]

It would be interesting to see how many catches has pakistani players dropped so far in this year alone. Each time I see pak play, one-two dropped chatches happens in every game. This alone is a good reason for why PAK looses alot of matches. In crunch moments, you gotta take them catches.

 

[Snatch]

It would be interesting to see how many catches has pakistani players dropped so far in this year alone. Each time I see pak play, one-two dropped chatches happens in every game. This alone is a good reason for why PAK looses alot of matches. In crunch moments, you gotta take them catches.

It takes skill to be a top fielding side. It's part of cricket.

One of the many reasons sides like New Zealand, Australia, England and SA are better than Pakistan. Their out cricket is much superior.

 

[Sunny_majoka]

Not saying we weren’t bad in other departments but we should have chased it if you look at the dismissals

chasing 300+ is very hard for any team in world cup games. you can't bet on your batting which is full of inexperienced batters and mediocre seniors

 

[Jeetlodil]

celebration of mediocrity is the problem

 

[MMHS]

May be the “talunt” level isn’t that high, as hyped here at PP - hence, it often ends in disappointment.

I give one example (of many, but one should be enough) - few months back, here in PP I wrote that PAK’s new ball skill is worst among the potent attacks - and my post wasn’t a dig at the “natural talunt”, rather I blamed mostly the UAE & QeA wickets. So, few passioners first reminded my minnow status, then went to minnow bashing and one of them actually mentioned how good Shaheen is with new ball....... which I did recall at Taunton - on that track, under that condition, against such shaky Warner. May be, next time I’ll remind the date ...... with a smirk...

For long time I actually argued that PAK team under punches their weight for various reasons, but not sure now - this group of players are just not good enough, tough enough. One example I give is about managing expectations (not W/L) - from ZIM to ENG, every team has suffered some set backs, flops when it comes to meeting expectations, but they have superseded expectations as well. For lower ranked teams like ZIM, AFG, SRL, BD, WIN it’s even more applicable. But, PAK is only team that has been almost always below per expectations for quite some time - CT 2017 being one exception. That actually tells that the expectations from this team & players are often too much for their ability - W/L is just a reflection of reality. And, yes there will always be few odd days like the ENG game to keep PP charmed, but that’s rare odd days probably are not enough any more.

 

[Savak]

India has invested heavily in their grass roots and domestic cricket structure via the BCCI riches and the Indian domestic players have shared a dressing room with the best players in the world for 2 months every year since 2007. The trickle down effects have been massive and the results are in front of everyone.

But to be honest the challenges Pakistan Cricket and the PCB has faced in the face of zero international cricket and finances to win a T20 WC and the CT has been a miracle. You can't expect to win a conventional war where all you can afford are sticks, stones and bows while our adversaries have the financial strength to equip themselves with machine guns, rocket launchers, snipers, fighter jets, helicopters

To me it's a question of attitude as well, zero excuses for so many national team players have such inconsistent fitness levels and looking extremely out of shape when they have the financial means to be on diets and can afford to hire personal trainers

 

[jonny darko]

''It's hard to free the fools from the chains they revere.'' aptly put. pak in a nutshell.

 

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

Yes.
But its also a culture of denial:
Ask any Pakistani player why they lose to india in world cups and they will hem and haw but not come out say we got pressured.
Nearly every cricket team in the world talks openly about (a) failing to make right decisions under pressure and (b) how to improve on it. Mushfiqur discussed it openly a few days earlier about his own team

But in Pakistan this is considered a taboo. Our ex-great players have phenomenal records but they also have very high profile failures or just poor records against better teams. These guys are not going to sully their legacy by discussing that openly.

It has to come from the captain and coach: admit to pressure, admit to it scrambling your mind, admit to a record of panic and then make a plan to get over it.

Denial will only lead to generalities like "we will play aggressive positive cricket" and then excuses after the loss.

I think Sarfaraz did a good job of highlighting that we loft three soft wickets vs Australia. Need more honesty like this.

Yeah, Sarfaraz made a good beginning.

Maybe a good psychologist with the team will help, in the absence of strong leadership.

Admitting anything to outside world is less important. Umar Akmal keeps admitting he made mistakes in the past. South Africa keep admitting the 'c' word in every world cup press conference.

Admitting to themselves is the important thing - that will start the 'healing' process. Self reflection is a hard, hard thing.

 

[Abdullah]

The problem we have is Pakistanis are impatient. The play on the pitch reflects the fans off it , and life in general.
One minute up , next minute down.

The amount of times in a 6 month period , we would change our players ( as fans) is worryingly not funny.

If we followed what the fans say on here, we would be trying new players every other series and going back through players.

There is a clear lack of understanding that a team;
Has constituent parts and roles
Not everybody does the same thing
We are slightly behind an England India NZ etc

The management needs to work out the best way of making the total more than the sum of the parts.

Most of PP would have imam out-replaced by who exactly? And how long b4 we ask to replace them.
We had Abid as the king in waiting after 1 odi innings, imam was blocking him, and next game, people were unsure again.

Now we have people unsure on fakhar when for the last year n half we have been saying he is the only modern player we have- who would we replace him with- Salman butt? Lol.
We were singing his praises after the England 150 about 4 weeks ago and now we want him out or down at number 6!

Lots of people on this forum thought Babar bats too slow , so his runs are pointless. He has been striking from ball 1 at hundred pretty much the whole tour, and his consistency has dipped a bit.
Who would we replace this guy with- Asad shafiq? Umar akmal ? Really.??!!!

People bagged Amir pre tour and now they sing his praises.

Same thing happens with shadab ( even though we saw how Yasir went recently in odi )

It's utter confusion . No medium term planning by "fans"
Total lack of understanding about team building
There are many on here that would just knock our players, and then after 6 games drop them and continue to knock the next set of players, drop them and continue.
That is because as a society in general all that keeps us going in life is knocking people down. That is what we as a nation derive satisfaction out of.

Nobody is willing to accept we are probably just outside the top 4 nations in ODI cricket, and that is where we will likely finish.
We will need a bit of luck to get into top 4 for this WC, but there is nobody back home who would change it, this is pretty much our best 15 in terms of getting out a useful combination.
Yes there are marginal decisions about Malik, Abid, shinwari, Junaid but overall that s not gonna make the difference.

What fans need to do for the next 3 weeks is stop spouting nonsense about players in the squad and just get fully behind the team.
Yes there are changes post world cup we can think about but just park that for the next 5 games!

We win tomorrow and we are back in the mix- so support the boys!!!

Pakistan Zindabad

 

[Captain caveman]

Diverse entertainment is available to kids in every country. You have keep the kids already playing on grounds playing on for longer and at higher standard.

India has a professional infrastructure, whereby cricketers who dont play for india, can still earn a decent living. And of course you have the ultimate prize of playing in the ipl and becoming a millionaire overnight.
Pakistani cricketers can not make a decent living unless they play for the international team. Psl is still dominated by int pak players present and retired, so the kids have nothing to motivate them to take up cricket professionally. Only wealthy kids can take up this pursuit, poorer kids need to get a job to help feed their families.

 

[Markhor]

Cricket is still the most popular sport in Pakistan. The problem is the whole concept of just turning up to play and relying on your natural gifts is out dated now. The rest of the world has taken scientific studying of the opposition to another level, your initial talent and abilities will only take you so far, you have to constantly find ways to improve your abilities, skills or you will not survive for long. I have seen too many Pakistani players regress badly.

The only player i have so far seen and heard who has an outstanding work ethic and ability is Babar Azam but even he has a lot of improving to do i.e. slow strike rates and not finishing games.

The other player i have seen who doesn't have incredible ability but apparently has an outstanding work ethic is Hafeez

The vast majority of our players are either players who have some ability but zero work ethic and players with not much ability and zero work ethic.

That's true. Success in today's sport increasingly relies on systems and structures not star individuals coasting on their natural gifts.

I think also one of the problems is the way cricket is covered in Pakistan. Our media, namely our ex-cricketers turned pundits, have weak analytical skills and limited technical knowledge. They're still stuck in 1990s trotting out the usual cliches like "no country has as much talent as Pakistan", cornered tigers, aggression, unpredictable etc.

Yet many of them are hired for coaching or selection roles ! We have a selection panel full of experienced ex-cricketers yet they kept picking Yasir Shah in ODIs even though a kid in his parent's basement after a cursory Statsguru search could tell you his capability with white ball.

But our pundits like Ramiz, Wasim and Waqar didn't say anything until it was pointed out to them.

 

[Captain caveman]

The problem we have is Pakistanis are impatient. The play on the pitch reflects the fans off it , and life in general.
One minute up , next minute down.

The amount of times in a 6 month period , we would change our players ( as fans) is worryingly not funny.

If we followed what the fans say on here, we would be trying new players every other series and going back through players.

There is a clear lack of understanding that a team;
Has constituent parts and roles
Not everybody does the same thing
We are slightly behind an England India NZ etc

The management needs to work out the best way of making the total more than the sum of the parts.

Most of PP would have imam out-replaced by who exactly? And how long b4 we ask to replace them.
We had Abid as the king in waiting after 1 odi innings, imam was blocking him, and next game, people were unsure again.

Now we have people unsure on fakhar when for the last year n half we have been saying he is the only modern player we have- who would we replace him with- Salman butt? Lol.
We were singing his praises after the England 150 about 4 weeks ago and now we want him out or down at number 6!

Lots of people on this forum thought Babar bats too slow , so his runs are pointless. He has been striking from ball 1 at hundred pretty much the whole tour, and his consistency has dipped a bit.
Who would we replace this guy with- Asad shafiq? Umar akmal ? Really.??!!!

People bagged Amir pre tour and now they sing his praises.

Same thing happens with shadab ( even though we saw how Yasir went recently in odi )

It's utter confusion . No medium term planning by "fans"
Total lack of understanding about team building
There are many on here that would just knock our players, and then after 6 games drop them and continue to knock the next set of players, drop them and continue.
That is because as a society in general all that keeps us going in life is knocking people down. That is what we as a nation derive satisfaction out of.

Nobody is willing to accept we are probably just outside the top 4 nations in ODI cricket, and that is where we will likely finish.
We will need a bit of luck to get into top 4 for this WC, but there is nobody back home who would change it, this is pretty much our best 15 in terms of getting out a useful combination.
Yes there are marginal decisions about Malik, Abid, shinwari, Junaid but overall that s not gonna make the difference.

What fans need to do for the next 3 weeks is stop spouting nonsense about players in the squad and just get fully behind the team.
Yes there are changes post world cup we can think about but just park that for the next 5 games!

We win tomorrow and we are back in the mix- so support the boys!!!

Pakistan Zindabad

The reply to your post can be sum up quite simply as we don't pick the best players available for our squad and team!
Yes everyone has different opinions on different players, that doesn't matter.
What matters is we have a chief selector who knows every pakistani player's ability and is competent enough to judge who are the best 15 players in pakistan and picks them without prejudice.
Then you require a coach who is competent to pick the right team ,from those players,for any particular match. And obviously have no bias or grudges.
Then you require a captain who is competent and has the skill to make the right plays and to keep the players relaxed and not under pressure. And finally, when the chips are down, the captain should be able to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and win it for his team!
Do we have a chief selector, a coach or captain of these type of ilks?

Players missing from the squad(without prejudice)
Usman khan shinwari
Haris rauf
Both can take early wickets, were we are lacking!
Should not have picked two raw 19 year olds!
Opening batsman either abid ali or ahsan ali or even kamran akmal, instead of imam(just bats too slow and is limited )
Lower order hitter - either umar akmal or sohail akhtar or both instead of malik and asif.
We just want competent people in charge who play the best players in the country , in the pak team without bias or prejudice!

 

[shockbound]

Cricket is still the most popular sport in Pakistan. The problem is the whole concept of just turning up to play and relying on your natural gifts is out dated now. The rest of the world has taken scientific studying of the opposition to another level, your initial talent and abilities will only take you so far, you have to constantly find ways to improve your abilities, skills or you will not survive for long. I have seen too many Pakistani players regress badly.

The only player i have so far seen and heard who has an outstanding work ethic and ability is Babar Azam but even he has a lot of improving to do i.e. slow strike rates and not finishing games.

The other player i have seen who doesn't have incredible ability but apparently has an outstanding work ethic is Hafeez

The vast majority of our players are either players who have some ability but zero work ethic and players with not much ability and zero work ethic.

Yes its popular most, but the amount of people actually playing has reduced significantly over years.

And yes, other teams have evolved and are using more of science to overcome their shortcomings, but we never got any of naturally-gifted Wasim or Anwar. Amir is the best we got out there.

Babar Azam's mental block will mostly make him play Umar Akmal sort of stroke after a brilliant 30-40.

Hafeez is more of a previous generation player and is probably playing his last WC (unless he wants to end up being Malik-baba for next WC)>

We need to accept that special Talent is not there anymore and need to adopt modern means to overcome shortcomings of our pool.